The Last Best Place, A Montana Anthology, inscribed by editors to Diane Cecily's mother
Helena: Montana Historical Society, 1988. First Edition. Hardcover. Large stout 8vo, cloth backed boards, very good in dust jacket, light waterstaining to bottom inner part of text block, light soil to top edge of text block, jacket very good but shows faint dampstaining along its top edge. Inscribed to Diane Cecily’s mother, Maxine (Blackmer) by the two editors. From the library of Chuck Kinder (1946-2019) and Diane Cecily. Kinder, a native of West Virginia, was a legendary creative writing professor at Pitt, famous for having been Raymond Carver’s dear friend in the 1970s-80s (“my best friend, drinking companion and fellow outlaw”) and for inspiring Michael Chabon, whose character Grady Tripp in “Wonder Boys” is Chabon’s loving tribute to his old mentor. As a Stegner Fellow at Stanford in 1972, Kinder became close friends with Scott Turow, Richard Price, Max Crawford, William Kittredge, and Carver, and later Richard Ford, Gurney Norman, Ed McClanahan, Tess Gallagher, Tobias Wolff, and S. Clay Wilson. His wife, Diane Cecily (1942-2026) was Raymond Carver’s love interest in the early 1970s, having met Carver at Kittredge's 40th birthday party in 1972, and was well acquainted with the Missoula bunch that Kinder had become involved with: she grew up in Missoula, went to graduate school there, and her parents, Maxine and Frank Blackmer, were prominent citizens of the town. Cecily and Kinder married in 1975 and when Kinder took a job at Pitt in 1980, their home quickly became the heart of the local literary scene. The two were known for their nurturing generosity, storytelling, loyalty and hospitality, and they were great believers in the supportive power of literary communities. Very good / very good. Item #h45051
Price: $50.00