Graves, John, 1920-2013

Born August 6, 1920 in Fort Worth, Texas, John Alexander Graves III grew up in that city until moving away to attend college in 1938. He graduated from Rice Institute (now Rice University), served as a Marine in World War II, and earned an M.A. at Columbia University in 1948. Graves taught English from 1948 to 1950 at The University of Texas at Austin, then left to pursue a career as a freelance writer. In November of 1957 Graves completed a three-week canoe trip down part of the Brazos River that he feared was about to be changed forever by dams. His narrative chronicle of the trip was first published as a magazine article in Holiday, and later Graves added history, philosophy and folklore which resulted in his first major book, Goodbye to a River (1960). The book attracted national attention and critical praise for its original style. In the meantime, Graves took a teaching job at Texas Christian University, married Jane Cole (his second marriage) and purchased the first of his limestone acres in Somervell County near the town of Glen Rose. After three years assisting in and writing for a U.S. government study of pollution of the Potomac River, Graves returned to Texas and focused on converting his country acreage from a weekend getaway into a permanent home with a manageable farm and cattle ranch. His observations and ruminations about his relationship with the land as a farmer and rancher led to the publication of his second major book, Hard Scrabble: Observations on a Patch of Land (1974). Starting in 1976, Graves again focused on life in the country in a series of essays that were published in Texas Monthly magazine. The essays were collected and published for his third major book, From a Limestone Ledge: Some Essays and Other Ruminations about Country Life in Texas (1980). Although Graves has not published an extensive number of books, his contributions to magazines, books and anthologies spans over five decades. Two of his most famous magazine pieces, The Last Running and Blue & Some Other Dogs, later became their own books, published first by Encino Press. Another well-received essay, Recollections of a Texas Bird Glimpser, written for the art book, Of Birds and Texas (1986), transformed into a limited edition book, Self-Portrait, With Birds (1991). In 1996 the University of Texas Press published A John Graves Reader, which gathered together fiction and non-fiction pieces, both published and unpublished. More recently, Graves wrote text for the photography books Texas Rivers (2002) and Texas Hill Country (2003), and in 2004 Knopf published his memoir, Myself and Strangers, which focused on his years abroad as a freelance writer.

From the description of John Graves Papers, 1920-2006 (bulk 1946-2004). (Texas State University-San Marcos). WorldCat record id: 32458711

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