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The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains

by Owen Wister, Gary Scharnhorst (Introduction)

3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 · rating details · 2,542 ratings · 348 reviews

In the untamed West, pioneers came to test their fortunes -- and their wills. The Wyoming territory was a harsh, unforgiving land, with its own unwritten code of honor by which men lived and died. Into this rough landscape rides the Virginian, a solitary man whose unbending will is his only guide through life. The Virginian's unwavering beliefs in right and wrong are soon...more

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published September 3rd 2002 by Scribner Book Company (first published 1902)

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Oct 12, 2007 Keely rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: western, fiction, novel, reviewed, american, favorites

I cannot believe that I sat in American Lit reading Hawthorne when I could have been reading this. If you have never heard of this book, then I am not sure why; just as I am not sure why I had never heard of it. It is surely Romantic, and sometimes Heroic, but there is a depth of emotion, wit, and thought in this work which made me question how American it could be.

Of course, the author spent some schooling-time in Europe, and holds a dear enough place for Austen and Shakespeare not to descend i...more I cannot believe that I sat in American Lit reading Hawthorne when I could have been reading this. If you have never heard of this book, then I am not sure why; just as I am not sure why I had never heard of it. It is surely Romantic, and sometimes Heroic, but there is a depth of emotion, wit, and thought in this work which made me question how American it could be.

Of course, the author spent some schooling-time in Europe, and holds a dear enough place for Austen and Shakespeare not to descend into the self-important drear which has so long left American Literature moth-eaten.

However, it has also the rawness and adventure which we have been lead to expect from this frontier land. Both the dime-stores and megaplexes have profited so much from this sense of adventure that red-plumed explosions have become ho-hum. There is then a certain irony in the fact that in opening this book, I was shocked and surprised by its emotion more than I have been by an exploding car or knife-weilding killer. Perhaps that says something in and of itself about the repetetive nature of our arts: that we will make something uninteresting two times instead of something interesting once.

I could not resist the gentle humor nor the deep-felt influence of both the high British and the Russian realists in this book, and found it surprised me not in the least because it took a road other than either the expected or the contrary.

Though the author sometimes falls to that most grievous of sins: telling instead of showing, one gets the impression that this is because he knows his limits and would spare us the blunder of exceeding them. One also sometimes gets the sense of his desire to fondly remember this era, and to Romanticize it, but if that was ever a crime of Literature, it was only laid upon those we didn't like. I like The Virginian, and not the least of which because the author is humble enough to excuse himself from his crimes before making me do it for him. Too many modern books are started by the authors but finished by the readers.(less)

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Jul 11, 2011 Hannah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Hannah by: Misfit

Shelves: western, 2011-reads, classics

The western genre isn't one that I'm very familiar with, having read (in my impressionable early teens) some of my uncle's Tabor Evans Longarm series paperbacks. And let me just say for the record that the only thing the main character Longarm wasn't riding was a horse....Consequently, my only reading forays into western literature haven't been along the lines of Zane Gray's Riders of the Purple Sage so much as Evans' "Rider of the Purple-Nippled Wench" (my title, not his). As a result, I've b...more The western genre isn't one that I'm very familiar with, having read (in my impressionable early teens) some of my uncle's Tabor Evans Longarm series paperbacks. And let me just say for the record that the only thing the main character Longarm wasn't riding was a horse....Consequently, my only reading forays into western literature haven't been along the lines of Zane Gray's Riders of the Purple Sage so much as Evans' "Rider of the Purple-Nippled Wench" (my title, not his). As a result, I've been leary in the last 30+ years of picking up another saga of the 'ole west for fear it would be just another excuse for a horny lawman to bed as many busty saloon girls, indian squaws, and lusty train conductor's wives as possible within 200 pages.

So when I read a review of The Virginian from my GR friend Misfit, it whetted my interest to give westerns another try, and I'm glad I did.

Reading The Virginian reminded me very much of reading Mary Stewart's, Thornyhold - not in content, storyline or even writing style but in the fact that both writers invited their readers to immerse themselves in celebrating a time now vanished, but fondly remembered and richly recreated on the printed page. The Virginian isn't so much about a larger-then-life cowboy/hero as it is a love story about a place and time now enshrined in the American psyche: the wild west.

Wister's 110 year old prose was, in the beginning, often difficult for me to decipher and it was hard for me to get through the first 70 pages. However, after I found Wister's cadence, the story took off, and transported me to 1880's Wyoming, and the story of the unnamed Virginian, his rough and ready philosophy of life, and his on-going courtship of the gently-bred, eastern school marm, Molly Stark Wood. Wister presents the Virginian as the archetypal western ideal, and what an ideal this man is. By the book's end, I was more then a little in love with the Virginian myself :D

Presented as a series of vignettes, the stories of the Virginian and his exploits are classic western fare, complete with cattle rustlers, poker games, lynchings and the all-important high-noon gunfight. Interspersed between these darker events are chapters of levity, including an over-nurturing hen named Em'ly, a tall-tale to end all tall-tales featuring the booming frog ("frawg") leg industry and a case of mass baby swapping during a local barn dance.

This is a richly described and lovingly rendered story of the American west, and is considered the godfather of the western novel. It also comes highly recommended by one who was hesitant about sampling another western ever again.
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Jun 30, 2011 Ernie rated it 4 of 5 stars

To think that the western movies, TV shows, space westerns, etc. were merely the shadows of this book, published in 1902. The impetus to read this book came from listening to Teddy Roosevelt's biography. The west made a big impression on TR and this book and Owen Wister were largely responsible for his, and our, romantic images. Lots has been written on this. Gun fights. High Noon. Dramatic and memorable music. Moral dilemmas did not exist within the code of the west. Good was clear, simple and...more To think that the western movies, TV shows, space westerns, etc. were merely the shadows of this book, published in 1902. The impetus to read this book came from listening to Teddy Roosevelt's biography. The west made a big impression on TR and this book and Owen Wister were largely responsible for his, and our, romantic images. Lots has been written on this. Gun fights. High Noon. Dramatic and memorable music. Moral dilemmas did not exist within the code of the west. Good was clear, simple and triumphant. Evil was also clearly delineated, diabolically, talented and doomed. It also helped that the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys wore black hats. To this day I take time warming up to "cowboys" in black hats.

I won't comment further on these well known points. But there were two aspects of the books that surprised me. The "westerns" and the romance that I grew up with had explicit action.

First....... In this book... the parent of all "westerns", much of the action takes place off the pages. The Indian attack on the Virginian is described only in the aftermath, when Molly finds him wounded and near death. Furthermore, the gunfight at the end of the book is missed if you don't read two sentences carefully. This is a profound difference from the drama attending western duels on TV and movies. Here, violence and sex take place off the pages.

Further to this point, this book is about the land more than the people and their actions:

"No hand but nature's had sown these crops of yellow flowers, these willow thickets and tall cottonwoods. Somewere in the passage of red rocks the last sign of wagon wheels was lost, and after this the trail becaem a wild mountain trail. But it was still the warm air of the plains, bearing the sage-brush odor and not the pine, that they breathed; nor did the forest yet cloak the shapes of the tawny hills among which they were ascending."

In this fashion, much of the text is devoted to description of places... and when describing people, the author conveys the same sense of timelessness, nature and inevitability.

People merely inhabit this country. They are a product of this country. We see occasional visitors from the east who may or may not be able to adapt. Even those who are there are one mistake away from disaster (Shorty). It is a beautiful but unforgiving place. The country defines the people.

Second.... since this book marks the inception of the "western" and code of the west.. what went before. So much of popular literature since has been on this subject or used these themes... what preceded the cowboy and the west to capture and stimulate our imaginations? Was it the Civil War? The War of Southern Rebellion? Were our heros in the last half of the 19th century brave but regional partisans of that war? In that case, did Wister do a great service by drawing our attention away from the myths and tradgedies of that war war as a source of our national identity and projecting it onto new myths and ideals of the west and the cowboy?

FASCINATING(less)

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Jan 21, 2008 James rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone interested in the late nineteenth century American frontier

The Virginian was the inspiration for The Shopkeeper. The inspiration didn't come from the main character of the novel, but from the life of Owen Wister, the author of this classic. Originally published in 1902, Wister visited the Old West in the late nineteenth century and wrote from personal experience.

Although the Virginian can be a somewhat difficult read today, I liked it because Wister wrote from the personal experiences he recorded in his journal. I've never seen the journal, but I've re...more

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Feb 27, 2008 Travis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-english

Apparently the first 'western'. It was really nice. I loved the story about the chicken taking care of everybody else's offspring, and sitting on and attempting to hatch rocks, mangos, pine cones, etc. The Virginian himself was great. The discussion about "taking the law into your own hands" - as a community, was really interesting. The Judge rightly points out that the people gave the power to courts/congress in the first place. If they people dead/crippled, who is to say the people cannot revo...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Kimberly Barlow Cook rated it 5 of 5 stars

A friend told me, before I read this book, that it was one of the most romantic books she had ever read. What did she mean by romantic, I wondered? Was it the Regency swash-buckling, bodice-ripping type, or something more meaningful? My friend was correct. This was, perhaps, the ultimate romantic novel. It skillfully weaves a story of the Adam and Eve type, where man yearns for what he lacks and finds it in the woman who completes him.

Having been married for 25 years myself, I have learned and...more A friend told me, before I read this book, that it was one of the most romantic books she had ever read. What did she mean by romantic, I wondered? Was it the Regency swash-buckling, bodice-ripping type, or something more meaningful? My friend was correct. This was, perhaps, the ultimate romantic novel. It skillfully weaves a story of the Adam and Eve type, where man yearns for what he lacks and finds it in the woman who completes him.

Having been married for 25 years myself, I have learned and come to appreciate the differences between a man and a woman. Watching Miss Wood discover this for herself, as she learns the soul of her Wyoming cowboy suitor, reveals the strength of Adam as created by God. While she doesn't understand his wild ways and his stalwart attention to duty, responsibility, and enforcing justice, she comes to accept her rough cowboy as he is, and does not try to remake him into some female version of what she feels he should be. Likewise, the Virginian discovers the joy of finding another person to whom he can express the feelings and thoughts he had locked deep inside himself.

The reader discovers, through the Virginian's act of baring his most private thoughts and sharing them with his chosen mate, that this is the most intimate act of marriage. Likewise, Miss Wood's trusting in the goodness of her cowboy's nature, even when she does not understand his reasons, models the strength of the Christian marriage: one does not trust the person so much as one trusts the strength of God in a person's life, which creates a trust circumstances cannot affect. There is no need to share the intimate details of this couple's physical relationship to make this a romantic tale--this is done through the development of their trust and understanding of one another. Romance writers would do well to follow this model, which subtly leads the reader through the development of the most intimate part of a relationship--the development of understanding, trust, and appreciation between two opposing natures.

On another level, I appreciated the writer's ability to paint setting and characters through a minimal use of words. The writer is a master of "show don't tell," which I find gratifying, since it gives me the pleasure of feeling I have been led gently down the path of reaching my own insightful conclusions. I enjoy encountering a writer or friend who makes me feel, as I correctly draw my conclusions from the hints provided, that we understand one another while others in the room may not.(less)

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Apr 07, 2013 Bill Rogers rated it 4 of 5 stars

A funny thing happened while I was reading The Virginian. The book was nothing but cliches, and yet it seemed fresh and alive. This surprised me. How was that possible?

Then it hit me. Wister invented the cliches. This is where the cliches of the Western came from. Every dusty Western town and literary cattle drive since has borrowed something from this book.

Yet Wister's Old West isn't the Old West of later books. The narrator of the story is an Easterner who goes west on various trips over a per...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Josh Hopping rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book as a fan of western novels (mostly Louis L'amour). The writing was definitely within the style of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s with the characters waxing on philosophically at times. One of the main issues that Wister is exploring is the role an individual plays in keeping justice and law in a land in which law enforcement officers are absent (i.e. is it lawful to hang a cattle thief without a trial or the present of a law officer). Wister also explored the difference i...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Valjean rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Virginian certainly sets a high standard for Westerns. While portraying the rugged life of Wyoming in the late 1800's, Wister also deals with the timeless themes of justice, self-government, faith, morality, love. When is it right to take the life of another person? How should a man treat a woman? Can we condemn a person for weakness of character as much as a person of malicious intent? What is the mystery that can bring two people together in spite of vastly different backgrounds? What is g...more The Virginian certainly sets a high standard for Westerns. While portraying the rugged life of Wyoming in the late 1800's, Wister also deals with the timeless themes of justice, self-government, faith, morality, love. When is it right to take the life of another person? How should a man treat a woman? Can we condemn a person for weakness of character as much as a person of malicious intent? What is the mystery that can bring two people together in spite of vastly different backgrounds? What is good? In the Virginian, there are good and bad men of all types: ranchers, politicians, preachers, cowboys. The characters frequently wrestle with questions of right and wrong. This was never more evident than right before the final 'show down' between the Virginian and the rustler Trampas. The Virginian and the bishop who is to perform the wedding ceremony for he and Molly have a poignant discussion about whether facing the bad man in a duel is the right thing to do. Their discussion comes to no firm conclusion. But after the Virginian heads off to his destiny, the bishop declares "God bless him!"

Some other favorite lines of mine from the book regarding matters of faith and right living:

"It is not praying nor preaching that has ever caught me and made me ashamed of myself, but one or two people I have knowed that never said a superior word to me. They thought more o' me than I deserved, and that made me behave better than i naturally wanted to." - the Virginian

"As soon as you treat men as your brothers, the are ready to acknowledge you-if you deserve it-as their superior. That's the whole bottom of Christianity..." Judge Henry

"Stone upon stone he build the black cellar of his theology, leaving out its beautiful park and the sunshine of its garden. He did not tell them the splendor of its past, the noble fortress for good that it had been, how its tonic had strengthened generations of their fathers." - the 'tenderfoot'

If you have read other Western authors such as Louis L'Amour, you will find much common ground in "The Virginian".(less)

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Oct 25, 2012 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-mainstream

THE VIRGINIAN. (1902). Owen Wister. ****.
This was another book on my pile of “guilt” novels – one of those classics that I kept meaning to read but never got around to doing so. I finally did. It was well worth it in a sad0-masochistic way. What you have here is the grand-daddy of all cowboy novels. It was the inspiration for all succeeding novels, plays, movies and TV shows that came after that featured cowboys of the Old West. It was immensely popular at the time, going through fifteen printi...more THE VIRGINIAN. (1902). Owen Wister. ****.
This was another book on my pile of “guilt” novels – one of those classics that I kept meaning to read but never got around to doing so. I finally did. It was well worth it in a sad0-masochistic way. What you have here is the grand-daddy of all cowboy novels. It was the inspiration for all succeeding novels, plays, movies and TV shows that came after that featured cowboys of the Old West. It was immensely popular at the time, going through fifteen printings in its first eight months after initial publication. It went on to become a successful adaptation as a play – playing four months in New York and eight years on the road. All of those “cliches” we now associate with westerns seem to have originated in this novel. You have to remember when you are reading this book that you are reading them for the first time in print, including the famous, “When you call me that, SMILE!” Owen Wister (1860-1938) tried his hand at lots of things before finally settling down to writing. He was counseled to do so by his friend William Dean Howells. His early efforts were proof-read by another friend, Theodore Roosevelt. He may have gotten some help along the way from his grandmother, Frances (Fanny) Kemble Butler. If he did fail in his writing, he always had his law degree from Harvard to fall back on. The story line in “The Virginian” was sort of based on Wister’s experiences in Wyoming. At the time of his visit there, the true Old West was long gone, but the ghost of its days still remained in the character of its people and the stories that were passed around. The attraction of the Old West was still high for the people who lived Back East who had never gone much further west than the Ohio River. Wister’s tale hit a chord that managed to reverberate among readers and to spark a desire for much more of the same. A lot of the novel will seem old hat to current readers, but it’s worth the effort. Remember that you are now reading the Founding Father of the western. Recommended.
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Jun 28, 2012 Wayne S. rated it 4 of 5 stars

“The Virginian’s pistol came out, and his hand lay on the table, holding it unaimed. And with a voice as gentle as ever, the voice that sounded almost like a caress, but drawling a very little more than usual, so that there was almost a space between each word, he issued his orders to the man Trampas: ‘When you call me that, smile.’ And he looked at Trampas across the table.” This novel, the first true western that paved the way for other famous authors such as Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour, cover...more “The Virginian’s pistol came out, and his hand lay on the table, holding it unaimed. And with a voice as gentle as ever, the voice that sounded almost like a caress, but drawling a very little more than usual, so that there was almost a space between each word, he issued his orders to the man Trampas: ‘When you call me that, smile.’ And he looked at Trampas across the table.” This novel, the first true western that paved the way for other famous authors such as Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour, covers a span of five years and chronicles the acquaintance of the unnamed author/narrator with a strong, silent stranger known only as “The Virginian,” a young man in his twenties who works on Judge Henry’s Shiloh Ranch at Sunk Creek in the Wyoming territory.
The account begins when the narrator arrives in Medicine Bow, WY, around 1886, to visit Judge Henry and the Virginian is sent to escort him to Shiloh. During the succeeding years, the Virginian, who was born in old Virginia but had left home at age fourteen and come west, woos the pretty Miss Molly Stark Wood, who comes from Bennington, VT, to be the school teacher at Bear Creek, WY; is made foreman at Shiloh Ranch; and must deal with an ongoing enemy named Trampas, a roving cowboy who works for a while at Shiloh then turns to rustling. Will the Virginian win Miss Wood’s affection? What will happen to Trampas? When I was young and still living at home, I remember seeing a television show also entitled The Virginian (1962-1971), based on characters from this novel. It starred James Drury as the Virginian, Doug McClure as Trampas, and Lee J. Cobb as the Judge. However, the television series bore little resemblance to the plot of the book.
The Virginian is an interesting story in which several subplots develop over time. There are numerous references to smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol, gambling, and dancing. In addition to several instances in which “curses,” “oaths,” and “profanities” are mentioned, the “d” and “h” words occur a few times and the Lord’s name is occasionally taken in vain. The phrase “son of a -----“ is used as quoted (not spelled out). In fact, this is what Trampas had called the Virginian when the latter responded, “When you call me that, smile.” The nearly equivalent term “ba*t*ard” is found once (completely spelled out). Nathaniel Bluedorn recommended the book in Hand that Rocks the Cradle: 400 Classic Books for Children, but I would urge great caution with younger children unless done as a read aloud where the offending language could be easily edited out. Otherwise, it does present a good, balanced viewpoint of what young manhood should be, with both toughness when needed and gentleness when required.(less)

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Apr 23, 2012 Elizabeth K. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-new-reads

This surprised me with how awesome it was, and the whole reason I picked it up in the first place is because Nancy had to explain to me a weird Owen Wister reference in The Art of Fielding.

The first piece of news is that this does not take place in Virginia. (I NEVER SAW THE MOVIES!) It takes place in Wyoming. Considered by some to be the first Western (or so the internet tells me), this is a series of related stories about the Virginian of the title, who is apparently so impressively manly that...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Ron rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: early-westerns

For anyone fascinated by how the myth of the Western hero came into being, this is the book to read. Published in 1902, it became hugely popular for decades and inspired movies (a version with Gary Cooper in 1929) and a long-running TV series (1962-1971). A modern reader could easily guess the storyline without reading a synopsis - the classic elements are all there: tall, dark, handsome cowboy hero; pretty schoolmarm from back East; the villain who must finally face justice at the end of a gun....more For anyone fascinated by how the myth of the Western hero came into being, this is the book to read. Published in 1902, it became hugely popular for decades and inspired movies (a version with Gary Cooper in 1929) and a long-running TV series (1962-1971). A modern reader could easily guess the storyline without reading a synopsis - the classic elements are all there: tall, dark, handsome cowboy hero; pretty schoolmarm from back East; the villain who must finally face justice at the end of a gun.

Few historical novels are dedicated to American presidents, however, and another whole dimension of the novel opens up with the name appearing on the dedication page -- Theodore Roosevelt, a college friend of the author's. What Wister does, besides telling a story of adventure and romance, is portray a particular kind of heroic figure, a natural man whose integrity is untainted by the corrupt (though civilized) values of the East.

The book is a deliberate and often worshipful character study for the age of Teddy Roosevelt-style masculinity. The young Virginian charms us (and the narrator) with his courage and modesty and his thoughtful attempts to understand a world in which some men (even good ones) act dishonorably and make cowardly choices. Stoic and cool on the surface, the currents of sentiment run deep in this man. So does the will to self-improvement, as he reads Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott.

This book connects with so much of American myth over the last 100 years that you could easily write another book about it. Or you can simply enjoy it for what it is, a historical romance so well conceived, in spite of its sometimes dated views, that you keep on reading through each episode of the story, glad that Wister was in no hurry to cut to the chase. This is a book for any reader of Western literature, fiction or nonfiction. In it the many traditions of the western come together in popularized form for the first time.

Readers who enjoy this book will also like Elmer Kelton's novel, "The Day the Cowboys Quit." While it's more historically accurate in its portrayal of working cowboys, it captures many of Wister's same narrative elements, in the courage, modesty and thoughtfulness of its hero, its portrayal of the relationship between a top hand and his boss, its fateful pursuit of cattle rustlers, an account of a troubled friendship between two men, and of course the loneliness and yearning at the heart of a man who loves a woman from afar. (less)

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Jan 30, 2012 Bridget rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Bridget by: Katie

Shelves: 2012

How have I never read this book before? It's a little bit The Count of Monte Cristo, a little bit A Pair of Blue Eyes, and a little bit Little House on the Prairie, with a dash of High Noon and (I'm going to say it) Twilight thrown in. It's not a perfect book - the pacing is uneven sometimes and while I liked the way the narrator elbowed himself into the story every few chapters, it wasn't always clear how he knew some things but not others. Is there such a thing as a semiscient narrator?

But it'...more

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Oct 23, 2011 Marci rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I first read this book when I was a young teenager and thought it was wonderful. I reread it last night so a friend who is reading it for a book club and I could talk about it. From a different perspective entirely, I still love this book. I love the philosophical discussions and dichotomies in the story: good vs. evil; justice vs. corruption; naivete vs. experience; sadism vs. kindness; honor vs. cowardice; and much more. I love the quintessential cowboy story. I love the episodic treatment.I l...more

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Oct 06, 2011 Barksdale Penick rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book wasn't what I expected. It was much lighter than I had thought it would be. I have heard of it as the first Western, with a tall manly guntoting hero. He was there, but he certainly had a much expansive personality than one finds in say a Zane Grey book, where the hero speaks little and lets his guns do all the talking. But it does seem quite outdated and moralistic, although not so much so that I didn't enjoy reading it. I found some aspects of the writing and plot depiction spotty. F...more

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May 30, 2011 Topher rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: western, literature

My friend Chris really likes westerns, and has convinced me I really ought to be reading them too. Being contrary, I thought maybe I ought to start with what's generally recognized as the first novel of the west (ie, not the same thing as a western, but the grandpappy of all the rangers and riders and mountain men that would follow). One critique I had found interesting before picking up this book was that it should have ended sooner. And, indeed, I find myself reaching the same conclusion. In t...more

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Apr 25, 2010 Breanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book caught my interest and enthusiasm right at the beginning when the handsome young cowboy (I've always had a soft spot for this type of character anyway) calmly ropes the horse that no one else could. From reading the author's notes and subsequent publishing notes on this book it became apparant that this book was primarily responsible for the portrayal of the "Old West" as represented in cinema, stage and literature ever since it's publishing. It is credited with western terminology, pr...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Exanimis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: enjoyable, kindle-reads, westerns

When young Miss Wood arrives in Wyoming to take a job as a school teacher, her wagon is caught in a flood and overturned. The school marm is rescued by a handsome stranger who rides off before she can thank him. The stranger is the Virginian, a rough and rugged plainsman/cow boy who lives his life by simple rules, rules that Miss Wood will never understand but will come to respect.

The Virginian started out slow and at times seemed to ramble before finding it's footing. With comments like the fo...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Melissa (ladybug) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: fiction, classics, team-read

This book wasn’t at all what I expected. I dreaded reading it because I thought it would be dry, hard to read western, but it wasn’t at all dry. I do not think it is a “western” at all. It is the story of the untamed wilderness when men were men and justice was immediate and harsh. It had a rawness and adventure feel to it that I was delighted to see. The modern westerns owe their beginnings to books such as “The Virginian”.

I could not stand to put this book down. Its gentle humor, the influence...more

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Mar 11, 2013 Tristram rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: western, classic-american-literature

Beware of the Frog!

This is what, as I would recommend, should be put as a warning appendix to the title of Owen Wister's famous Western novel "The Virginian", which was first published in 1902 - because, as I felt, one third of the novel in some way or other centres on the preparation and consumption as well as the "harvest" of our amphibious friends.

"The Virginian" is commonly regarded as t h e literary forebear of the western, next to James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, and it pro...more Beware of the Frog!

This is what, as I would recommend, should be put as a warning appendix to the title of Owen Wister's famous Western novel "The Virginian", which was first published in 1902 - because, as I felt, one third of the novel in some way or other centres on the preparation and consumption as well as the "harvest" of our amphibious friends.

"The Virginian" is commonly regarded as t h e literary forebear of the western, next to James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, and it probably has been adapted for the screen quite as often, amongst others by the renowned director Cecil B. DeMille in 1914. The most famous version derived from the book is probably the 1929 film starring Gary Cooper and Walter Huston. However, directors of "The Virginian" generally took a lot of liberties with this novel, basing their films rather loosely on Wister's tale.

If you ask yourself why these directors may have felt that they had to re-invent the story instead of carefully sticking to the original, you might come to a conclusion that will not go down well with public opinion, which is inclined to hold the book in high esteem as the starting point of the most American genre. This unpopular conclusion is that "The Virginian" is a botch of a novel that may probably still be of interest to the scholar, though hardly to the literary pleasure-seeker - a conclusion that clearly ranks it with Cooper's five novels.

First of all, it must be noted that Owen Wister is not much of a story-teller. Most of the action taking place in "The Virginian", for example the infamous lynching scene, is presented to the reader via time-delayed teichoscopy, i.e. characters give an account of what happened elsewhere. This device, which may be useful in plays, usually destroys quite a lot of tension in a novel, and is most cleverly applied in order to shed some light on the character reporting an event.

Secondly, the tale is told by a first person narrator who is alien to the old West and its ways and who by and by earns the respect of the eponymous hero, as he emancipates himself from the reputation of the tender-footed greenhorn. Unfortunately, Wister more often than not feels the need to narrate events that took place in the greenhorn's absence, which imbues the narrator with a God-like omniscience at times and which allows him to even go into detail with regard to the most intimate conversations between the Virginian and his lady-love. Wister's failure to stick to perspective likewise detracts from the appeal of the book. You may say that Melville did the same thing in "Moby-Dick", but then Wister is no Melville in terms of depth and style, and where Melville still keeps up his narrative flow, Wister clearly runs dry more than once.

Thirdly, the characters he describes are hardly able to create interest. His scoundrel, the sly and cowardly farm-hand Trampas, remains colourless and flat. The Virginian's love interest is a pasteboard character, and his hero has nothing to do with the grim, hard-nosed loners, or the bitter men that ride the Westerns of Anthony Mann or Budd Boetticher. Neither is he a mysterious knight-like Shane. The Virginian just seems to be a character created to illustrate Wister's naïve belief in Social Darwinism, which he sometimes has his narrator advocate in his typically stilted, but hardly skilful prose - just like this:

"There can be no doubt of this : -
All America is divided into two classes, - the quality and the equality. The latter will always recognize the former when mistaken for it. Both will be with us until our women bear nothing but kings.

It was through the Declaration of Independence that we Americans acknowledged the ETERNAL INEQUALITY of man. For by it we abolished a cut-and-dried aristocracy. We had seen little men artificially held up in high places, and great men artificially held down in low places, and our own justice-loving hearts abhorred this violence to human nature. Therefore, we decreed that every man should thenceforth have equal liberty to find his own level. By this very decree we acknowledged and gave freedom to true aristocracy, saying, 'Let the best man win, whoever he is.' Let the best man win! That is America's word. That is true democracy. And true democracy and true aristocracy are one and the same thing. If anybody cannot see this, so much the worse for his eyesight."

This is a bit hard to take for us who know that it is money that makes presidents, and it would still be hard to take, were it more skilfully written.

All in all, "The Virginian" is quite similar to the afore-mentioned frog in that you might have difficulty in keeping this book in your hand and that, like many a bloated frog, it will be found smaller than assumed.
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Apr 04, 2012 Joanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites

This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read and is definitely among my favourites. I breathed the mountain air and felt the sear of the hot dusty plains in Wister's telling. I laughed out loud at several of the unexpected points of dry humour and I loved the slow unravelling of the many layers of the characters' personalities. Unlike most of the crass, mindless trash that is increasingly passed off as literature, this is a book about quality, character, decency, goodness a...more

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Jul 10, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Hardcore Lovers of the Western of Scholars of the Same

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, novels, romance, ultimate-reading-list, westerns, popular-fiction

This book, published in 1902, has been hailed as the first Western. The Virginian of the novel is the forefather of Hondo and Shane and every other strong but silent cowboy found in films. Here's a snippet:

The Virginian's pistol came out, and his hand lay on the table, holding it unaimed. And with a voice as gentle as ever, the voice that sounded almost like a caress, but drawling a very little more than usual, so that there was almost a space between each word, he issued his orders to the man T...more

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Jun 13, 2011 Ben Davis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics-books-people-hear-about

I picked this up after stopping in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. Some of the book is set in Medicine Bow, and the town has adopted the author as a native son. I'd heard of the book before, but just hadn't decided to pick it up. Widely considered the first western novel, I think this book has unfortunately lost some of its recognition in recent years. Zane Gray gets a lot of credit for his Riders of the Purple Sage, and Edward Abbey likewise is widely read due to his works on the desert southwest. Someh...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Tracie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who liked All the Pretty Horses

Recommended to Tracie by: Elizabeth K.

Shelves: library_book

This was delightful. I really, really enjoyed reading it. In the foreward, it's claimed that this might be the first proper literary Western ever written. I would be shocked if Cormac McCarthy hadn't read Own Wister before he wrote All the Pretty Horses, etc. The Virginian reminded me a lot of John Grady at times.

It took a few pages for me to warm up to the writing style and cow-poke language, but by the chapter about Em'ly the hen I was totally sold on this. And the last 100 pages are so, so g...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Zach rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Turn-of-the-century closeted homosexuals, patient lovers of good yarns, the Monopoly Man

Shelves: read-for-class

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Read this for a class on Westerns...the narrative voice is nineteenth-century in the worst way (you're always reading an account of an account of an account), and there's a lot of tedium in between the genuinely warm, funny, and/or exciting bits. There's also the little issue of the whole novel being a manufactured mythology to support Wister's conservative worldview, in which the West becomes a place for men of "quality" to obtain the opportunity others simply lack the "ambition" to grasp. The...more Read this for a class on Westerns...the narrative voice is nineteenth-century in the worst way (you're always reading an account of an account of an account), and there's a lot of tedium in between the genuinely warm, funny, and/or exciting bits. There's also the little issue of the whole novel being a manufactured mythology to support Wister's conservative worldview, in which the West becomes a place for men of "quality" to obtain the opportunity others simply lack the "ambition" to grasp. The hero is a noble ranch foreman stoically suffering the slings and arrows of his subordinates, who inevitably become cattle rustlers and steal from their "betters" in a decidedly slanted rendition of the Johnson County, Wyoming cattle wars. In short, Mitt Romney probably loves this book. But if you're a patient reader and are able to compartmentalize (or, God forbid, actually agree with) the ideological undertones, this is effectively the foundation for the entire twentieth-century Western genre, and it's fascinating to see some of its influences in reverse; the final showdown between the Virginian and his nemesis, for example, was more or less directly knocked off by the film High Noon--right down to the tearful confrontation with his pacifist bride, who eventually comes around to supporting violence like every other good American. There are also some very funny passages, for example the anecdote about the childless chicken who tries to hatch anything vaguely egg-shaped (though, again, this seemingly innocuous story gets rather queasily changed later in the book into a parable about how the female lead needs to settle down and just be domesticated already). Last, but certainly not least, while Wister's narrator is irritatingly foppish in the classic effete-Easterner vein, there's also a lot of delightfully blatant homoeroticism in his descriptions of the titular protagonist: giving this book the more subversive distinction of inventing the cowboy as a gay, as well as American, icon.(less)

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May 13, 2011 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a true classic by my criteria. There is a lot to learn from this fantastic book. I think it has relevance to everyone, but I must say this is a classic man's book. The Virginian is someone any man could look up to and give them something to aspire to. Many discounted his character and wisdom, but throughout the book he proved them all wrong.

I don't mean to wax overly philosophical, but I think this world has really come down hard on men (at times justly and at times not so justly). I've...more

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Dec 15, 2009 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-a-z

Fiction A-Z Book 'W': The Virginian by Owen Wister

I'll be honest. It took me a while to really get into this one. There's a formalism to much of Wister's writing that made it hard to settle into the story. But as I kept going, I got used to it, and was able to enjoy the tale of The Virginian. It's got a lot of what became hallmarks for Western stories (cattle rustling, showdowns, romance with strong independent women [preferably a schoolmarm:], stoic heroes, etc), and it was interesting to see w...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Nora rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was so much fun to read. Even though it dealt with some pretty sobering themes, the general tone was light-hearted (I often found myself chuckling out loud as I read) and there was even a nice little love story woven in. It has action, intrigue, romance, a little mystery, drama and comedy. The book is narrated in the first person by an unnamed character who is a friend of the title character. It was explained that the stories in the book had been recounted to this friend, who was then...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Juniorelvis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Behold, the man! A gentle, gun wielding hero that has learned from life rather than books, who is able to instruct his sweetheart as to the meaning of the poetry and prose she is well familiar with because of his knowledge, who nonetheless loves those books she gives to him in which 'something happens' to the characters. For it is how characters in books deal with 'something' - with life - that we really get to know them, and it is by the Virginians dealings with the people and situations life p...more

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About Owen Wister

Owen Wister was born on July 14, 1860, in Germantown, a neighborhood within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Owen Jones Wister, was a wealthy physician, one of a long line of Wisters raised at the storied Belfield estate in Germantown. His mother, Sarah Butler Wister, was the daughter of actress Fanny Kemble.
Education
He briefly attended schools in Switzerland and Britain, and la...more Owen Wister was born on July 14, 1860, in Germantown, a neighborhood within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Owen Jones Wister, was a wealthy physician, one of a long line of Wisters raised at the storied Belfield estate in Germantown. His mother, Sarah Butler Wister, was the daughter of actress Fanny Kemble.
Education
He briefly attended schools in Switzerland and Britain, and later studied at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a classmate of Theodore Roosevelt, an editor of the Harvard Lampoon and a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (Alpha chapter). Wister graduated from Harvard in 1882.
At first he aspired to a career in music, and spent two years studying at a Paris conservatory. Thereafter, he worked briefly in a bank in New York before studying law, having graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1888. Following this, he practiced with a Philadelphia firm, but was never truly interested in that career. He was interested in politics, however, and was a staunch Theodore Roosevelt backer. In the 1930s, he opposed Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.
Writing career
Wister had spent several summers out in the American West, making his first trip to Wyoming in 1885. Like his friend Teddy Roosevelt, Wister was fascinated with the culture, lore and terrain of the region. On an 1893 visit to Yellowstone, Wister met the western artist Frederic Remington; who remained a lifelong friend. When he started writing, he naturally inclined towards fiction set on the western frontier. Wister's most famous work remains the 1902 novel The Virginian, the loosely constructed story of a cowboy who is a natural aristocrat, set against a highly mythologized version of the Johnson County War and taking the side of the large land owners. This is widely regarded as being the first cowboy novel and was reprinted fourteen times in eight months.[5] The book is dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt.
Personal life
In 1898, Wister married Mary Channing, his cousin.The couple had six children.
Wister's wife died during childbirth in 1913, as Theodore Roosevelt's first wife had died giving birth to Roosevelt's first daughter, Alice.
Wister died at his home in Saunderstown, Rhode Island. He is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.(less)

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The Virginian and Other Westerns by Owen Wister

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“When a man ain't got no ideas of his own, he'd ought to be kind o' careful who he borrows 'em from.” — 9 people liked it

“It was through the Declaration of Independence that we Americans acknowledged the eternal inequality of man. For by it we abolished a cut-and-dried aristocracy. We had seen little men artificially held up in high places, and great men artificially held down in low places, and our own justice-loving hearts abhorred this violence to human nature. Therefore, we decreed that every man should thenceforth have equal liberty to find his own level. By this very decree we acknowledged and gave freedom to true aristocracy, saying, "Let the best man win, whoever he is." Let the best man win! That is America's word. That is true democracy. And true democracy and true aristocracy are one and the same thing” — 5 people liked it

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