Ninety-Two in the Shade Analysis

Ingram, David. “Thomas McGuane: Nature, Environmentalism, and the American West.” Journal of American Studies 29 (December, 1995): 423-439. Ingram argues that the desire for a pristine nature, which is so ingrained in American culture and is viewed as somewhat unattainable, is central to McGuane’s work. His works explore the role played by old mythologies of the frontier in the ecology and politics of the modern American West. Yet while acknowledging their power, McGuane also realizes the seductiveness of urban life.

McClintock, James I. “ Unextended Selves’ and Unformed Visions’: Roman Catholicism in Thomas McGuane’s Novels.” Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 49 (Winter, 1997): 139-152. McClintock shows how many of McGuane’s literary themes have been influenced by Roman Catholicism. He contends that McGuane’s protagonists are frequently caught in a crisis of faith, realizing that something is wrong in their lives but unable to resolve their problems without spiritual help.

Morris, Gregory L. “How Ambivalence Won the West: Thomas McGuane and the Fiction of the New West.” Critique 32 (Spring, 1991): 180-189. Focuses on McGuane’s influence in redefining the shape of the “new West” in his works of fiction. Morris discusses McGuane’s insistence on the idea of “American space,” his view of the political ambivalence of the American West, and geography working itself into fiction.

Westrum, Dexter. Thomas McGuane. Boston: Twayne, 1991. Westrum provides a brief biographical survey of McGuane’s life and then presents several critical essays on his work. A valuable resource for the study of this author. Includes bibliographical references and comprehensive index.