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Aritha van Herk's writing--fiction and non-fiction--constitutes one of the defining aspects of Canadian western letters of the last 20 years. Of the multiple Wests at work in her oeuvre, her playful reimaginings of the mythic West / American Wild West (e.g., the romancing of force and violence at the celebrated Calgary Stampede chuckwagon races or her 'deconstruction' of the Marlboro Man) have, however, received scant attention from critics. This article will attempt to remedy this critical oversight by exploring the representation of this mythic West as it appears in four of her most recent performance pieces and short stories: 'A Fondness for the Bay' (1998), 'Washtub Westerns' (2004), 'Shooting a Saskatoon (Whatever Happened to the Marlboro Man?)' (2005), and 'Leading the Parade' (2006). The author's purpose here is thus to examine the intersection of gender and the West in these less-studied texts, but also to use them as an inspiration for 'the poetics of the crossing'--that is, the development of a specifically North American approach to Canadian literature that posits the Canadian imaginary not in deference to but in relation to the American. Les romans et essais critiques de l'ecrivaine Aritha van Herk ont enormement marque la litterature canadienne de l'ouest des 20 dernieres annees. Or, de tous les differents espaces dans son oeuvre, son evocation ludique de l'Ouest mythique americain (p.ex. sa representation romantique de la force et de la violence des chuckwagon races lors du Stampede de Calgary et sa deconstruction de l'homme Marlboro) n'a suscite que tres peu d'interet de la part de la critique. Cet article va travailler a combler cette lacune en explorant la representation de l'Ouest mythique tel qu'il se manifeste dans quatre de ses textes courts recents : 'A Fondness for the Bay' (1998), 'Washtub Westerns' (2004), 'Shooting a Saskatoon (Whatever Happened to the Marlboro Man?)' (2005), et 'Leading the Parade' (2006). Le but de l'auteure ici est d'examiner la relation entre les questions du genre et de l'Ouest dans ces textes moins connus, mais egalement de les utiliser pour developper une 'poetique de la traversee,' c'esta-dire une approche specifiquement nord-americaine de la litterature canadienne qui encourage and facilite un cadre qui situe l'imaginaire canadien non pas par egard de l'imaginaire americain mais en rapport avec celui-ci.

William Eastlake's first three novels, Go in Beauty (1956), The Bronc People (1958), and Portrait of an Artist with Twenty-Six Horses (1963), are generally regarded as constituting a trilogy not [...]

IT IS HARD TO IMAGINE the evolution of the American novel into its first great movement--the American Renaissance--without the vulgar and transgressive power of the popular to set it into [...]

American and European art, novels, radio programs, Western films and television Westerns from the 1820s to the present are highlighted. The presence of Indians, fictional Western heroes, gunmen, and a perceived general level of violence resulted in the fictional aspect of the American frontier and Western historical experiences.

When New York Times reporter Richard Woodward called Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian the bloodiest book since the Iliad, he was probably right (36). Rarely does one find a novel so [...]

This article discusses the manner in which 'The Log of a Cowboy' portrays the history of law enforcement in Dodge City, Kansas. Topics include memoir, narrative, historical discourse, and imagination.

The redemptive and triumphant aspects of the eccentric and pure character, Mose Harper, in John Ford's western film 'The Searchers' are examined. Topics include the artistic debt the film owes to the novel on which it was based, the development of Mose Harper's character, and the conflict between civilization and the frontier life.

The author discusses the effects of visual and literary portrayals of Navajo Indians on public perception. Preconceptions developed from early exposure to inaccurate representations of Navajo Indians taint public understanding and acceptance of accurate native-made texts.

Humour came naturally to Frederick Schiller Faust, who wrote screenplays, and, under the pen name of Max Brand, around 200 Westerns. His writing abilities allowed him to create characters, episodes and situations that are very attractive to readers. In some cases, his humour is found in a pervading tone, rather than in specific incidents. Generally, the underlying source of the humorous tone is the narrator's personality and voice. In some of his Westerns, including 'Trail Partners' and 'Slow Joe,' the humour is almost continuous.

O History, as Carl Becker remarked, how many truths are committed in thy name! But there is no cynicism in this observation as long as it means that the course [...]

In the book 'Talking Up a Storm: Voices of the New West' author Gregory Morris distinguishes between the younger generation of Western writers and the writers of the 'old West.' The young generation writes about the west as caught in the anguish of its own transition rather than westward expansion and civilized progress.

Novelist Elmer Kelton strives to paint a historically accurate portrayal of women from the Western era. Unlike the romanticized women of other writers as Zane Grey, Kelton's women possess quiet determination and nervousness, qualities that characterized the actual women of their time. His quest for authenticity also compels Kelton to refuse to depict women in his stories as having the attitudes, mores and values of the liberated women in his own time.

Novels by Zane Grey crystallized a set of symbols for the American West in the minds of his millions of readers. He infused the frontier myth with vivid imagery of a sublime and beautiful landscape inhabited by heroic cowboys, deadly gunmen, polygamous Mormons, and noble Indians. He also localized the myth in and along the southern margin of the Colorado Plateau, so that this landscape became the quintessential West. By extending his version into the 1930s, Grey encouraged the belief that the Wild West persisted well into the twentieth century. Key words: American West, Grey [Zane], literary geography, place imagery., The western novels by Zane Grey have been a source of imagery about the American West for almost the entire twentieth century. The plots and characterizations of Grey's popular novels [...]

A descriptive re-examination of Occidentalist representations of monetary and various other values in Singapore fiction are revealed. Singapore fiction reflects interesting point of views on Occidentalist and neo-Orientalist discussions on the values of post colonial and diasporic fiction.

The article examines director John Ford's interpretation of Dorothy Johnson's western fiction, focusing on the importance of feminist criticism in exploring representation and departure in film adaptations of literary works.

A look back over the modernist period reveals that modernists had scant patience with the formerly popular genre of historical fiction. More specifically, most modernists sought ways out of confronting [...]