Published in 1902, it became a mega–best seller, made Wister rich, and helped popularize an international genre of literature and film. So begins Owen Wister’s The Virginian, considered by some to be the first Western novel. A game of cards nearly turns into a shootout when one man calls the newcomer a “son-of-a-,” causing him to lay his pistol on the table and utter what will become the story’s catchphrase: “When you call me that, smile.” At the saloon, he’s treated to their opinions on the local women, as well as one man’s boast that he never forgets a face-so long as that face is white. When the train lets him off in a dusty Wyoming town, he encounters an array of cowpunchers, card sharps, and ne’er-do-wells, whose coarse manners shock and intrigue him. A gentleman comes from the East Coast to make his fortune.
0 kommentar(er)
