Cowboy Classics
The Roots of the American Western in the Epic Tradition
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
Publishing:31st Oct '26
£19.99
This title is due to be published on 31st October, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£100.00(9781474402460)
Cowboy Classics looks at the remarkably intimate connection between Westerns and Greek and Roman epics, each of which focuses on a mythic-historical period from the past where our societal notions of what constitutes heroism, masculinity and honour were first forged. Through her insightful analysis of Red River, High Noon, Shane, The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Kirsten Day illustrates the parallels between these seemingly disparate yet closely related genres, allowing us to see each through a new lens while gaining insight into the persistence of these concepts in our world today.
Cowboy Classics is a straight-talking study in cultural reception. Day's analyses of Golden Age western films in light of Homer and Virgil are nuanced and deeply persuasive. Her work has much to teach us about heroism, gender, and the shaping of cultural identity, in both the present and the past. * Geoff Bakewell, L. Palmer Brown Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities, Rhodes College *
Day covers a number of aspects exploring both genres and goes in detail concerning important aspects of the heroic characters such as (sparse) language used, the complex system of ideal manhood (and gender roles in general) and the insistence to stand one’s ground to fight for an ideal or justice. Her solid chapter on High Noon in particular makes this very clear. Recommend reading for any fan of Westerns, classic epic or scholar of American Studies. -- Alexander Ebert * popcultureshelf.com *
ISBN: 9781399571531
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
240 pages