The Lost Frontier: Reading Annie Proulx's Wyoming Stories

(Hardback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Annie Proulx is one of the most provocative and stylistically innovative writers in America today. She is at her best in the short story format, and the best of these are to be found in her Wyoming trilogy, in which she turns her eye on America's Westboth past and present. Yet despite the vast amount of print expended reviewing her books, there has been nothing published on the Wyoming Stories. The Lost Frontier fills this critical void by offering a detailed examination of the key stories in the trilogy: Close Range (1999), Bad Dirt (2004), Fine Just the Way it Is (2008). The chapters are arranged according to western archetypesthe Pioneer, Rancher, Cowboy, Indian, and, arguably, the most important character of them all in Proulx's fiction: Landscape. The Lost Frontier offers students a clear sense of the novelist's early life and work, her stylistic influences and the characteristics of her fiction and an understanding of where the Wyoming Stories, and Annie Proulx's work as a whole, fits into traditional and contemporary writing about the American West.

Reviews

In The Lost Frontier: Reading Annie Proulxs Wyoming Stories, Mark Asquith examines the brilliance and despair of Proulxs Wyoming trilogy (Wyoming Stories: Close Range, Bad Dirt, and Fine Just the Way It Is), reminding us of the importance of her background as an historian and of her ongoing engagement with landscapes and their communities from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Bird Cloud, Wyoming. Peeling back layer after delicate layer, Asquith situates Proulxs work within traditions of American fiction, nature writing, regionalism, and the continuing American obsession with the frontier. The prose here is both beautiful and deliciously sharp, and Asquith excels in providing remarkable insights into the development of the female voice in Proulxs Western fiction, of the troubled relationships she imagines between men and their myths, and her frequently overlooked engagement with Native people and their relationships to the land, their white neighbors, and each other. * Sara Spurgeon, Associate Professor of English, Texas Tech University, USA, and author of Cormac McCarthy: All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, The Road (2011) and Exploding the Western: Myths of Empire on the Postmodern Frontier (2005) *
Mark Asquith offers an insightful and original study of Annie Proulxs Wyoming Stories. The organization of his material along thematically-based chapters does full justice to the richness and complexity of the stories themselves, while Asquiths in-depth knowledge of the history and literature of the American West helps us to appreciate Proulxs contribution to that area. Asquith argues that, in the American West, Proulx has found a landscape commensurate to her creative talents. In Asquith, Proulx has found a knowledgeable and confident critic whose insights enrich our understanding of the author. * Aliki Varvogli, Lecturer in English, University of Dundee, UK, and author of The Shipping News: A Readers Guide *
Mark Asquith brings a nuanced understanding to Annie Proulx's Wyoming trilogy. He assesses the edgy contours of Proulx's portrait gallery through familiar tropes and persuasive readings. Her Wyoming emerges as a bracing revision of the popular West. * O. Alan Weltzien, Professor of English, The University of Montana Western, USA, and author, most recently, of The Snowpeaks (2013) *
Throughout the book, Mark Asquith illustrates how the crushing mythology the tension between myth and people struggling to live up to that myth is the focus of much of Proulxs work. In expressive prose, that effectively counterbalances Proulxs mimicking of Wyomings elliptical speech patterns, Asquiths comprehensive analysis shows the existential difficulties experienced by Proulxs characters. [] Asquith expertly draws attention to the punishment of the unwary no one, he demonstrates, whether pioneer, rancher, cowboy, Indian, holiday-maker, Hollywood star or retiree, has the requisite qualities for a healthy relationship with Proulxs Wyoming. * TLS *
What makes Asquiths reading of Proulxs Wyoming Stories so compelling is the rich context that he presents with each chapter. Asquith demonstrates an awareness of Western history and literature, both past and present, locating Proulxs work clearly in this context ... This study would appeal not only to those interested in the Wyoming Stories trilogy and Proulxs fiction, but to any reader and scholar interested in the study of Western, environmental, or regional fiction. * Contemporary Women's Writing *

Author Bio

Mark Asquith teaches English at Trinity School Croydon, UK where he specialises in the modern American novel, and holds a PhD from the University of London, UK. He is author of Thomas Hardy, Metaphysics and Music (Palgrave, 2005) and a number of articles on contemporary American fiction.