Writing the Wild Frontier - May, Stephen J.

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Résumé :
For over 200 years, the American Western novel has chronicled much of the American experience, especially those of James Fenimore Cooper, Bret Harte, Andy Adams, Jack Schaefer and Larry McMurtry. Alongside the roguish figure of the cowboy, Westerns depict the experiences of women and minorities as they face the hardships and deprivations of the frontier. This book is directed at the general reader who is interested in the literature, history and culture of the American West. Exploring novels that have achieved a high level of acclaim, it is a survey and homage to the frontier's lasting works, detailing both the writers' lives and their fictional creations. The author traces the development of the Western novel through biography, anecdote, summary, analysis and informed criticism, revealing the struggles and triumphs of the genre's authors, the changing standards of the frontier story and the lasting effects of the region's magisterial landscape....

Biographie:
Stephen J. May a literary critic, biographer, essayist and novelist, is the author of 11 other books, including biographies of landscape painter J.M.W. Turner, Western author Zane Grey, railroad titan William Jackson Palmer, and Pulitzer Prize winning author James A. Michener. A former university educator, he has written extensively on how the West has shaped the American identity. He lives in Arizona....

Sommaire:
Table of Contents

Preface
Author's Note
One. James Fenimore Cooper
delete deleteThe Transformative Power of Landscape
Two. Mark Twain and Bret Harte
delete deleteThe West Undone
Three. Owen Wister
delete deleteThe Cult of Western Manliness
Four. Andy Adams and Jack London
delete deleteThe Lure of the Wild
Five. Willa Cather
delete deleteOur ?ntonia
Six. Zane Grey, Max Brand, and Luke Short
delete deleteThe Fabulist Phenomenon
Seven. Edna Ferber and Laura Ingalls Wilder
delete deleteSo Big, So Little
Eight. Walter Van Tilburg Clark and A.B. Guthrie
delete deleteFrom the ?Ox-Bow to the Big Sky
Nine. Jack Schaefer
delete deleteA Few Good Riders
Ten. Edward Abbey and Charles Portis
delete deleteThe Defiant Ones
Eleven. Wallace Stegner
delete deleteExplorations and Revolutions
Twelve. James A. Michener and Larry McMurtry
delete deleteThe Epic West
Thirteen. Cormac McCarthy
delete deleteNo Man's Land
A Timeline of the Western Novel and Other Notable Works of the Frontier
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
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