Forrest G. Robinson - Having It Both Ways: Self-Subversion in Western Popular Classics

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Page iii Having It Both Ways Self-Subversion in Western Popular Classics Forrest G. Robinson UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO PRESS ALBUQUERQUE

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title	:	Having It Both Ways : Self-subversion in Western Popular Classics
author	:	Robinson, Forrest G.
publisher	:	University of New Mexico
isbn10 | asin	:	0826317502
print isbn13	:	9780826317506
ebook isbn13	:	9780585276694
language	:	English
subject	Western stories--History and criticism, Popular literature--West (U.S.)--History and criticism, American fiction--History and criticism, Social norms in literature, West (U.S.) in literature, Self in literature.
publication date	:	1996
lcc	:	PS374.W4R6 1996eb
ddc	:	813.009/3278
subject	:	Western stories--History and criticism, Popular literature--West (U.S.)--History and criticism, American fiction--History and criticism, Social norms in literature, West (U.S.) in literature, Self in literature.

Page iv Chapter 1 appeared as "Uncertain Borders: Race, Sex, and Civilization in The Last of the Mohicans," Arizona Quarterly 47 (1991): 1-28; a version of chapter 2 has been published as "The Virginian and Molly in Paradise: How Sweet Is It?" Western American Literature 21 (1986):27-38; chapter 3 came out as "The Eyes Have It: An Essay on Jack London's The Sea-Wolf,'' American Literary Realism 18 (1985): 178-95; a shorter version of chapter 4 appeared as ''Heroism, Home, and the Telling of Shane," Arizona Quarterly 45 (1989):72-100; and a briefer rendering of chapter 5 was published as "The New Historicism and the Old West," Western American Literature 25 (1990):103-23. 1993 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO PRESS All rights reserved. First edition Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Robinson, Forrest G. (Forrest Glen), 1940 Having it both ways: self-subversion in western popular classics/Forrest G. Robinson.1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8263-1453-8 1. Western storiesHistory and criticism. 2. Popular literatureWest (U.S.)History and criticism. 3. American fictionHistory and criticism. 4. West (U.S.) in literature. 5. Self in literature. I. Title. PS374.W4R6 1993 92-39359 813.009'3278dc20 CIP

Page v FOR RENATE (A.K.A. GROVER)

Page vii Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. The Last of the Mohicans 13 2. The Virginian 41 3. The Sea-Wolf 55 4. Shane 79 5. Theoretical Postscript 111 Notes 145 Index 157

Page viii It seems to me that we are, at least on paper, supposed to be different from, or better than, we are. And that kind of irritation confronts us all the time and has from the very beginning. The Constitution was a precipitate of all the best Enlightenment thinking of Europe, and it's really quite a remarkable document. That we don't manage to live up to it is the source of all our self-analysis. E. L. Doctorow Essays and Conversations

Page ix Acknowledgments A number of friends and colleagues have offered very helpful commentary on parts of this book. I am most deeply indebted to Steve Tatum, whose careful reading of the entire manuscript and subsequent counsel on matters of detail have been invaluable. I have a large debt as well to Stephen Greenblatt, both for advice on specific questions and for his stimulating example as a student of cultural poetics. Jerome Frisk, a tireless, penetrating, sympathetic critic, has on several occasions helped me to find my way. Michael Cowan has somehow made time to read most of this; he has been a constant source of insight and support. Susan Gillman has been unfailingly generous with her time and critical savvy. I am also grateful for helpful responses from Paige Baty, Bill Bloodworth, Catherine Carlstroem, Brian Collins, Daniel Duane, John Dizikes, Annette Gordon, John Jordan, Ann Lane, Vivian Sobchack, and Hayden White. Finally, I have enjoyed the loving support of a wonderful familymy wife, Colleen, and my daughters Grace, Renate, Emma, and Marie. They make it all worthwhile.

Page 1 Introduction This is a study of American culture as it is manifest in some of our most popular books. Those that I study in closest detailRiders of the Purple Sage, The Last of the Mohicans, The Virginian, The Sea-Wolf, and Shaneareall in some sense "Westerns," though the characteristic patterns they betray, like the large audiences they have enjoyed, are hardly regional in any narrow way. They are broadly American in their heroes, who are cut from cloth that has endured more than two centuries of heavy wear. The great popularity of these books is quite obviously the result of this emphasis on the heroic, with its abundance of vigorous action in colorful settings, and its attention to such values as courage, independence, self-reliance, and the stoical indifference to pain. We come back to these books, and we urge them on our children, because they tell this familiar and very gratifying story about ourselves. I argue in what follows that they do much more than this. If these books reinforce our sense of the heroic, they also challenge it. If they dramatize the triumph of American virtues, they also explore the dark side of a dominant self-image. If they dwell on the exploits of white men, they are also peculiarly alive to the grave injustices of the social order they portray, especially as those injustices bear on people of color and women. But although all of these texts feature sharp contrasts in shading and emphasis, none appears to do so in a fully controlled or premeditated way. Each of the novels seems on its face to celebrate a leading article of the national faith, yet each betrays

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