This Sant Jordi, surprise by giving away western literature

Western genre is one of the most still known in cinema, especially in classic films, with a great revival time from the 90’s decade. But maybe you didn’t know before being screened, western-themed books and comics were a literary genre widely consumed and read by children and adults, starting from those pulp books you could find at a cheaper price in almost all kiosks, being today a valued collectible.

Those basic yet intense editions were evolving and matured to become into one of the most important genres in many bookshelves. At their beginning, western literature wasn’t takke to seriously and had to deal with a hard contender, brawling with noir novels as well.

But at the time some renowned actual writers, like the Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy, created their stories inside a western environment, we can talk about other ‘modern pioneers’ that saw in the Far West a rich inspiration for their newest publishings.

 

The most original Western novels

Today, western culture can be found daily in cinema, fashion and also in literature, living maybe a second youth. Indeed, some Hollywood powerhouses bought the film rights to adapt best-sellers like ‘The Sisters Brothers’, or Netflix’s adaptation of ‘The Power of the Dog’. And like this, many western novels can describe us, all of a sudden, so different worlds and landscapes we’ve never seen and experienced yet in our broad western movie culture, for example.

For an exploring soul like yours, thus in your life as in your passion for the western lifestyle, making a stop at western genre books is mandatory. Do you know someone to which gift a book? Or are you maybe a bookworm who wants to give a try to this splendid genre?

Take note on this, as in Corbeto’s we like also, after suggesting the best trends in genuine western clothes and accessories, we’re going to be today your trusted online librarian.

  

‘The Sisters Brothers’ – Patrick deWitt

This is a funny yet alluring, audacious and with a touch of black humour Far West history. Literary critics have praised the autor and compared him with Cormac McCarthy.

Overview: ‘Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn’t share his brother’s appetite for whiskey and killing, he’s never known anything else. But their prey isn’t an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm’s gold-mining claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to question what he does for a living and whom he does it for.’

This novel is not just a simple history about the encounter with adventurous Hermann Kermit Warm, not knowing at all why they must end with his life. It’s also about the evolving relationship between two brothers and their interactions with some of the most quirky Far West characters.

 

‘The Power of the Dog’ – Thomas Savage

A modern Far West masterpiece recently made into a film by Jane Campion.

Overview: ‘In 1925 Montana, wealthy ranch owner brothers Phil and George Burbank meet widow and inn owner Rose Gordon during a cattle drive. The gentle-mannered George is quickly taken with Rose, while the volatile Phil, much influenced by his late mentor “Bronco” Henry, mocks Rose’s son Peter for his lisp and effeminate manner. George and Rose soon marry. Rose uses George’s money to send her son to college to study medicine and surgery, while she moves into the Burbank ranch house. Phil immediately takes a dislike to her, believing she took advantage of George for his wealth.’

 

 

‘Far West Stories (1857-1902)’ – Francis Bret Harte

Francis Bret Harte is with Francis Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Mark Twain & Owen Wister one of the first authors in representing the Wild West in their books. This collection shows all Harte’s stories from 1857 and 1902, creating some recognized western embodiments like adventurers, card sharks, bandits, saloon harlots and teachers in the Far West.

Inside these sixteen Far West Stories we’ll find, for example, with a Salamanca frail tempted by the Devil, leaving away everything to become a gold digger, with other pioneers, emigrants and outcast kicked out of their cities and town looking first of all to survive to an extreme cold weather. We want also to highlight ‘The Outcasts of Poker Flat’, considered as one of the best short stories ever written in the United States.

 

 

‘Warlock’ – Oakley Hall

This novel was one of the best created by the author, and celebrated for all the western reader community and also outside this niche. With Warlock, Oakley Hall was a short-runner for the Pulitzer Prize and began a vast series of books about American Far West.

Overview: ‘When violence threatens the frontier boomtown of Warlock, a Citizens’ Committee determines to take action against criminal cowboys and cattle rustlers. A gunslinger named Clay Blaisedell, who has achieved considerable renown in Texas, is hired as town marshal to keep the peace. He is followed to Warlock by his close friend Tom Morgan, a gambler and saloon owner with a sour reputation, and Kate Dollar, a former prostitute bent on vengeance. Though Blaisedell at first manages to assert his authority with his stolid demeanor and expert gunmanship, Abe McQuown and his troublesome gang of cowboys seek to antagonize him.’

 

‘The Son’ – Philippe Meyer

Also a Pulitzer Prize short-runner, this novel talks up about the instilled cruelty, ambition and sacrifices made in an unforgettable era and place, the USA Far West, from the middle of XIX century to the 1970’s

Part epic of Texas, part classic coming-of-age story, part unflinching portrait of the bloody price of power, The Son is an utterly transporting novel that maps the legacy of violence in the American West through the lives of the McCulloughs, an ambitious family as resilient and dangerous as the land they claim.

 

‘Blood Meridian’ – Cormac McCarthy

Probably the masterwork of the so-considered as best western genre writer of all times, Cormac McCarthy. This poetically violent and raw novel is considered by Time magazine as one of the best 100 English novels published in the 20^th century.

Overview: The novel tells the story of a teenage runaway referred to only as “the kid”, who was born in Tennessee during the famously active Leonids meteor shower of 1833. He first meets the enormous, pale, hairless Judge Holden at a religious revival in a tent in Nacogdoches, Texas, at which Holden falsely accuses the preacher of raping children and goats, inciting the audience to attack him.

 

 

Until here, these are our best suggestions, but we know this list could be longer and longer than that. But you’ll plenty of enjoyable moments with this six western literature gems, so you can discover those forgotten and imaginative western stories. Do you want to put the icing on the cake with some of our 100% western items available at Corbeto’s Boots?