Week 1: Introductions
January 15-17 |
Introduction: The Dime Novel and the Formula WesternReading: Wheeler, Deadwood Dick Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing About Film, 1-40 (See Additional Readings) Smith, Virgin Land, Prologue, Books One and Two + any additional introductory materials your copy might include Quiz (Thursday): Deadwood Dick + Virgin Land + Corrigan Film: The Great Train Robbery To Consider: The elements of the dime western The audience for this book How Wheeler infuses his story with authenticity How Wheeler expresses his ideas about western masculinity How westerns defined Americanism Why it was so important to define Americanism The relationship between the West as an Idea and India as an idea The relationship between the West and American identity How early western films reflected of the ideas of the pulp novels What were the stereotypes and how were they expressed How do films and books reflect the economies of their day Is the western hero the American hero? Paragraph (Thursday): Either: The role of the secret valley in Deadwood Dick or The importance of false identity in Deadwood Dick‘s main characters |
Week 2: American Masculinity and the End of the Frontier
January 22-24 |
Origins: The Virginian Reading: Wister, The Virginian Chapters, intro + chapters 1-20 (Tuesday), finish book, Thursday Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (See Additional Readings) Tompkins, West of Everything: 3-67, 131-155 Quiz (Thursday): The Virginian + Turner + Tompkins Film: Stagecoach To Consider: The Virginian as utopian novel The Virginian as a love story The Virginian as a stranger in a strange land story The Virginian as an expression of American masculinity The Virginian as an expression of an upper-class view of the romance of the West The Virginian as a justification of violence The male relationships in the novel: pay particular attention to The Virginian/The Tenderfoot, The Virginian/The Judge, The Virginian/Trampas, The Virginian/Steve, Trampas/Shorty In what ways do Turner’s thesis, Roosevelt’s presidency, and Wister’s fiction lament the death of the West? In what ways do the creators of the frontier myth make the West a Boys Only playground? Feel free to throw in the art of Frederick Remington and Charles Russell. Google them. Paragraph (Tuesday): Masculinity in the western hero
|
Week 3: Gunfighter nation
January 29-31 |
The Formulation of the Western: Zane Gray
Reading: Gray, Riders of the Purple Sage Tompkins, West of Everything, 157-177, 111-123 Quiz (Tuesday): Gray + Tompkins Film: Red River To Consider: What are some similarities between Lassiter and the Virginian? What are the differences? Why are Mormon men the primary enemies in Riders? Many of the Mormons that are encountered in the novel are indifferent, naïve, or act the way they do because they are forced. Only a few characters, such as Tull and Bishop Dyer, are truly evil. By having a small part of the Mormon community be sinister, Grey is making a commentary on his view of Mormons as a whole. What is this view? How does Jane’s devotion to her religion cause her to be blind to what is happening around her? How is the West represented? How does this book represent the ideas put forth by Smith in his analysis of the modern West? After seeing Red River, John Ford, who had worked with John Wayne many times by this point, was said to have declared, “I never knew the big son of a bitch could act.” How does Wayne’s performance change what’s possible for the western hero? Think through the relationship between Matt and Cherry. How does this film represent our idea of a “new” West? Paragraph (Tuesday): The emergence of gunfighter as an anti-hero OR Jane Withersteen as a frontier character
Thursday: Paragraph Construction Exercise |
Week 4: landscape of heartbreak
February 5-7 |
The Challenge to the Myth: Stegner, the Great Depression, and the Regional Novel Reading: Stegner, Big Rock Candy Mountain Tompkins, West of Everything, 157-177, 111-123 Quiz (Tuesday): Stegner + Tompkins Film: High Noon To Consider: A student in this class once commented that Stegner’s book really picks up where The Virginian left off. What do you think? How do Bo and Elsa remind you of The Virginian and Molly? How does Stegner use history to tell his story of a very different and deromanticized West? How do Stegner, Ford, and Wayne use the western for very different purposes than many of our earlier writers, directors, and actors? The relationship between western myth, western history, and western literature in BRCM How do the main characters in BRCM represent versions of classic western stereotypes? Is BRCM a western novel or an American novel? How do film makers use the western landscape? How do film makers depend on an audience fully informed of the genre? Do you see Wister or Grey in the films? Why do you think that Hawks bailed on what should have been the ending? Why do you think John Wayne emerged as a star of westerns fifteen years after the beginning of his career? How does High Noon represent a “New West”? What to make of John Wayne’s (an avowed conservative) hatred of High Noon? Paragraph (Tuesday): Bo as a twisted western archetype. OR The search for home in the mobile West. Response Paper (Tuesday): An analysis of family or ambition in Big Rock Candy Mountain |
Week 5: gender and the creation of frontier mythology
February 12-14 |
The Western, Frontier Mythology, and American Gender Roles
Reading: Review Tompkins, Stegner, Grey, Wister, Wheeler, Film Notes Smith, Book Three Midterm (Tuesday): Cumulative: Readings, Films, Music Film: The Searchers To Consider: Student generated questions. Paragraph (Thursday): Ethan Edwards as “The Man Who Knows Indians” OR The cowboy in western songs
Response Paper (Thursday): The reflection of contemporary American ideas of gender in The Virginian and Big Rock Candy Mountain
|
Week 6: Greed
February 19-21 |
The Challenge to the Myth: Sandoz, the Great Depression, and the Regional Novel
Reading: Sandoz, Slogum House Quiz (Tuesday): Sandoz Film: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance To Consider: Student generated questions. According to Sandoz, what are the worst characteristics of Americans and their culture? How and why is Slogum House, like BRCM, a novel of the Great Depression? How does Sandoz subvert and yet continue to propagate the classic western story of homesteaders versus ranchers (besides the obvious choice of having a woman as the antagonist)? How does Sandoz choose to represent good and evil within the Slogum family? What role does the government play in Slogum House and how does that play into when the novel was written? Paragraph (Tuesday): Gulla as re-imagined evil rancher trope. Response Paper (Tuesday): Tom Doniphan and Ransom Stoddard as examples of different western myths. Short Research Paper (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche. |
Week 7: Redemption
February 26-28 |
The West as Blank Space Reading: Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop Quiz (Tuesday): Cather Film: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly To Consider: Student-generated questions. Why did Cather construct her book around vignettes rather than a straight-ahead narrative? How does Cather use LaTour and Vallaint as archetypes for their New World? How does this novel’s treatment of Native Americans differ from that of the Hispanics in the novel? In what ways is this a “western”? How does LaTour’s approach to Catholicism differ from those who have come before him? What happens when our protagonist becomes a French priest rather than a man with a gun? How Sergio Leone reinvent the western? How does Clint Eastwood reinvent the western hero? Has the western gone global? Paragraph (Tuesday): How do LaTour’s and Vallaint’s names reflect their character? Response Paper (Tuesday): How does Cather use landscape to help her tell her story? OR How do Ford and Leone each twist the frontier myth? Short Research Paper (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche. |
Week 8: Destroying the myth
March 5-7 |
The Myth and the Postwar West Reading: McMurtry, Horseman, Pass By Quiz (Tuesday): McMurtry Film: Little Big Mann To Consider: How does Lonnie feel about his home? How does Hud? McMurtry uses the theme of the modern West and the older West a lot in his novels. How is that expressed in this novel? Is this a regional novel or an updated version of a frontier novel? How does Hud represent a twisted version of the classic western figure? What themes in this novel have we explored in the past? Paragraph (Tuesday): How do Hud and Homer represent conflicting Wests? Response Paper due Tuesday at class time: What changes in the western novel when the west now represents the past rather than the future? OR Compare Hud to either Gulla or Bo in their quest for wealth and power. Short Research Paper (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche.
|
Week 9: Living the myth
March 26-28 |
The Myth and the Culture It Creates Reading: Kelton, The Time It Never Rained Quiz (Tuesday): Kelton Film: High Plains Drifter To Consider: Student generated questions Written by a West Texan about an event he experienced, what role does the environment play in the novel? How does the novel reflect Kelton’s understanding of race and the ongoing civil rights movement? In what ways does Kelton present Flagg as a classic tragic figure? How does Kelton use Flagg to describe West Texas political ideology? In what ways does Kelton describe how the frontier myth has created the culture of West Texas? In what ways does history and environment create society, culture, and economy? Paragraph (Tuesday): Charlie Flagg as new type of western hero (tragic). Response Paper (Tuesday): The Time It Never Rained as a political novel. Short Research Paper (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche. |
Week 10: The New West
April 2-4 |
The Western in the New West Reading: Review: Cather, Sandoz, McMurtry, and Kelton Midterm (Tuesday): Cumulative Readings, films, music weeks 6-9 Film: Silverado To Consider: Student Generated Questions No Paragraph No Response Paper Short Research Paper (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche. |
Week 11: the modern west
April 9-11 |
Violence and Trauma Reading: Silko, Ceremony Quiz (Tuesday): Silko, Ceremony Film: Dances with Wolves To Consider: Student-generated questions. In what ways is Silko commenting on the Native experience in the modern world? Through Tayo’s PTSD Through alcoholism? How do the ancient stories and Tayo’s experiences reflect our theme of a New West? How is Tayo the result of centuries of occupation? How does the war create the inciting incident for the novel? How does Silko comment on science and magic? Paragraph (Tuesday): How does Tayo represent a man between worlds? Response Paper (Tuesday): Compare the New Mexico’s of Death Comes for the Archbishop and Ceremony. Short Research Paper (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche. |
Week 12: the Death of the Western
April 16-18 |
Old Worlds and New Reading: McCarthy, The Crossing Quiz (Tuesday): McCarthy, The Crossing Film: Unforgiven To Consider: Student-generated questions. Why does Billy take the wolf to Mexico? How do we come to understand Billy and Boyd? In what ways does McCarthy present an older and even ancient West? What does the wolf mean to Billy? To others? For McCarthy what is the nature of man? Paragraph (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche Response Paper (Tuesday): Mexico as place of raw human nature Short Research Paper (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche. |
Week 13: Research Paper workshops
April 23-25 |
Research Paper workshop Reading: Student papers No Quiz Film: No Country for Old Men To Consider: Notes to themes to outline to draft Paragraph (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche. Response Paper (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche. Short Research Paper (Tuesday): In consultation with Professor Roche.
|
Week 14: info for week 14
April 30 and May 2 |
Research Workshop: Reading: Student Papers No Quiz (Tuesday): Film: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
|
May 7 – Final Exam/Research Paper due 2:00 p.m.
Students who did not reach the research paper stage of the course will be required to take a cumulative take home final examination.