Marija Dalbello Reading Interests of Adults Western Rutgers School of Communication and Information Image credit: Victor GAD

Overview _______________________________________ Introduction What is Western? Genre characteristics and appeal “The Formula” History and types Conclusion

What is a Western? _______________________________________ Takes place or is about the West Formula Western Western novels Novels of the West Industrialization and urbanization (19th century) American myth of the conquest of the frontier Monumental “coming of age” plot - the child within Men’s romance? Western Writers of America at:

What is a Western Men’s romance? _______________________________________ Manhood as ideal - romance of solitude Hero at the center - self-reliant, independent Reversal of the ideal of womanhood as represented in romantic fiction Escapist fantasy which glorifies individualism and need to be reunited with nature In reaction to domestic female fiction - conflict in the public sphere (of the 19th century)

What is a Western Or narrative of male violence? _______________________________________ Materialistic, antifeminist, secular Obsession with death and male suffering Glorification of sensory action, physical violence Displacement of a deep need for expression of the child within, a coming-of-age plot Conquest of the West and the death of nature, native people, and the buffalo

Genre characteristics and appeal What readers like _______________________________________ The hero dominates the western The hero is strong, self-reliant, self-sufficient, in conflict with nature, man or with himself Dream of freedom in a world of unspoiled nature - nature is central character Independence of society and the constraints of civilization Individual heroism at the center Story of conquest and survival

Genre characteristics and appeal The Formula _______________________________________ Time and place important: the myth of the West Genre dimensions and iconography (Tompkins) Women and the language of men Coverage of death Landscape Horses Cattle Story-line simple and dependent on dichotomies Nature - Society Hero - Villains East - West etc.

Genre characteristics and appeal Iconograpy, symbolism, narrative _______________________________________ Women and the language of men Coverage of death Landscape Horses Cattle Themes identified by Jane Tompkins as constitutive of Western

Women and the language of men Western - antithesis of the culture of domesticity that dominated Victorian culture (women’s culture) Women-led reformist movements and Women’s Christian Temperance Union crusade targeting whiskey, gambling, prostitution Iconography of the western: indoor setting -saloon vs. church Dichotomy translated at the level of discourse and iconography Humanistic and theological discourse (religion and authority of the church) - language of women Physical action, hard boiled and terse - language of men “When a man with a 45 meets a man with a rifle you say that a man with a pistol is a dead man. Let’s see if that’s true. Go ahead, load up and shoot.” “When a man has money in his pocket he begins to appreciate peace.” (Clint Eastwood, in For a Fistful of Dollars)

Death The narrative’s stylization is a way of controlling its violence Death and suffering glorified, stylized Symbolizes encounter of civilization and the frontier

Landscape Setting is a character The appeal of desert as a metaphor Western framed within landscape (beginning and end) Hardness and austerity - primal engagement with nature

Horses Presence of horses in western - their disappearance in nature Horses are vitality, wildness, hero’s connection to the earth Body of the hero is the analogue of the horse he rides Horse symbolizes subjugation of nature to the hero Horse ensures survival of the hero Antithesis to technology

Cattle Cattle in Western is raised to be killed, not to be subjugated Cattle is anonymous, invisible, manipulated in mass Antithetical to freedom: to be herded and to be fenced in Cattle is wealth

Historical development _______________________________________ Precursors and foundational works Frontier fiction, captivity narratives James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans (1826) Beadle “dime novels” (1860) Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show ( ) Owen Wister, The Virginian (1902) Karl May (European) Western novels - notable writers Zane Grey, Max Brand (1920s-1930s) Louis L’Amour (1950s) Larry McMurtry the only living classic author Trends Imprints for classic westerns University presses (set in respective states, historical) Revisionist - depicting the unromanticized West Young adult and juvenile (most active) Evangelicals (Bethany House, Crossway, Multinomah)

Types of Western _______________________________________ Thematic categorization Native Americans Indian Captives Mountain Men Wagons West and early settlement Merchants and Teamsters Mines and mining Law and lawmen Bad men and good Army in the West Texas and Mexico Hired man on horseback Cattle drives Cattle kingdoms Range Wars Sheepmen Buffalo Runners Celebrity characters Singular Women African Americans in the West, Mormons, etc.

Types of Western _______________________________________ Aspect and audience Unromanticized Picaresque Comedy and parody Coming of age Romance Young adult Westerns Other The West lives on Eccentric variations Sagas Series

Conclusion _______________________________________ The Western is a myth of individualism and the frontier The conflict at the core (nature, civilization) Debates about the survival of westerns Steady-sellers and transmedia genre Genre of male identification