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the_appeal_of_westerns_by_joyce_saricks

The appeal of Westerns by Joyce Saricks

This information was provided as part of the 2016 readers' advisory seminar.

Appeal of Landscape Genres (Westerns, Fantasy, Historical Fiction)

  • Settings—whether real or imagined—and background details matter
  • Often slower paced to accommodate extensive details and world building
  • Stories may build on historical characters or events or retell familiar
  • tales
  • Timeless—or out-of-time quality. Don’t date as quickly; classics remain
  • popular.

WESTERNS Why Read Westerns?

  • Useful crossover for some historical fiction fans
  • Great stories—adventure, exploration, gunslingers, pioneers
  • Represent the past of both our countries so there’s a guaranteed market
  • Westerns in the US
  • Are set west of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers from end of Civil War
  • (1865) until 20th century
  • Offer a feel of the Old West rather than the details of Historical Fiction
  • Feature cowboys, scouts, Indians, settlers, and lawmen
  • Explore the clash between civilization and anarchy in mythic stories of men
  • and the land.
  • Share similarities with Australia: terrain, aborigines, settling the unsettled
  • areas

The Appeal of Westerns Frame/Setting: Rich in landscape descriptions with setting lyrically and evocatively described but also treacherous

  • Elmer Kelton (Hard Trail to Follow), Matt Braun (Dakota), C. J. Box (Off the Grid), Annie Proulx (Close Range: Wyoming Stories)

Characterizations:

  • Stories feature mythic heroes and real historical characters.
  • Women may be secondary in traditional westerns but play a larger role in recent titles.
  • Often stereotypical good/bad.
  • Jack Schaefer (Shane), Loren D. Estleman (Aces and Eights), Molly Gloss (The Hearts of Horses), Jo-Ann Mapson (Blue Rodeo), Larry McMurtry (Comanche Moon)

Story Lines:

  • Story lines often place hero in a morality play; he brings justice and restores order.
  • Other themes include survival in a harsh environment, the redemptive power of the west, revenge, and coming of age.
  • Max Brand (Destry Rides Again), Zane Grey (Riders of the Purple Sage), Leif Enger (Peace Like a River), Michael Punke (The Revenant), Stephen Overholser (Night Hawk)

Pacing:

  • Pace depends on storyline. Adventure moves story more quickly; description slows the pace. These are stories of the westward expansion and there’s a sense of forward movement.
  • Louis L’Amour (Sackett’s Land), Loren D. Estleman (Hombre)

Style/Language:

  • Colorful but spare language.
  • Often rich in jargon.
  • Reminiscences and diaries sometimes tell these stories.
  • Even poetry
  • Nancy E. Turner (These Is My Words), Charles Portis (True Grit), Thomas Berger (Little Big Man), Banjo Paterson (Man from Snowy River), Robert Service (Dan McGrew, Sam McGee)

Tone/Mood:

  • Often a nostalgic tone, celebrating past times.
  • Humor may also play a role.
  • Think: cowboy songs
  • Cormac McCarthy (Blood Meridian), Seth McFarlane (A Million Ways to Die in the West), Larry McMurtry (Sin Killer)

Classic Westerns: Elmer Kelton

  • Sure Bet
  • Character-centered
  • Historically accurate
  • Texas settings
  • Characters placed in realistic settings rather than action

Louis L’Amour

  • Revived Westerns
  • Action-packed tales of adventure and survival
  • Strong heroes fighting for justice
  • Lives on in reprints and audiobooks (especially with David Strathairn reading!)

Ivan Doig

  • Homesteaders, not cowboys
  • Western Montana setting
  • Lyrical writing
  • Sense of place and love of the land

More Classics

  • Robert B. Parker (Virgil Cole & Everett Hitch series)
  • Don Coldsmith (Trail of the Spanish Bit series)
  • Owen Wister (The Virginian)
  • Jack Schaefer (Shane)
  • A. B. Guthrie (Western Saga)
  • Alan Le May (The Searchers)

Authors to Know: Johnny D. Boggs

  • Action and adventure
  • Vividly drawn characters, including Indian protagonists
  • Unusual settings

Loren D. Estleman

  • Known also for Detroit Mysteries
  • Single title westerns about Western figures and Page Murdock series
  • (Mystery blend)
  • Solid research
  • More elegant writing
  • Gritty
  • Details of western landscape, external and internal

Joe Lansdale

  • Dark, gritty, quirky and offbeat tales
  • Fast paced adventures
  • Well-drawn characters
  • Witty style
  • Also writes award-winning mysteries and horror

Larry McMurtry

  • De-romanticizes the West, historical and contemporary
  • Vivid characters, including woman
  • Strong sense of time and place
  • Lyrical prose
  • Often nostalgic, melancholy tone
  • Sweeping, cinematic tales
  • Leisurely paced
  • Western Nonfiction

Richard S. Wheeler

  • Prolific with multiple series
  • Frontiersmen and settlers
  • Real historical figures
  • Character-centered
  • Richly detailed settings
  • Compelling stories

Crossover/Genre Blends

  • Historical Fiction (Etta by Gerald Kolpan, The First Mountain Men by William W.
  • Johnstone, Doc by Mary Doria Russell, All Together in Our Place by Jane
  • Kilpatrick, Gunman’s Rhapsody by Robert B. Parker)
  • Mystery (Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith)
  • Romance (A Wanted Man by Linda Lael Miller)
  • Inspirational (Throw the Devil off the Train by Stephen Bly)
  • Horror (Hell’s Bounty by Joe Lansdale)
  • Fantasy (Territory by Emma Bull)
  • Science Fiction (Empress of Mars by Kage Baker and Firefly)

Ultimate Blend Patrick DeWitt’s The Sisters Brothers–Western, Literary, Crime Thriller, Historical, Black Humor

Trends in Westerns

  • Modern “Western” (Michael McGarrity, C. J. Box, William Kent Krueger,Jo-Ann Mapson, Leif Enger)
  • Reprints of Older Westerns (Louis L’Amour)
  • TV shows on DVD (Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Tombstone, Wagon Train, as well as Ken Burns’ series, The

West), and movies (Stephen King’s The Dark Tower and Quentin Tarantino’s Hateful Eight)

  • “Adult” Westerns
  • Explicit sex and violence
  • Less concern for Western setting and themes
  • Covers reveal whether “traditional” or “adult” (Jake Logan, Tabor Evans, Jon Sharpe, Clay Dawson, Wesley Ellis)

Web Resources

Awards

Literary Westerns

  • Peter Carey (True History of the Kelly Gang)
  • Annie Proulx (Close Range)
  • Larry McMurtry (The Last Kind Words Saloon)
  • Mary Doria Russell (Epitaph)
  • Philipp Meyer (The Son)
  • Ivan Doig (English Creek)
  • Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men)
  • Lin Enger (The High Divide)

Joyce Saricks / saricksj@gmail.com / March, 2016

the_appeal_of_westerns_by_joyce_saricks.txt · Last modified: 2020/10/28 23:13 by 127.0.0.1