The Western Novel (Critical Survey of Long Fiction)
Origins
The “formula” Western genre is rooted in the fertile soil of nineteenth century popular American literature. Among its antecedents were the Leatherstocking Tales of James Fenimore Cooper, a series of five novels of the American frontier featuring a self-sufficient and morally incorruptible backwoods character named Natty Bumppo, who is considered America’s first literary hero. Though Cooper was ultimately ambiguous about the meaning of the frontier in American life, he...
[The entire page is 5114 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
See Also
