Wallace Earle Stegner:
(February 18, 1909 – April 13, 1993)
American novelist, writer, environmentalist, and historian. He was often called “The Dean of Western Writers”. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972 and the U.S. National Book Award in 1977.
It is an easy mistake to think that non-talkers are non-feelers.
That old September feeling, leftover from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air.
The quotation captures the ‘mixed emotions associated with September’, especially those formed during one’s school years:
– Nostalgia:
September revives memories of returning to school.
– Melancholy:
Summer, freedom, and vacation are ending.
– Anticipation:
Books, football, cooler weather, and a new academic season are beginning.
– Responsibility:
Work, routines, and postponed obligations begin to “gather.”
“Books and football in the air” refers both literally and figuratively to the familiar signs of autumn—school starting and football season returning. Overall, the passage presents September as a time of ‘loss and renewal’, when one chapter closes and another begins.
✍️ Author:
The quotation is by Wallace Stegner (1909–1993), an American novelist, historian, environmentalist, and teacher. He is often called the “Dean of Western Writers” for his influential writing about the American West.
📚 Origin:
The line comes from Stegner’s novel “Angle of Repose”, published in 1971. The novel won the ‘Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1972’.
A longer version of the passage continues:
> “Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.”
This continuation reinforces the central idea: ‘autumn brings not only the sadness of summer ending, but also the hopeful feeling of a ‘fresh start’ ‘.
> Note:
The original is often printed as “left over from school days,” rather than “leftover,” though wording and punctuation may vary in online versions.
