George H. Jensen is a Professor Emeritus with the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. His books include Personality and the Teaching of Composition (with John K. DiTiberio, 1989), Storytelling in Alcoholics Anonymous: A Rhetorical Analysis (2000), Identities Across Texts (2002), and The Ethics of Nonfiction: Rhetoric, Ethos, and Identity (2023). In addition these scholarly works, he has written Some of the Words are Theirs: A Memoir of an Alcoholic Family (2009). He currently lives in Roanoke, Virginia.Heidi Skurat Harris is an Associate Professor and the Graduate Coordinator with the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is co-author (with Michael Greer) of Multimedia in the College Classroom: Improve Learning and Connect with Students in Online and Hybrid Classes (2024). She is also the lead editor of the Bedford Bibliography of Research in Online Writing Instruction (2017). She has published creative nonfiction and research on professional development.

" While reading Jensen and Harris, it's fascinating, inspiring, and sometimes downright disorienting to witness the story ["A River Runs through It"] develop from its most primitive state into its most beautiful and refined shape......Jensen and Harris have written a brilliant book that may inspire writers and serious Maclean readers all over the English-speaking world."--Jim Hepworth, The Limberlost Review, 2025 Edition

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Diplomatic Transcriptions, Citations from Maclean Papers, and Bibliographic Terms Foreword            Jean Maclean Snyder Preface Chapter 1: Maclean’s Improbable Writing Career Chapter 2: Evolution of the Beginning            The First Draft (MS1)            The Second Draft (MS2)            The Third Draft (MS3) and the Fourth Draft (MS4)            Revisions on the Typescripts            Conclusion Chapter 3: No Clear Line between Fiction and Nonfiction            Shifting Time            Metanarration            Real People and Characters            Paul’s Death            Conclusion Chapter 4: Variations of Time            Clock Time            Calendar Time            Historical Time            Life Span            Diurnal Time            Biblical Time            Geological Time            Eternity            All Things Merge into One            Conclusion Chapter 5: The Problem of Genre            Genre and Emotions            Romance and Nostalgia: Norman and Paul’s Childhood            Ceremonial Rhetoric: The Montana Club            Paul and the Beautiful: The First Fishing Trip            A Little Tragedy: Paul in Jail            Comedy: Neal at Black Jack’s Bar            Mock-Tragedy: The Second Fishing Trip            Comedy: The Third Fishing Trip            Romance and the Sublime: The Last Fishing Trip            Tragedy: The Aftermath of Paul’s Death            Resolution: The Lyric and the Beautiful            Conclusion Chapter 6: Style and Hidden Art            Reverend Maclean’s Commonplace Book            Storytelling around the Campfire            A Personal Poetic Language            Rhythm in Maclean’s Prose            Sound in Maclean’s Prose            Conclusion Chapter 7: The Evolution of the End            Notes Version            A “Crude Version”            MS2B            Fair Copy            Revisions on Typescript Pages            Print Versions            Afterword Works Cited Appendix 1: Notes on Revising “Fly Fishing” (MS1) Appendix 2: Typescripts, Fonts, and Typists            Fonts and Typists            Rejected Type