Description:
More than any other pioneer of the genre, Owen Wister turned the Western into a form of social and political critique, touching on such issues as race, the environment, women's rights, and immigration. In Owen Wister and the West, a biographical-literary account of Wister's life and writings, Gary Scharnhorst shows how the West shaped Wister's career and ideas, even as he lived and worked in the East.
Brief description:
Gary Scharnhorst is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico and author of numerous books, including Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West and Julian Hawthorne: The Life of a Prodigal Son and Owen Wister and the West and Julian Hawthorne: The Life of a Prodigal Son.
Review Quotes: "In this welcome new biography, Gary Scharnhorst corrects the impression left by previous biographers of Owen Wister that, after The Virginian, Wister paid little attention to the American West. As Scharnhorst shows, Wister instead continued to make the West an important theme in his travels, fiction, letters, and personal contacts. A lively and thoughtful writer, Scharnhorst shows once again why he is at the forefront of literary scholars."--Glen Love, author of Practical Ecocriticism: Literature, Biology, and the Environment