Reading the Old Letters

I spent much of the late afternoon and early evening reading through many letters written by Owen Wister. I never found what I was looking for, but something did hit home as I read through about a dozen letters. Where will letters be for researchers in the future? I love Twitter, texting and sending short emails but doubt that this type of correspondence, by people of interest in today’s world, would make for much research material.

Got me to thinking that if future generations need to learn more about today’s world it may take historical research into their topic person’s blog posts to find anything. And if they didn’t blog? Well, we will be left with things like this.

 Text Messages!

C U @ 10

K

Or maybe something like this.

How R U feeling

Ok wht ur it gone

Not sure that kind of reading would give much insight into someone’s life. Maybe Twitter, but I don’t think so. 140 characters does not allow much to be said. That is also one of the reasons I like it, but there is no depth.

Possibly, video blogs and news articles, most highly slanted in today’s world, will do for research of this generation.

Sad, I love reading through those old letters, it can give insight into a subjects, real life, real thoughts, and to the person outside of the public spotlight.  This week alone I have read through three collections of letters.  Other than Wister I have spent time combing through letters from soldiers at Fort Laramie and another few hours looking at some of the personal correspondences of one of my Wyoming heroes, Edgar Wilson Nye.

Might just be nostalgia.

Finding New Readers for Western's

I recently heard a comment that no one reads westerns anymore. Haven’t we all heard that, and often? And at first glance, that sure looks to be true. Reminded me of a baseball story, or maybe it was because I watched the Rockies and Brewers Friday evening.

As a kid growing up in Nebraska, I was a big New York Yankee fan. Not sure why I was, but I knew all the players, their positions and their numbers. One of my favorites was, Yogi Berra, the great Yankee catcher who once said, the reason he quit going to Ruggeri’s, a St. Louis restaurant, to eat anymore, was, “Nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.”

Maybe it’s that kind of reasoning that makes western novels something, “no one reads anymore.”

Yogi didn’t get it, and maybe those of us who encourage young people to read are thinking as off keel as he was. Often when today's readers decide to read a western they are steered to classics like, The Virginian, or Riders of the Purple Sage. Both great reads, but books I would say are much too dated and are difficult reading for a first time western reader. When one becomes a serious fan of westerns these will become, must, reads.

Some young readers are told to read Louis L’Amour, because his books are still sold everywhere and so many people have read them. I enjoyed many of L’Amour’s books and have read and enjoyed both The Virginian and Riders of the Purple Sage, but none of them are a first time western reader type of book.

So what would I suggest? Something by Elmer Kelton, Tony Hillerman or Loren Estleman to start. Why? I find them more captivating than some of the older westerns, might grab a young reader more quickly.

I also really like the modern day westerns of two Wyoming writers, C.J. Box and Craig Johnson. (Johnson’s books are the basis for the hit A&E series, Longmire and, the multi-award winning, Box has had a number of New York Times best sellers, centered on his Wyoming game warden, Joe Pickett. In my part of the world a lot of high school kids like these two writers.

How about a western movie to get them started. I like, Smoke Signals, The Last of the Dogmen, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Not the choices of anyone else I have seen, but I am talking about whetting the aptitude of readers for the western genre. Smoke Signals is hard hitting, Dogmen is a bit of a fantasy and Butch and Sundance has some great comedy and music. Something for everyone.

NOTE- This post is not about teaching about the west, it is about getting the younger generation interested in reading, once again, the western genre.

If you completely disagree with this post, I could always quote Yogi again. Responding to a question about remarks attributed to him that he did not think were his: “I really didn’t say everything I said.”

Great Western Novel Opening Lines

Today we will look at the first of two parts on famous, western novel, first lines. Some opening lines are great, some are all right and some are downright dreadful. See if you can guess who penned these first lines. Answers on the bottom of the page—no peaking.

1.     “It was my privilege to know the late Jack Crabb – frontiersman, Indian scout, gunfighter, buffalo hunter, adopted Cheyenne – In the final days upon this earth.

2.     “Some notable sight was drawing the passengers, both men and women, to the window; and therefore I rose and crossed the car to see what it was.”

3.     “A sharp clip-crop of Iron-shod hoofs deadened and died away, and clouds of yellow dust drifted from under the cottonwoods out over the sage.”

4.     “He rode into the valley in the summer of 89. I was a kid then, barley topping the backboard of father’s old chuckwagon.”

5.     “Lil ol’ town, you don’t amount to much,” said Harry Destry. “You never done nothing an’ you ain’t gonna come to no good.”

-See Answers Below-

 

 

 

1.       Thomas Burger, Little Big Man

2.       Owen Wister, The Virginian

3.       Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage

4.       Jack Schaefer, Shane

5.       Max Brand, Destry Rides Again

 

-Another five opening lines coming up in 48 hours-

The Westerner, The Virginian and Good vs. Evil

In Robert Warshow famous essay, “The Westerner,” he talks about the classic genre western. Warshow says it is, “always around 1870 and the hero is the last gentleman.” That was so true of the old style one dimensional western, and I liked and read a lot of them. They are still popular enough to remain in print today and provide a living or part of a living for many western writers.

Warshow goes on to say that, “The Westerner comes into the field of serious art only when his moral code, without ceasing to be compelling, is seen also to be imperfect.” This really brings to mind the first of the great moral dilemma westerns, one that in fact came out before the rubber stamped Hollywood versions of the old west. The book and movie was the, “Virginian,” a story where the protagonist must decide what to do when it is all about bringing the bad guy to justice and the bad guy is an old friend.

Take a look at what you are reading—is it an old time good vs. evil, Hollywood story, or is it more compelling, with the hero chasing not only bad guys but maybe a few inner demons as well?

 Warshow also compared the western to the gangster movies of his generation (the 40s and 50s) and one could do that today comparing recent western movies to new gangster genre movies and Television series.

“The gangster's world is less open, and his arts not so easily identifiable as the Westerner's. Perhaps he too can keep his counten...ance, but the mask he wears is really no mask: its purpose is precisely to make evident the fact that he desperately wants to "get ahead" and will stop at nothing. Where the Westerner imposes himself by the appearance of unshakable control, the gangster's pre-eminence lies in the suggestion that he may at any moment lose control; his strength is not in being able to shoot faster or straighter than others, but in being more willing to shoot. "Do it first," say Scarface expounding his mode of operation, "and keep on doing it!" With the Westerner, it is a crucial point of honor not to "do it first"; his gun remains in his holster until the moment of combat.”*

*  http://quotes.dictionary.com/author/robert+warshow?page=1#dETLrchdcPXoLSsy.99