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Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Texas Literary Drought of the 1910's

Judy Alter in Mike Merschal's "Books Blog" at http://books.beloblog.com/archives/2007/08/top_ten_texas_books.html
recently started a string on Texas literature. I responded as below:

"Here's a list of Texana novelists made to fit a chronology for the 20th century, selected sometimes for first effort and other times for my preferred. Oddities include, I gave only one entry per novelist, so, e.g., having entered the 'Horseman' I passed by the 'Dove.' "

Andy Adams. The Log of a Cowboy. Boston: Houghton, 1903.
Dorothy Scarborough. The Wind. New York: Harper, 1925.
Katherine Anne Porter. Pale Horse, Pale Rider. New York: Knopf, 1939
George Sessions Perry. Hold Autumn in Your Hand New York: Viking, 1941.
William Goyen. House of Breath. New York: Random House, 1950.
William Humphrey. Home from the Hill. New York: Knopf, 1958.
Larry McMurtry. Horseman, Pass By. New York: Harper, 1961.
Capps, Benjamin. The Trail to Ogalla. New York: Duell, 1964.
Robert Flynn. North to Yesterday. New York: Knopf, 1967.
Shelby Hearon. Armadillo in the Grass. New York: Knopf, 1968.
Elmer Kelton The Day the Cowboys Quit. New York: Doubleday, 1971.
Tomás Rivera. . . . y no se lo tragó la tierra. Berkeley: Quinto Sol, 1971.
Rolando Hinojosa-Smith. Estampas del Valle y otras obras. Berkeley: Quinto Sol, 1972.
Edwin Shrake. Strange Peaches. 1973.
R.G. Vliet. Rockspring. New York: Viking, 1974
Donald Barthelme. The Dead Father. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1975.
Beverly Lowry. Daddy’s Girl. New York: Viking, 1981.
Sarah Bird. Alamo House. New York: Norton, 1986.
Lionel G. Garcia. Hardscrub. Houston: Arte Publico, 1990.
Americo Paredes. George Washington Gomez. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1990.
Cormac McCarthy. All the Pretty Horses. New York: Knopf, 1992.
J. California Cooper. The Wake of the Wind. New York: Doubleday, 1998.

A friendly, email pot-shot was taken for my 1910's gap. There really weren't adequate titles. The Texas novels were few, folks being interested in folklore, cowboy songs, the Soutwest, Mexico, nature, recollections, and such. Stark Young did start the "Texas Review," now the "Southwest Review," in 1915. Women were looking elsewhere. Some of the period titles include:

Joseph Atlsheler. Texan Scouts: The Story of the Alamo and Goliad, 1913 (a juvenile sequel to The Texan Star) and The Texan Triumph: A Romance of the San Jacinto Campaign, 1917.

Everett McNeil. In Texas with Davy Crockett: A Story of the Texas War of Independence, a 1918 variant of a 1908 issue(?).

Lewis Miller. Saddles and Lariats, 1912. (almost all true, a drive to California, maybe in the vein of Adams "Log" that went to Montana.)

O. Henry's shorts ended with his death in 1910.

Edwin Sabin. With Sam Houston in Texas: A Boy Volunteer..., 1916.

Zane Grey. Riders of the Purple Sage, 1912. and The Lone Star Ranger, 1915.

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