The Mountain Lion is a novel by Jean Stafford first published in 1947 by Harcourt & Brace. The novel was republished in 1953 in The Interior Castle (1953), which also includes Stafford's first novel, Boston Adventure (1944), and her short story collection Children Are Bored on Sunday (1953).Wilson, 1996 p. 161-162: Selected Bibliography.
Synopsis
Eight-year-old Molly and her ten-year-old brother Ralph live in a Los Angeles suburb where they are sheltered by their mother after they are left weak by scarlet fever. One summer, she relents to allow them to visit their Uncle Claude's ranch in Colorado, on the condition that they are not to go horseback riding or engage in "perilous amusements". Although fearful, the pair resolve to use this opportunity learn more about the world they have been missing. They return each summer for several years, providing a contrast between their dull suburban school years and the challenges of ranch life as the children grow into adults.
Reception Orville Prescott, in the New York Times detects elements of a "controlled and conscious work of art" that largely eclipses Stafford's first novel, Boston Adventure (1944).Prescott, 1947
Novelist Irving Howe praises Stafford's improved handling of her narratives: "In The Mountain Lion Miss Stafford solved one of her most troublesome problems, how to control her rich style so that it would allow the action to emerge tensely and cleanly."Howe, 1952 p. 347
Theme Stafford examines the American West and her ambivalence towards its icons, as well as social traditions of the East.Gelfant, 1979 p. 118 Biographer Mary Ann Wilson writes:
Literary critic Blanche H. Gelfant in The Massachusetts Review writes:
Gelfant considers the novel "a brilliant and destructive tour de force..."Gelfant, 1979 p. 117
Retrospective appraisal The Mountain Lion is widely regarded as the best of Stafford's three novels.Halverson, 2016 p. 142: "The Mountain Lion, her acclaimed second novel..." And p. 128: "...her best known book, The Mountain Lion (1947)."
Evelyn Toynton praises The Mountain Lion as Stafford's "one wholly successful novel.. Like so much of Stafford's finest work, it illuminates the sorrows of childhood with rare grace and elegance."Toynton, 1991 p. 242
Novelist Joyce Carol Oates writes:
References
Bibliography
Gelfant, Blanche H. 1979. "Revolutionary Turnings: 'The Mountain Lion'". The Massachusetts Review, Spring 1979, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 117-125. Retrieved February 24, 2026. Halverson, Cathryn. 2016. ""A Reading Problem": Margaret Lynn, Jean Stafford, and Literary Criticism of the American West". Legacy, Vol. 33, No. 1 (2016), pp. 127-149. University of Nebraska Press. Retrieved February 23, 2026. Howe, Irving. 1952. "Sensibility Troubles." The Kenyon Review, Spring, 1952, Vol. 14, No. 2, The Dante Number (Spring, 1952), pp. 345-348 Kenyon College. Retrieved February 23, 2026. Prescott, Orville. 1947. "Books of the Times". New York Times, March 3, 1947. Retrieved February 20, 2026. Stafford, Jean. 1972. Author's Note to The Mountain Lion. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. Toynton, Evelyn. 1991. "Books in Review: Jean Stafford: The Savage Heart by Charlotte Margolis Goodman". Salmagundi, No. 92 (Fall 1991), pp. 238-244. Skidmore College. JSTOR link. Retrieved February 20, 2026. Oates, Joyce Carol. 1988. "ADVENTURES IN ABANDONMENT". New York Times. August 28, 1988. Retrieved March 03, 2026.