{"product_id":"the-wister-trace-loren-d-estleman-9780806144818","title":"The Wister Trace: Assaying Classic Western Fiction","description":"\u003cbr\u003eA master practitioner's view of his craft, this classic survey of the fiction of the American West is part literary history, part criticism, and entertaining throughout. The first edition of \u003ci\u003eThe Wister Trace\u003c\/i\u003e was published in 1987, when Larry McMurtry had just reinvented himself as a writer of Westerns and Cormac McCarthy's career had not yet taken off. Loren D. Estleman's long-overdue update connects these new masters with older writers, assesses the genre's past, present, and future, and takes account of the renaissance of western movies, as well. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEstleman's title indicates the importance he assigns Owen Wister's 1902 classic, \u003ci\u003eThe Virginian. \u003c\/i\u003eWister was not the first writer of Westerns, but he defined the genre, contrasting chivalry with the lawlessness of the border and introducing such lines as \"When you call me that, smile \" Estleman tips his hat to Wister's predecessors, among them Ned Buntline, the inventor of the dime novel, and Buffalo Bill. His assessments of Wister's successors--Zane Grey, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, and Louis L'Amour, to name but three--soon make clear the impossibility of differentiating great western writing from great American writing. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEspecially important in this new edition is the attention to women writers. The author devotes a chapter each to Dorothy Johnson--author of \"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance\"--and Annie Proulx, whose Wyoming stories include \"Brokeback Mountain.\" In his discussion of movies, Estleman includes a list of film adaptations that will guide readers to movies, and moviegoers to books. An appendix draws readers' attention to authors not covered elsewhere in the volume--some of them old masters like Bret Harte and Jack London, but many of them fascinating outliers ranging from Clifford Irving to Joe R. Lansdale.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Loren D. Estleman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0806144815\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780806144818\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Oklahoma Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/15\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.70d","brand":"Loren D. Estleman","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43947235279103,"sku":"9780806144818","price":21.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_7c6ba019-73c8-4143-9c4d-6ebade91c247.jpg?v=1681517520","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-wister-trace-loren-d-estleman-9780806144818","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}