AMS 105- American West: Images and Identities

 

Literature of the American West

Literature of the American West is a genre of fiction and non-fiction that primarily dealt with the 'Old West' of the 19th century, usually 1860-1900. This has broadened in recent years to cover any time period, but still focused on the natural and human context in what we defined as the American West of North America. There are similar genres in Argentina and Australia. The fiction in the form of short stories and novels emphasizes conquest and subordination of nature and/or Native Americans that reflected ideas of Manifest Destiny. Also, this literature demonstrates a necessity of having to have an unwritten code of honor in the lawless 'wild west'. Many are morality tales involving saving damsels in distress and/or innocent frontier families. The Virginian by Owen Wister is considered the first. Later, Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour were some of the most prolific of Western fiction, but a cut above some of the pulp fiction by the likes of Ned Buntline. Later writers produced Westerns that are moralistically ambiguous and come into the 20th and 21st century. Some of the better writers include Elmore Leonard, Leigh Bracket, Larry McMurty and Tony Hillerman. Many of these works were used for T.V. and film Westerns.

                                                                                 

 

Reference Links on Western Literature

WestWeb: C. Lavendar, Dept. of History, CUNY, City of Staten Island

Western Literature Association

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum: Western Heritage Awards: Novels

Dictionary of Western Authors

Western Writers of America; fiction and non-fiction

Best Westerns of the 20th Century