Owen Wister (1860–1938)

Published in 1902 and widely regarded as the book that set the conventions of the western genre. It is well-written, in that unhurried way familiar to lovers of good Victorian literature. It is basically a romance, telling the story of the long courtship of a young, highly-educated schoolmistress just arrived from the east, by the titular character, the Virginian, a cowboy whose name we never find out.

So it's undoubtedly a romance, but it's much more than that. It's a character study of the character of the Virginian, and a love letter to the frontier, to the untamed and beautiful wilderness and the character of its people. The descriptions have the authority of an author that actually was there and saw the old west with his own eyes. There are lynchings and gunfights, but the are not really the point of the story.

Although the writing is good, it may seem strange that the narrative point of view changes. We start with third-person subjective, from the point of view of an eastern visitor that becomes a friend of the Virginian, and we discover that character and the western setting through his eyes. Later, the point of view becomes third person omniscient. Probably the reason for that is that the novel grew from several short stories that the author had written previously.

I found it quite enjoyable, and very readable more than a century after being written.… (mere)

Owen Wister, best known for his classic western The Virginian, published this little Christmas western story in 1904. It’s a fun and charming story of a cowboy who arrives in Cheyanne, Wyoming after a long cattle drive at Christmas time in 1887. With his pockets full of a few month’s worth of pay, Lin McLean’s original plan was to get sauced during the holiday. Then he comes upon an old friend who invites him to go Christmas shopping with him. The Governor/Doctor has a long list of constituent’s and patient’s children he intends to buy for. As Lin follows his friend in the quest for gifts, he soon discovers the spirit of Christmas that has eluded him for most of his life.
A JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF CHRISTMAS is a really nice choice for holiday reading, especially if you like stories from Victorian times set in the American West. The prose reminded me of Dickens, just not quite as long-winded.… (mere)