Owen Wister and Reasons for the Popularity of The Virginian

Ping+Yang

Abstract：Based on the introduction of Owen Wister and his representative work The Virginian， this paper explores the reasons for the popularity of The Virginian and explains the spiritual origins of the cowboys complex lingering in the minds of the Americans.

Key words：Owen Wister；Popularity；The Virginian

1.Part one： Introduction

“Ask almost any group of people the world over， from Peoria to Perth， and they will say that the American West is about the cowboy and his life of chasing cows on the range，” represents the widespread false impression that the American West is dominated by cowboys. The fact is that even at the height of the cattle industry during the Cowboy Era， there were at most 3， 5000 cowboys， meaning there was only “one cowboy for every 1，000 agricultural workers or one cowboy for every forty miners or railroad workers nationwide.” Cowboys affected people's views of the American West and even the whole United States especially in the 1950s when Westerns reached their highest popularity. With the popularity of Westerns not only are cowboys popular， but it seems that everything relating to cowboys is widely accepted. Jeans are widely accepted by both men and women， irrespective of their colors， ages and nationalities. Marlboro which did not sell well at first because it was regarded as a female cigarette， has become a best seller since the 1950s after it uses the cowboy as its logo. Cowboy songs， cowboy music and cowboy games are popular among people. What accounts for cowboys popularity？ Taking into consideration The Virginians influence and Owen Wisters position in American western literature in the late 19th and early 20th century，this paper intends to help people get a better and comprehensive understanding of the American cowboys.

2.Part two： Owen Wister and The Virginian

The only son of Owen Jones Wister and Sarah Butler Wister， a Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard and a close friend of Teddy Roosevelt， Owen Wister （1860-1938） was a prestigious writer in the late 19th and early 20th century. Because his family often went abroad， he briefly attended schools in Switzerland and Britain， and later when he studied at St. Paul's School in Concord， New Hampshire， he helped to edit school newspapers， wrote prose， poems and songs， and kept his enthusiasm in literature when he was in Harvard University， which laid a profound foundation for his later literary creation. After graduation Owen Wister went to the West to recover from a nervous breakdown， and he consciously regarded the experience as a test of his manhood. He slept outdoors with cowboys， bathed in an icy creek， drank his steaming coffee from a tin cup， and joined in the roundups. “The slumbering Saxon awoke in him” and he regarded himself as “kin with the drifting vagabonds who swore and galloped by his side.” His love of cowboys was so strong that he gave up his career as a businessman and chose to work as a manager of a large Wyoming cattle ranch instead. According to his daughter Fanny Wister， the change “freed himself from what to him was a deadly life.” Impressed and fascinated by cowboys， beautiful natural scenery and customs in the West， he went there many times and even spent fifteen summers in Wyoming. In the 1890s he began to write stories according to the materials he collected in the West， such as Hanks Women， How Lin Mcline Went West， Red Men and White. His representative and well-known novel The Virginian was compiled in 1902 from the Atlantic Monthly cowboy tales and other stories he had written. It told the story about a cowboy hero named the Virginian in the American West. The novel unfolded according to two clues： one was the Virginians romantic courtship of the heroin， Molly Wood who was a schoolmarm from the East， another was the Virginians escalating conflicts with the villain， Trampas. The main content of the novel， according to Richard Etulain， could be summarized as： “an idealized hero， the conflict between the hero and the villain， and the romance between the hero and the heroin—all set against the romantic background of the frontier West.”

Commonly regarded as the first important and influential cowboy western novel and a model for many later films and novels and the first best-selling novel about cowboys， The Virginian contained several elements which became standard features of the cowboy Westerns： a hero who was a brave， free， and romantic cowboy， a plot in which the cowboy defeated the villain and won his ideal love， and a western setting. His innovation on the theme， character and plot of cowboy novels not only helped to shape the feature of cowboy novels， but also gave cowboy novels an important place in American western literature. Many later western writers followed the literary formula that Owen Wister had furnished and created large amounts of western works. For the first three decades of the 20th century cowboy Westerns were extremely popular in the United States.

As the father of cowboy Westerns， Wister contributed heavily to the rise of Westerns popularity. In addition to bringing Owen Wister a lasting fame， The Virginian attracted wide attention and made an enormous impact. It stayed at the top of the best-selling list for six months of the year when it was published， sold 50，000 copies in its first four months and 3 million copies overall， and went through 15 printings in its first seven years. It was the original script of a television series （1962-1971） and remained a prototype for cowboy stories.

Due to its enormous popularity many scholars have studied it from different perspectives. Some focus on Owen Wisters contributions to Westerns. In Richard Etulains biography of Wister， he believes Owen Wister is the first notable writer to utilize the cowboy as a literary hero. Although cowboys have appeared in a few dime novels， though nearly always as minor figures and frequently in ungallant roles， they do not become the national heroes until the publication of The Virginian. Some emphasize The Virginians influence on other western writers， especially on Andy Adams， Eugene Rhodes， Zane Grey， Max B， Brand， and B. M. Bower. Under the influence of the novel they focus their attention on the West and create a series of western novels. Some highlight the social and political implications of The Virginian. They hold that The Virginian is a highly mythologized version of the Johnson County War which was a range war that took place in April 1892 in Johnson County， Natrona County and Converse County in the state of Wyoming between small settling ranchers and larger established ranchers that culminated in a lengthy shootout between local ranchers and a band of hired killers， eventually requiring the intervention of the U.S. Cavalry on the orders of U.S. President Benjamin Harrison. They believe that Owen Wister writes The Virginian to side with the settled ranchers. Given the social and political implications of The Virginian， some believe that Owen Wisters interest is not in literature， but in politics. They believe the words Owen Wister expresses to Theodore Roosevelt at the preface of The Virginian are evidence of his political views. Others focus on Wister's role in combining the contradictory values of the East and the West in the Virginian and they believe he is a mixture of eastern chivalry and western bravado.

3.Part three： Reasons for the Popularity of The Virginian

（1）Contemporary Social Reasons for the Popularity of The Virginian

In the late 19th and early 20th century America became the foremost industrialized country in the world. Industrialization made people become slaves to machines and do the monotonous work day in and day out. Further， with the process of industrialization more and more people crowded into big cities where the economic development was achieved at the sacrifice of the environment. The Virginian was a person who enjoyed a free and leisurely life in the wilderness， and he appealed to many readers longing for freedom and a life in the wilderness. At the same time when the economic crisis hit in the United States in 1893， big cities became overcrowded and people faced housing shortages and health problems. The Virginians success was encouraging to readers in distress. Many readers longed for the space and health that the Virginian enjoyed in the vast virgin land and health-renewing climate of the West.

（2）Personal Reasons for the Popularity of The Virginian

The Virginians personal characteristics made him seem like the perfect man to many readers. The Virginian was portrayed as a paragon of goodness who possessed a strikingly handsome appearance and distinguishing abilities， and more importantly who had many good virtues that Americans valued， such as， independence， bravery， toughness， integrity， confidence and humor. These qualities conformed to readers aesthetic requirements， social values and moral standards and helped him to leave a good impression on readers， and his success brought hope to readers who had suffered loss and hardship in the late 19th and early 20th century， so the Virginian inspired favor and respect from its readers.

（3）The Virginian Vs Real Cowboys in the Cowboy Era

This paper compares the Virginian and real cowboys in the Cowboy Era by examining their daily lives， social status and relationships with their bosses to prove the great differences between the Virginian and real cowboys. In addition， some attention is given to minority cowboys， including black cowboys， Mexican cowboys and Indian cowboys， and women cowhands who become invisible in most Westerns and the reasons for their invisibility. Above all， image of the Virginian as an Anglo， male hero catered to most readers taste in the racist， patriarchal society in the late 19th and early 20th century.

As emphasized above， it was because of Owen Wisters talent and skills in successfully shaping this figure as a paragon of goodness that the Virginian was deeply engraved on readers memories.

4.Part four： Conclusion

The Virginian because of its position in relation to other novels and the other forms of popular culture was the single most important influence in the popular images of cowboys.

As a typical representative of cowboys in Westerns， although the Virginian seldom bears much resemblance to real American cowboys in the Cowboy Era， his popularity reflects peoples romantic dreams which can not be otherwise achieved， the concept of value， behavioral patterns and moral standards that people are in the pursuit of at the end of nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the industrialized American cities. As some critics have pointed out： the audience of the Westerns are not looking for a story or character， but some kind of spiritual comfort and moral satisfaction. Famous American film experts even believes that western films seem to be cowboys fights with gangsters， in fact， to a certain extent， it is because people suffer setbacks in modern society and romantic background of the Westerns can make them feel free. His remarks can be used to describe the spiritual origins of the cowboys complex lingering in the minds of the Americans.

【Reference】

[1] Donald Worster， Under Western Skies[M]. New York： Oxford University Press， 1992，34.

[2] Jack Weston， The Real American Cowboy[M]. New York： Schocken Books， 1924，266.

[3] Robert V. Hine & John Mack Faragher， The American West[M]. London： Yale University Press， 1921，497-498.

[4] Jennifer Moskowitz， “The Cultural Myth of the Cowboy， or， How the West Was Won，”[M]. The Journal of American Popular Culture 5， no.1 Spring， 2006.

[5] Zhu Rong， Huang Jian. American Western Cowboy[M]. Fujian： Fujian People Press， 2000，195.