Westerns : making the man in fiction and film / Lee Clark Mitchell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mitchell, Lee Clark, 1947-

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Western stories--History and criticism.

Western stories.

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Masculinity--United States--History.

Masculinity.

Motion pictures and literature.

United States.

History.

Motion pictures and literature--West (U.S.).

Masculinity in literature.

Western films--History and criticism.

Western films.

West (U.S.)--In literature.

West (U.S.).

Men in motion pictures.

Men in literature.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xvi, 331 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press, 1996.

Summary:

Ranging from the novels of James Fenimore Cooper to Louis L'Amour, and from classic films like Stagecoach to spaghetti Westerns like A Fistful of Dollars, Mitchell shows how Westerns helped assuage a series of crises in American culture, including debates and nationalism, suffragetism, the White Slave Trade, liberal social policy, even Dr. Spock. At the same time, Westerns have addressed issues of masculinity by setting them against various backdrops: gender (women), maturation (sons), honor (violence, restraint), and self-transformation (the West itself). Mitchell argues, for instance, that Westerns repeatedly depict men being punished as pretext for allowing them to recover, restoring themselves once again to full manhood. In Westerns, a man must continually work at being a man. The most extensive study of Westerns to appear in twenty-five years, Mitchell's book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the genre as well as for students of film, masculinity, and American Studies.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.

ISBN:

0226532348

OCLC:

34548553