Idaho's literary history, then, is largely a 20 th century history with several exceptions. She was the first author of national significance to live and write in Idaho. The writings of Idahoans of the past hundred years are varied. In such a place, conflict is more likely to be with nature than with civilization. A strong sense of independence comes naturally.
Heroism derives from meeting the challenges of survival as an individual.
Protagonists are, above all, modest, honest in recognizing their vulnerability. Outside of pulp fiction and formulaic films, such people are not bound by stereotypes. Literature from Idaho, the real version of the Western setting, sometimes involves cowboys, miners, saloons, and horses, but the spectrum of characters, themes, and settings presented by Idaho's writers is as variegated as the land. Without a doubt the two most prominent writers' names associated with Idaho are Ernest Hemingway and Vardis Fisher . Hemingway came to Idaho to live in his final years, returning to the Ketchum area where he had spent productive time writing and where he loved to hunt and fish.