Reading The Virginian in the New WestMelody Graulich, Stephen Tatum U of Nebraska Press, 1. jaan 2003 - 300 pages Although the origins of the western are as old as colonial westward expansion, it was Owen Wister?s novel The Virginian, published in 1902, that established most of the now-familiar conventions of the genre. On the heels of the classic western?s centennial, this collection of essays both re-examines the text of The Virginian and uses Wister?s novel as a lens for studying what the next century of western writing and reading will bring. The contributors address Wister?s life and travels, the novel?s influence on and handling of gender and race issues, and its illustrations and various retellings on stage, film, and television as points of departure for speculations about the ?new West??as indeed Wister himself does at the end of the novel. ø The contributors reconsider the novel?s textual complexity and investigate The Virginian's role in American literary and cultural history. Together their essays represent a new western literary studies, comparable to the new western history. |
Contents
Pictures Facing Words | 1 |
Wisters Omniscience and Omissions | 39 |
White for a Hundred Years | 72 |
Indigenous Whiteness and Wisters Invisible Indians | 89 |
Wister and the Great Railway Strike of 1984 | 113 |
Early Film Versions of The Virginian | 126 |
History Gender and the Origins of the Classic Western | 148 |
The Cowboy and the Gaucho | 175 |
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American West argues bison brand Brett cattle century chapter character Charlotte Perkins Gilman civilization claim Cow-Puncher cowboy critics cultural DeMille discourse dream eastern essay feminist feminized fiction figure film frontier gaucho gender genre George Brett ginian Hazel hero hero's honeymoon horse identity ideological Indians Johnson County Johnson County War Judge Henry land landscape literary lynching male marriage married Martín Fierro masculinity maverick McElrath Mitchell Molly Stark Molly Wood Molly's myth narrative narrator narrator's Native Americans nature Old West Owen Wister Papanikolas Payne play plot political popular western Press Pullman strike racial ranch ranchers reader reading Remington role Roosevelt rustlers says scene social stageplay Steve story suggests Ted Turner tenderfoot ter's Theodore Roosevelt tion Tompkins Trampas Turner University violence Virgin Virginian Virginian and Molly visual West cure western American wild Wister's novel Wister's West Wister's words women writing Wyoming Yellowstone York