West of Everything: The Inner Life of Westerns (Oxford Paperbacks)

Product Description

A leading figure in the debate over the literary canon, Jane Tompkins was one of the first to point to the ongoing relevance of popular women’s fiction in the 19th century, long overlooked or scorned by literary critics. Now, in
West of Everything, Tompkins shows how popular novels and films
of the American west have shaped the emotional lives of people in our time.
Into this world full of violence and manly courage, the world of John Wayne and Louis L’Amour, Tompkins takes her readers, letting them feel what the hero feels, endure what he endures. Writing with sympathy, insight, and respect, she probes the main elements of the Western–its preoccupation
with death, its barren landscapes, galloping horses, hard-bitten men and marginalized women–revealing the view of reality and code of behavior these features contain. She considers the Western hero’s attraction to pain, his fear of women and language, his desire to dominate the environment–and to
merge with it. In fact, Tompkins argues, for better or worse Westerns have taught us all–men especially–how to behave.
It was as a reaction against popular women’s novels and women’s invasion of the public sphere that Westerns originated, Tompkins maintains. With Westerns, men were reclaiming cultural territory, countering the inwardness, spirituality, and domesticity of the sentimental writers, with a rough
and tumble, secular, man-centered world. Tompkins brings these insights to bear in considering film classics such as
Red River and
Lonely Are the Brave, and novels such as Louis L’Amour’s
Last of the Breed and Owen Wister’s
The Virginian. In one of the most moving chapters (chosen for
Best American

Essays of 1991), Tompkins shows how the life of Buffalo Bill Cody, killer of Native Americans and charismatic star of the Wild West show, evokes the contradictory feelings which the Western typically elicits–horror and fascination with violence, but also love and respect for the romantic ideal of
the cowboy.
Whether interpreting a photograph of John Wayne of meditating on the slaughter of cattle, Jane Tompkins writes with humor, compassion, and a provocative intellect. Her book will appeal to many Americans who read or watch Westerns, and to all those interested in a serious approach to popular
culture.

Review

“The feminist perspective of West of Everything makes it invaluable to the ongoing critical discourse on Westerns.”―The San Francisco Chronicle

“Jane Tompkins knows her Western through and through; she handles details, events and scenes from novels and movies with skill and surety….She brings spirit, energy, freshness and originality to a field of study that has long been buried many feet deep in cliches.”―Patricia Nelson Limerick, The Boston Sunday Globe

“A passionate and generous book.”―Newsday

“Interesting and thought-provoking.”―Library Journal

“In explaining how she overcame her prejudices against the Western Tompkins illuminates the genre as few others ever have.”―Hubert I. Cohen, University of Michigan

“A daring and confrontational literary essay meant to rattle the peace of mind of just about every cowboy on the face of the earth….Throughout her book [Tompkins] evidences a charm, honesty, and sense of intellectual adventure that would make her a happy pardner on a long ride….And why do I love Miz Tompkins so much for bush-whacking the myth of the West inside me? Because she’s right.”―John Calvin Batchelor, Washington Post Book World

“Anyone who cares about American popular culture could profit from reading this masterpiece.”―Booklist

“We’ve long recognized that the western is a basic myth of masculinity. Thus, it’s not surprising that a woman scholar might have, if not the last word, at least a good deal to say about the genre. What’s even more striking is that Jane Tompkins in West of Everything not only develops an insightful feminist critique of the western as macho mythos, but also has some brilliant observations to make