Description
Lost in the New West investigates a group of writers - John Williams, Cormac McCarthy, Annie Proulx and Thomas McGuane - who have sought to explore the tensions inherent to the Western, where the distinctions between old and new, myth and reality, authenticity and sentimentality are frequently blurred. Collectively these authors demonstrate a deep-seated attachment to the landscape, people and values of the West and offer a critical appraisal of the dialogue between the contemporary West and its legacy.
Mark Asquith draws attention to the idealistic young men at the center of such works as Williams's Butcher's Crossing (1960), McCarthy's Blood Meridian (1985) and Border Trilogy, Proulx's Wyoming stories and McGuane's Deadrock novels. For each writer, these characters struggle to come to terms with the difference between the suspect mythology of the West that shapes their identity and the reality that surrounds them. They are, in short, lost in the new West.
Author: Mark Asquith
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 05/18/2023
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.53d
ISBN13: 9781501372230
ISBN10: 1501372238
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | American | Regional
- Literary Criticism | Modern | 20th Century
- Literary Criticism | Indigenous Peoples in the Americas
Mark Asquith draws attention to the idealistic young men at the center of such works as Williams's Butcher's Crossing (1960), McCarthy's Blood Meridian (1985) and Border Trilogy, Proulx's Wyoming stories and McGuane's Deadrock novels. For each writer, these characters struggle to come to terms with the difference between the suspect mythology of the West that shapes their identity and the reality that surrounds them. They are, in short, lost in the new West.
Author: Mark Asquith
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 05/18/2023
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.53d
ISBN13: 9781501372230
ISBN10: 1501372238
BISAC Categories:
- Literary Criticism | American | Regional
- Literary Criticism | Modern | 20th Century
- Literary Criticism | Indigenous Peoples in the Americas
About the Author
Mark Asquith is the author of Reading the Novels of John Williams: A Flaw of Light (2017), The Lost Frontier: Reading Annie Proulx's Wyoming Stories (Bloomsbury, 2014) and Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain and Postcards: A Reader's Guide (Bloomsbury, 2009). He holds a PhD from UCL, University of London, UK.