Jack schaefer author biography

Jack Warner Schaefer was an American writer known for his Westerns.
Jack Warner Schaefer (November 19, 1907 – January 24, 1991) was an American writer known for his Westerns.
Jack Warren Schaefer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, one of four children of Carl and Minnie Schaefer.

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The Jack Schaefer Page

Review of new Monte Walsh film

Although many readers throughout the world know and love the novel Shane (1949), or the award-winning film based on it, few recognize the name of its author, Jack Schaefer (1907-1991).

Still less well known is the fact that, following the spectacular success of Shane, his first work of fiction, Schaefer created many more short stories and novels of high quality. Although that body of work ought to have ensured him a prominent place in the annals of American literature, most of it is now, sadly, out of print. And, except for articles in studies and reference works on "western literature"--some of which relegate him to the lowly status of a writer of "Westerns"--Schaefer has been ignored by scholars and critics.

To the best of our knowledge, this page is the only source of information on Schaefer on the Internet. Additional material and links will be added, time permitting, as new information becomes available. Suggestions and questions are welcome from general readers and students, as well as from literature specia

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Jack Schaefer, Teller of Tales

by Louis Torres

[Introduction]

"Who is this Jack Schaefer?" asked the seasoned proprietor of a secondhand book shop on Manhattan's Upper West Side. "What else did he write?" his partner wanted to know. Like these two booksellers, most knowledgeable readers have never heard of Jack Schaefer, the American novelist and short-story writer who died in 1991 at the age of eighty-three. Though many have seen or know of Shane, the classic film about a heroic gunfighter and the boy who idolizes him, few are able to identify Schaefer as the author of the equally classic novel on which it is based. Fewer still, even among those who have read Shane, know that after its phenomenal international success nearly fifty years ago, Schaefer went on to complete a body of work that ought to have assured him a respected place in the annals of American literature. Instead, today, most of his fiction is out of print, and he is virtually unknown.

Though Schaefer was not an especially prolific writer, and though he tended toward shorter fiction, the range and depth

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Ask most critics, and they'll tell you Jack Schaefer was robbed. Ask most readers and they'll say: "who?" Although he authored one of the top Western novels of all time, Jack Schaefer remains largely unknown. Upon his death, he faded away into cursed "regional writer" status, and has remained there, lost among the pariah of literature, the Westerns. Even after the success of the movie version, Shane is rarely recognized for the classic it is.

Jack Warren Schaefer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, one of four children of Carl and Minnie Schaefer. The family moved to Lakewood when Jack was three years old. Both his parents were avid readers, and his father was good friends with poet/author Carl Sandburg. Besides playing piano and editing the yearbook, Schaefer's main hobby was reading. Early on he went through his favorites (Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan" stories and Alexander Dumas' historical novels) and then began reading Charles Dickens, Zane Grey, and other authors. He later wrote that he was becoming just like his older sister Dorothy, a "literary nut."

After graduating from