The Studhorse Man

by Robert Kroetsch, Aritha van Herk (Introduction)

Hazard Lepage, the last of the studhorse men, sets out to breed his rare blue stallion, Poseidon. A lusty trickster and a wayward knight, Hazard's outrageous adventures are narrated by Demeter Proudfoot, his secret rival, who writes this story while sitting naked in an empty bathtub. In his quest to save his stallion's bloodline from extinction, Hazard leaves a trail of anarchy and confusion. Everything he touches erupts into chaos, necessitating frequent convalescences in the arms of a few good women, except for those of Martha, his long-suffering intended. Told with the ribald zeal of a Prairie beer parlor tall tale and the mythic magnitude of a Greek odyssey, The Studhorse Man is Robert Kroetsch's celebration of unbridled character set against the backdrop of rough-and-ready Alberta emerging after the Second World War.

Genres: Canada, Fiction, Canadian Literature, School, Literature, Read For School

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1969

About the author

Robert Kroetsch was a Canadian novelist, poet, and non-fiction writer. He taught for many years at the University of Manitoba. Kroetsch spent multiple years in Vancouver, British Columbia before returning to Winnipeg where he continued to write. In 2004 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Reviews

[kaelan · Rating 5 out of 5]

UPDATE (2018 January 1):

Second read-through and yep, still excellent.

ORIGINAL REVIEW (2012 May 27):

I could fill a (hyperbolic) volume with gushing praise for this book, so rather than risk saying too much, I'm going to try and say just as much as I have to. What you need to know: this book, despite inevitably falling under the label of 'post-modern,' isn't stuffy, or even academic. On the contrary, it is—how should I say this?—fun. Even laugh-out-loud funny at times. I would go as far as to say that it's supremely entertaining. Yet The Studhorse Man is so much more. It's also sexy, intellectual, visceral. Maybe even tragic. (Kroestch, of course, would point to my apparent inability to adequately describe his novel as evidence for the intrinsic limitations of language. But I digress.)

Apart from writing poetry and fiction, Kroetsch was also quite the theorist—see, for instance, his excellent essay "For Play and Entrance" (note the sexual punniness of the title)—and it's impressive to observe how he can take (what could perhaps be deemed) dry and abstract concepts and instill them into a literary form that is both organic and engaging.

In conclusion, The Studhorse Man, despite being criminally under-read, is literature of the highest calibre.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is from the exotic and mysterious land of canada, and it's narrated by a questionably sane character who seems to live exclusively in a bathtub. he unreliably tells us the story of one obsessive failure's quest to perpetuate his unique horse breed by finding a mare for his one remaining stallion. along the way there are some comic situations and oddball characters and some allusive sex scenes and it's all a bit offbeat and vaguely magical realist in tone.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

An odd, interesting postmodern re-imagining of The Odyssey. This novel is set in Alberta around the time of WWII, and follows the rambling journey of Hazard LePage, one of the last remaining studhorse men--professional breeders of horses--as he makes his way through misadventures to his fiance Martha Proudfoot. The Greek influences here are hard to miss: a stallion named Poseidon, a narrator named Demeter, and even the last name Proudfoot may echo and invert the name Oedipus (one translation of which is something like "broken foot" or "lame foot"). But this is a distinctly pomo version, with the clinically insane narrator inserting himself at length into the 'biography' and musing throughout on the nature of life, love, sex, art, truth, etc.

[fatma · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book isn't even worth the time it's taking me to type this sentence

it was trash i give it 0 out of 5 stars

[William McDuff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this back in university, and just hated it. I found it darn near impossible to follow, and never felt the magic of the text that others have found. For me, it was written obtusely for the sake of being obtuse and challenging. If you like books that are 'hard', might be up your alley, but I just ended up wishing for a tale that wasn't written by a narrator that was a madman.

[Tom Gray · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read two other novels by Krostsch - "Gone Indian' and "What the Crow Said'. In my opinion both of thee novels are far superior to 'The Studhorse Man'. Both novels were written in the same post-modernist magical realism style as 'The Studhorse man' but in both of them teh characters although functioning in a fantastical context had a core of reality. These characters were depictions of real people with real motivations. Their actions had consequences that feel real to the reader, for me anyway. I felt this to be totally lacking in this novel and this was especially true of the female characters.

The novel uses the structure of 'The Odyssey' as a framework for its plot. As well, there is reference to the concept of the Trickster from indigenous American culture. I have only a superficial knowledge of teh contents of 'The Odyssey' and my knowledge of the Trickster is restricted to its name and a sense of its importance in its culture. I did spot some allusions to the Odyssey and I think I see the Trickster in some of the characters. I read the words 'dense lofty and complex ...' taken from a Globe and Mail review of the novel in the blurb on its back cover. This I think is the major problem for teh novel. It concentrates on allusions to teh detriment of teh reality and the effect of the characters. It appears to be a novel to be designed to be studied than a novel designed to be read and felt.

It is a novel for allusion hunting graduate students

[Steven Buechler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I regret discovering this book through the author's obituary. Normally stories like this become legends in other societies.

Pg. 15

"The gelding, glad for the rest, held the stallion. The reins and bit couldn't hold him; the scent of spring was in that yeasty wind, the high raw odor of mares and spring -
Already I find myself straying from the mere facts. I distort. I must control a certain penchant for gentleness and beauty. Hazard did not say "mares and spring." We were chatting together on the ranch where finally I caught up with him and he said in his crude way, "That raw bitch of a wind was full of crocuses and snatch."

[Nevena]

I read the first chapter. Closed it. Looked up at keila and said “I have no idea what I just read. Like actually” and then I started again. I know it’s stupid to say, but I don’t see the point of the book. I didn’t leave it feeling satisfied or happy or angry or anything. I wasn’t even confused at the end. I just felt like “oh, that was a book. It was pretty post modern”. It was interesting. Maybe I’ll read it again when it’s not for an exam and feel differently.

[allie · Rating 1 out of 5]

i...really hated this book lmao. usually i don't rate the books that i have to read for class, but this was just Something Else.

[Nadine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book so much that even giving it one star seems overly generous.

[Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic action packed storytelling with a focus on well developed characters and the believable unbelievable. This book doesn't play it safe with sex. I also thoroughly appreciated (what I found to be) a surprise ending.

[Marie Gravelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book sometimes funny, a little raucous, but I was usually bored. I read it because I had to - I usually love Can. Lit, but this didn't do it for me. The horse scene is not for me, but there was some sex at least!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic example of Prairie Postmodern literature.

[Stuart Harden · Rating 4 out of 5]

O Brother, Where Art Thou? But Alberta

[Guy Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, off beat. A western Canadian classic.

[Olivia Brisebois · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'll say this again and again. God, I hate this man and his shitty writing.

[Jerry Auld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Governor Generals winner from way back. Although I am a big fan of Robert's and I can see why he won this award, at times I found it wandered a bit or was unclear. The ending was strong and wrapped it all up, and the voice throughout was interesting. A book like this, with all the adventures and misadventures, makes me wonder how he thought up all of the diverse and extraordinary events. Having encountered his sense of humour I'm not at a loss, just in awe. I'd recommend this book strongly.

[Caleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seriously weird. I slogged painfully through the first few chapters before getting sucked in rather against my will. The ending wasn't at all what I expected (not in a good way) but was funny nonetheless.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absurd, hilarious, and written in the language of home.

[Mortalform · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fast read and a wonderful one. Can't believe I'd not heard of Robert Kroetsch before, yet another exceptional Canadian author. I look forward to reading the rest of his work.

[Ian Giesbrecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well. That's a great little Canadian book.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Studhorse Man' is full of classic postmodern tricks, like a more Albertan version of the 'The Crying of Lot 49'.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

woman with a gap in their teeth are ladies of the night! lol good memories, the craziest book you will ever read!

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some horse!

[Dennis Osborne · Rating 2 out of 5]

For some reason , this won the Governor General's award-why is beyond me