Controversy
Questions have arisen over Selwa Press' legal right to publish the book with Stegner's name attached. The dispute centers over whether a 1958 contract between the author and Aramco required Stegner's approval before his name could be used. Publisher Tim Barger said that Stegner had given that approval when the book was serialized in an Aramco magazine in the 1960s. The author also approved an Aramco-published book in 1971. But the author's former agent, Carl Brandt, who represents Stegner's estate, called the book "a bowdlerized version of what Wally wrote," and Stegner's son Page said that material critical of Aramco or considered offensive to the company's Saudi partners was removed. Stegner biographer Philip Fradkin said that Stegner was paid for his work and had accordingly permitted an Aramco-published version but did not want that version published as a trade book.
Stegner's original draft now resides at the University of Utah. Barger said that Aramco would never agree to the publication of Stegner's original draft.
Read more about this topic: Discovery! The Search For Arabian Oil
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