Literature of the wild west

the historical period

american fronteir: late 19th century: the decade after the civil war

guns and violence

essential tool: provides food and fends off attackers

the cowboy

classice hero of the american west.

the reality

regular violent, young aggressive men that clashed with the settlers.

the horses

ideal partners for the cowboy, size speed and stamina, highly intelligent

saloon girls

woman needing to make a living: widoes, refugees, ect. entertain the boys

cowgirls

tomboys, families without bpys or hard pressed into service. keep up with the boys

development of the western novel: in terms of mythic elements

the periolous journey - the struggle between hero and foe - the death or victory of the hero - highlights the hero, goodness, or the human spirit

James Fenimore Cooper

first to use the fronteir as a setting for adventure and romance

Daniel Boone

the model for James Fenimore Cooper’s character, Natty Bumppo

Basic plot of the adventure/romance

chase - capture - escape

James Fenimore Cooper’s plot dramatize

1. confrontation between wilderness and civilization

2. the trials of the western heros caught between these contending forces

Erastus Beadle

issued the first dime novel in June 1860: Malaeska by Mrs. Stephens

she comissioned hundres of these stroies

dime novel characters

kit carson, Buffalo Bill Cody, fictional characters as well

purpose for dime novels

exaggerate and sensationalize for emotions and adventure. (NOT accuracy)

western formula birth

cowboys cam in 1880’s in place of the hunter & scout figure

Louis Lamour

he wrote 100 novels and 400 short stories and numerous screenplays. when he died, there was 200 million copies of his book in print.

Lous Lamour was born

Jamestown, north dakota, youngest of seven

Lamour parents

father was a vet and a boxer and he taught his 3 sons

mom emily was a teacher that loved to read and tell western stories to her kids

louis literature history

stories of french-irish forefathers, fronteir people with american roots going back to the 1600’s

Louis anscestors

grandpa fought in civil war

great grandma scalped by the sioux

fam moved to Oklahoma in 1923

33 family members were writers

Louis jobs

left school at 15: elephant handler, lumberjack, minor, fruit picker, lived with bandits in Tibet, ect

boxed professionally (won 51/59 matches)

served in WW2 as a tank officer

Louis personal facts

changed from LaMoore to L’Amour

avid reader that collected rare books

Louis career

settled in La to write professionally after the war

Louis marriage

married the young actress, Katherine Adams and she served as his personal assistant

had a son (beau Dearborn) and a daughter (Angelique Gabrielle)

Louis death

lung cancer: possibly due to exposure of harmful dust when he worked as a coal miner

Louis first work

short story “anything for a pal”. sold it to true gang life magazine

Louis’s continuous work

book of poetry (smoke from this alter)

det. stories and adv. stories to pulp magazine

wrote westerns under the pen name “JIM MAYO”

Clarence Mumford OG Hopalong Cassidy novels

Louis succesed him by writting 4 more novels under the pen name “TEX BURNS”. Louis denied this.

louis first novel

hondo published in 1953 by fawcett books. most popular. based on short story “GIft of Cochise” which was in colliers in 1952.

Louis film success

45 novels and Short stories made into feature films or tv shows.

louis dedication

signed contract for 2 books a year with bantam. this was extended to 3 and he did this till he died.

he traveled to the locations he wrote about to study the people who lived there.

researched legends of the wild west

Louis’s saga

the sackett family. first adaptation to tv. 18 novels in total.

Louis awards

golden spur award for “down the long hills”

theodore roosevelt rough rider award from North dakota

Hondo and flint are among the top 25 western novels of all time

golden saddleman award by WWofA

US presidents were fans of his novels

recieved the congressional gold medal and the medal of freedom (onlu novelist to win them both)

his books still sell millions per year

Hondo

not just the same old story with the hero given a different name and a different coloured horse (josh nesbitt)

3 phases of his work. this novel was during his early phase

early phase

graphic violence

direct moral utterance

frequent use of western lore and trivia

his simplist use of history

most direct statemetn of a moral code

hondo setting

the desert with the apache inhabitants

the guiding principle is to understand the desert, to know it and to survive wisely in it.

moral values of hondo

how to survive with honour

to pass on what one has learned

to die well

the real west film

vaquero cowboy from mexico is what NA adopted as their cowboy

longhorn came from mexico

2 round ups: gather the new cattle and seek out the ones shipped out for beef

trail boss- key man (paid 3x more)

point man - most experienced

swing and flank riders - keeping the sides

weather was an obstacle

pay tax when you come across indian territory

owen wister

considered father of the western. the virginian started a craze for tales of the old west

wister classic lines

this town aint big enough for the two of us

when you call me that, smile

wister parents

dad owen jones, mom sarah butler

dad was intellectual and mom was daughter of an actress. (her fam had many connections in europe) his mom encouraged his musical talents. his parents were never fully pleased with him. dad opposed his love of music, wanted him to be a business man in boston.

wister schooling

private school near home and then to harvard

he studied music in europe (piano)

wister job

returned to USA to work at a bank per dad’s request.

wister first novel

wrote it with his cousin but didnt submit to for publication

Wister’s health

had to summer in wyonming which is what awakened his love for western

Wister wife

after dad died, he married Mary Channing “Molly” wister. she was a school teacher. they supported each other in their ambitions. they had 3 girls and 3 boys.

when she died he no longer wrote fiction. when he died he was no longer remembered as a great lit. figure.

Wister work

at harvard, wrote for the college paper (The Crimson)

he wanted someone to cover the sagebrush country, so he became that someone.

WWofA named a major award after him

Wister’s Harper’s magazine features

“how lin mclean went west” : instant popularity and critical acclaim

“Hanks woman” :austrian servant girl, married a worthless man and driven to murder

wister’s first longer work

the virginian: soft spoken gent, able to survive. he defined mythic western hero as a quiet but volcanic strong man, plays by the rules

the virginian success

turned into a play

18 mil copies sold. read by more americans than any other book

4 movies were made

adapted to tv series

shaped american’s understanding of the american west

Wister’s expanded writing

novel of manners

lady baltimore - kind of a flop

last big work: Biography of good friend theodore roosevelt

The Virginian setting

takes place in the years leading up to Johnson county war.

small rsutlers accusing each other of rustleing, resulted in getting shot or lynched

welathy landowners used their influence to escape punishment

eventually the big and dmall ranchers worked out their differences

Virginian Narrative technique

narrator based on author: young dandy from the east on a summer sojourn to Wyoming

meets virginian, a cowhand at judge henrys sunk creek ranch. becomes involved in his adventures

narrator remains nameless, execpet when refered to as tenderfoot. (clumsy ineptitude)

always cheery and friendly. makes friends easily. careful observer.

enthusiast of wide open beauty of the west

stroy is first hand perspective, or an omniscent viewpoint.

deeply sympathetic to his friends.

the legacy of the virginian

the 14 ingredients that define the western novel

the 14 ingridients the define the western novel

the cowboy is a drifter, a hero, and gallant with women

purity of the land, violence is caused by evil

a villian is defeated by a hero, good always wins

moral system based on extremes

more talk than action

people are intruders in the wilderness

a dialect that is unique to the cowboy

little attention given to cattle

LOVE: cowboy and refined eastern woman

the gunfight

Zane Gray

3 important contributions to western genre

1. created the mysterious outlaw/gunfighter that fought for good

2. writing from a woman’s POV

3. established the western environment as a “test of character”

gray’s parents

born pearl zane gray.

dad lewis was a traveling preacher and dentist with wife alice.

family changed the speeling to grey shortly after Zane’s birth.

Grey grew up

Zanesville, ohio. named after his anscestor.

completed a fictional account of Ebenezer’s wife, Betty Zane. it failed to break even. still wrote a sequel, “the spirit of the border”

grey inspirations

avid reader of adventure (Robinson crusoe, leatherstocking tales, buffalo bill, and deadwood dick)

the great illustrators: Howard Pyle, Fred Remington

studied The Virginian: inspiried him to write full length work

grey first novel

Jim of the cave, age 15

Grey hobbies

excellent baseball player: declined offers to play pro to open a dental practice in NYC

earned degree in dentristry and wrote while practicing dentristry.

during this time, he started going by Zane

Grey’s wife

lina elise roth. 11 years younger and daughter of a successful NY doctor.

they had 3 kids

Grey’s travels

after a few more unrewarded novels, grey traveled west to write biography of buffalo jones. this used the last of Lina’s inheritance. after his return, he worte “heritage of the dessert” publishing rider of the purple sage 2 years after

greys novels

89 books which sold over 30 million copies

• 60 westerns

• 8 fishing books

• 6 childrens books

• 2 books about hunting

• plenty of short stories

grey’s adaptations

112 films, 3 tv series and theatre

greys death

died of heart attack while practicing casting a fishing line off the front porch of his Altadena estate

how mormonism came to be

began in upstate NY when Joseph Smith published the book of mormon.

the moves from ohio-missouri-illinois

attempt to create city of zion: place believers can gather freely

struggled with violence with non-believers

mormonism split

1844- Smith and his brother Hyrum were arrested and killed by a mob. the fight over succesion created 2 branches. Bringham young took majority of the congregation (modern day LDS).

young moved thme farther west due to persecution. (territory Gen) this was beyound the US law since utah did not belong to the USA yet.

Utah war

young was the governer of Utah

unofficial war started between mormons and outsiders

the tension resulted in Mountain Meadows Massacre (120 members of baker-fancher wagon trail died while traveling through cali.)

Anaszai

cave dwellers of utah: indigenous people who lived in southern utah during the Pueblo period. began as a foraging society— settled into agricultural based lifestyle.

anasazi homes

logs and mud, switched to round homes made of stone and wood roofs.

cliff dwellings that had apartment house (5 stories and hundreds of rooms)

these homes were luxiourios, cooking pots and decorated ladels.

anasazi communities

grew corn, cotton, squash, beans, ect.

created bows, arrows, clay pottery, turquiose jewelery, and cotton clothing

anasazi dissapearance

innovative irrigation techniques (dikes and terraces) however a drought settled in the southern portion of utah.

horses in riders

importance of relationship between rider and horse in terms of survival

• lassiter & blind horse and bells'

• venter & love for wrangle

• jane & devotion to her racers

• Jerry Card & prominence with riding in physcial disfigurement

moral code in riders

characters who exist on the margins of society are paradoxically more moral than religious leaders

morality and righteousness tend to be the opposite

gender conflict in riders

jane is told to behave as a mormon woman in which she needs to obey the religious leaders. however the actions of those religious leaders is what leaves her to rely on two non mormon riders and a gunslinger. (they have janes best interest at heart)

religious ocnflict in riders

lassiter recognizes the manipulation of jane and accuses her of being blind because she cant see the same thing. he has a negative view of mormon men becuase of what happened to Milly.

Charles Portis

his works were admired for their deadpan comic tone, colourful characters, and spirit of adventure

Portis parents

dad samuel and mom alice, he was born in el dorado arkansas

Portis jobs

enlisted in marine corps and served in korean war

earned a degree in journalism at uni or arkansas

reporter in Memphis, TN then for the Arkansas gazette, then to the NY Herald-tribune. he covered the civil rights movement

then he moved home and devoted himself to writing fiction full time

Portis first novel

norwood: tale of a naive ex marine who wanders from state in an attempt to collect $70 debt

Portis first attempt at western

true grit: praised for its realistic sense of place and dry wit. its serialzation in the saturday evening post. it became a best seller. it was ocmpared to mark twain’s huckleberry finn.

2 movie adaptations

Portis other work

after 10 years, Portis returned with the “dog of the south”: a bookish mans meandering journey from arkansas to Belize in search of his estranged wife and car.

“Masters of atlantis” pokes fun at secret socities with his depiction of an atlantis organization

“gringos” a quest for another ancient civilization, a lost city in the jungles of mexico

Portis death

private about his personal life. suffered from alzhemers disease and died in little rock, arkansas.

true grit: title and central theme

“they tell me your a man with true grit”

“was this what they call grit in fort smith? we call it something else in yell county.”

“it was some darling move on the part of the deputy marshall whose manliness and grit i had doubted. No grit? Rooster Cogburn? not much!”

true grit setting

fort smith arkansas and indian territory

post civil war 1870’s

true grit narrative techniques

first person narrator, courtroom transcript receration

mattie as an adult writer looking back

deliberate breaks where the adult narrator breaks away from the story to comment with hindsight on the political/historical development since the time of the action.

bildungsroman

a coming of age story that recounts the growth of a protagonist from childhood to maturation, usually through a series of difficult circumstances