"Our hero's been beaten up. He's been plugged. Against long odds, he
has shot up a gang of black hats. He is a champion of values that no
one
knew he held, and which it seems, civilized folk just ain't willin' to
fight for no more. He's all man, all right, but there's no fit for him
in this town so he rides on." ~ Peter Monaghan
"People headed into the unknown West brimming with hopes and visions, carrying dreams in their pockets. The West transformed them, broke the weak, tested the courageous, tempted the virtuous, transformed the dependent into independent, drove some mad, and broke family and generational ties. People were transformed by their foray into a new land, so there is an ongoing drama of personal growth or destruction, testing new ethics, abandoning old ones." ~ Richard Wheeler
"By the end of the twenties, the conventions of the genre were well established; and pulp Western magazines such as Western Story had achieved wide circulation. Given the stylization of this action-adventure genre, there was little room of nuance or complication in the early Westerns; and certainly its representations of women, Native Americans, and any non-Anglo Westerner are deeply problematic." "Time was when a library could set up standing orders for Westerns from Walker, Evans, and Doubleday and pretty much satisfy the few old codgers who still were interested." ~ John Mort
The American Western Magazine includes good brief reviews of new books and links to authors.
Bookbrowser has an excellent list of series and sequels.
CyberSpace Spinner's Archive of Western Fiction contains useful lists of writers, including pseudonyms and award winners.
dmoz.org provides a good set of author links.
Jim Janke's Old West includes a brief list of major authors with a few selected works for each.
Mostly Fiction.com provides brief book reviews and some sample chapters.
Read the West is an online magazine providing a variety of links to things western.
Read West Online Magazine is a good source of reviews, author news, and book news.
The Reader's Choice Network contains a reader ranked "Western Fiction Bookshelf."
The Western Writers of American host the Spur Awards each year. Categories of most interest to us are best Western novel, best novel of the West, best original paperback novel, best first novel (Medicine Pipe Bearer Award), and best Western juvenile fiction. Award winners may be found this Salt Lake City Library site
Women Writing the West lists the winners of the Willa (after Willa Cather) awards.
Zane Grey's West Society provides a complete list of his works.
Gale's "What do I read next" series includes What Western Do I Read Nest? A Reader's Guide to Recent Fiction by Wayne Barton. About 3000 titles are included. Indexes include series, story type, place, time, character occupation, character name, author and title.
Garland's "Reference Library of the Humanities" series includes Western American Novelists by Martin Kich and Western Series and Sequels: A Reference Guide, 2nd ed. by Bernard Drew.
The Six-Gun Mystique Sequel by John Cawelti is another critical evaluation of the genre, its appeal, and impact on U.S. culture.
Telling Western Stories: From Buffalo Bill to Larry McMurtry by Richard Etulain begins with the origins of western stories and examines how the genre has changed over time.
Ten Most Wanted: the New Western Literature by Blake Allmendinger is a thoughtful examination of the genre and its appeal.
Twentieth Century Western Writers is another St. James work. Covers about 500 authors who have written about the frontier experience.
The Western: Parables of the American Dream by Jeffrey Wallman studies the genre with some attention to why it has not been taken seriously.
Western Series and Sequels by Bernard Drew covers 750 novels.
Arranged by series characters.
There is some tension between the western as a genre rather than a
sub genre under historical fiction or adventure. Some Westerns would
also fit
well under the mystery or romance genre. Most of the books in this
genre are
historical, although the contemporary western has become more popular.
Most
public library readers probably consider the western in terms of place
and a
time period that ended in the early 20th Century. There is a
distinction
between NOVELS OF THE WEST which tend to be literary, mainstream, and
sometimes
unconventional and WESTERN FICTION which tends to be traditional genre
fiction rooted in pulp magazine traditions. WESTERN FICTION is often
true to genre conventions which may not provide an accurate picture of
the West. Most genre readers prefer the more stereotypical WESTERN
FICTION. Typical elements include:
For older Americans who grew up watching John Wayne at the theater and then Gunsmoke on the radio and TV, the Western was the most American of the genres. It combined widely understood myth/legend with a variety of stereotyped notions about a real place and time. The cowboy, the gun fighter, the judge, ranchers, stage coaches, cattle drives, "Indians," the greedy rancher or railroad tycoon, the outlaw, and the lawman were known, understood American characters.
The West and the Civil War are probably the two U.S. historical
periods
with the most reader appeal. The frontier has always been a special
place in
history because it is a place where civilization is on the margins and
men [and some women] do
what they must with little interference from the establishment. It also
represents a new beginning for many where what they do is more
important than what they did in the past.
In a culture fond of guns and shooting, the Western has a special
appeal
since almost anyone might carry and use the gun. The loner with the gun
who
makes things right is a familiar theme. The gun is also an "equalizer"
that gives power to the less powerful.
Until recently, the Western genre was almost exclusively a male one.
Females played minor and supporting roles. Traditional westerns can be
a comforting read for
those who would like to return to the good old days when men were men
and
women were.... Ignoring the violence, usually not terribly explicit,
westerns were comfortable readers.
The loner who goes where he needs to go, unencumbered by all the stuff of civilization, is appealing at a time when most men are overwhelmed with responsibilities and tied to one place.
The West was often a harsh, demanding environment which severely tested men and women. Surviving the environment was an adventure to say nothing of Indians and outlaws.
Justice is done. The hero may not survive, but the wicked are
punished and visibly so.
Many Western novels are relatively short with a straight-forward plot and a single story line. Pages turn quickly. Writing is direct and the plot is easily understood. Characters are often stereotypical which makes them easy to understand.
The popularity of the Western novel is closely linked to the availability of the Western film. When popular Western films are issued, readership of the novel notably increases. The lack of recent Western films in theaters or Western adventure series on TV has undoubtedly contributed to the declining popularity of the genre.
By the early 1990s, demand for the traditional hard cover Western novel had declined notably. Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour remain popular and continue to sell reasonably well. However, they do not attract new readers to the genre. Few western novels are issued in cloth -- always a problem for libraries..
With relatively few hard cover Westerns being issued, review attention is limited. While a few hard cover Westerns are now being issued from university presses, others come from smaller houses which lack visibility. The mass market paper editions that represent most of the current publishing are often ignored by library selectors.
The flow of mass market paper editions, many of which sell well, indicate that although this genre may be less popular than before, it is still read by quite a few readers and deserves more attention from collection developers and reader's advisors.
Increasingly, Western novels include strong female characters and
are
sometimes written from that viewpoint. The same is true of Native
Americans.
Forge, the paperback imprint of St. Martins has a "Women of the West"
series
that has done well. Interestingly, they are called "western
historicals" and
not Westerns. More publishers and readers are open to historicals than
to
Westerns. A small number of novels have been published dealing with the
African-American in the West. Historical westerns seem to have
considerable
potential and are likely to increase genre popularity even if under a
related
name.
Some sexually explicit westerns, often in series, have been issued
in the last two decades. Too, violence has become more explicit in some
novels. This means that the western is no longer a "safe" genre even
though many stories are traditional in mood and manner.
Christian or inspirational publishing houses have found that their version of the Western can be popular. Several evangelical publishers--Crossway, Tyndale and Bethany for example--issue western historicals. These usually gentle reads will extend the popularity of the genre to a new group of readers.
Is "western" a place, a time, or an adventure with certain necessary elements? Does the term "contemporary western" make sense? Why?
To what degree should westerns be placed in historical fiction? Why?
Why do westerns appeal to older white men? To others?
To what degree do film and TV programs stimulate reading westerns?
What do you think that the popularity of this genre has declined in the last few years?
If genre reading was ranked according to difficulty, would westerns be the easiest to write? Why?
Could you write a "politically correct" western? Would it have
reader
appeal?
