The epic novel of the American West and the heroic cowboy Owen Wister's powerful story of the tall, silent stranger who rides into the uncivilized West and defeats the forces of evil has become an enduring part of American mythology. Set in Wyoming Territory, The Virginian depicts the loneliness and challenge of an unknown land where the whistle of a freight train sounds across great miles of silence, where easy camaraderie—and sudden violence—are found around the campfire, and where the rough honesty of "frontier justice" is just beginning to impose a sense of society on an unruly populace. For Wister, the West represented a territory of adventure that tested the worth of a man. His hero, as John Seelye writes in his Introduction, has his roots in the historical romances of Sir Walter Scott and James Fenimore Cooper; he is a man who lives by the classic code of chivalry, ruled by quiet courage and deeply felt honor. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Virginian

Literature & Fiction

WISTER, OWEN

United States

Penguin??Books

The Virginian (1902) is Owen Wister's classic popular romance, and the most significant shaping influence on the Western genre. This edition includes Wister's neglected essay, The Evolution of the Cow-Puncher (1895) and an introduction highlighting the social, gender, and political implications of Wister's mythic West in the context of its actual economic history and Wister's patrician career.

The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains (Oxford World's Classics)

Oxford University Press

The Virginian (1902) is Owen Wister's classic popular romance, and the most significant shaping influence on the Western genre. This edition includes Wister's neglected essay, The Evolution of the Cow-Puncher (1895) and an introduction highlighting the social, gender, and political implications of Wister's mythic West in the context of its actual economic history and Wister's patrician career. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
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The Virginian: A Horseman Of The Plains

History

Franklin Classics

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1902 edition. Excerpt: ...--" "He's not a bit like that. Yes, he's exactly like that," said Molly. And she would have snatched the photograph away, but her aunt retained it. "Well," she said, "I suppose there are days when he does not kill people." "He never killed anybody!" And Molly laughed. "Are you seriously--" said the old lady. "I almost might--at times. He is perfectly splendid." "My dear, you have fallen in love with his clothes." "It's not his clothes. And I'm not in love. He often wears others. He wears a white collar like anybody." "Then that would be a more suitable way to be photographed, I think. He couldn't go round like that here. I could not receive him myself." "He'd never think of such a thing. Why, you talk as if he were a savage." The old lady studied the picture closely for a minute. "I think it is a good face," she finally remarked. "Is the fellow as handsome as that, my dear?" More so, Molly thought. And who was he, and what were his prospects? were the aunt's next inquiries. She shook her head at the answers which she received; and she also shook her head over her niece's emphatic denial that her heart was lost to this man. But when their parting came, the old lady said:--"God bless you and keep you, my dear. I'll not try to manage you. They managed me--" A sigh spoke the rest of this sentence. "But I'm not worried about you--at least, not very much. You have never done anything that was not worthy of the Starks. And if you're going to take him, do it before I die so that I can bid him welcome for your sake. God bless you, my dear." And after the girl had gone back to Bennington, the great-aunt had this thought: "She is like us all. She wants a man that is a man." Nor did the old lady breathe her knowledge to any member of the family. For she was...

Literary

Signet Classics

The book that the Gary Cooper movie was based on (and the 1960s NBC-TV hit show was very loosely based on). A classic in western literature,establishing the quiet, but strong western hero, who would side-step trouble but when it couldn't be avioded, he would settle the issue with his fist or gun. Great western read.

The Greatest Western Novel Ever Written! In 1989 the New York Times wrote the following about The Virginian: "The 1902 novel, ancestor of the classic western, turned out to be not only corny and flag-waving but also intolerant and reactionary by today's standards. The story includes sentimental lectures on Americanism that sound like a jingoist speech by Theodore Roosevelt, to whom the book is dedicated." God forbid that a book, in the eyes of the Times, should be "flag waving" or view America as an exceptional place. But credit must be given where credit is due. The Times was right; The Virginian does all that and more. In fact, it established the rugged, individualistic, self-dependent, cowboy as a cultural icon in our society. Indeed, it can be said that the western fictional genre began the day this book was published; and it was the best selling book of its day. You would be hard pressed to find a better endorsement for any book than to have the New York Times condemn it as containing... dare I say the words... "sentimental lectures on Americanism." You would also be hard pressed to find a better western novel. Zane Gray, Louis L'Amour, Larry McMurtry, and all the others began right here. The First True Western Novel. Condemned by the New York Times. Now Available to You

1979, mass market paperback reprint edition, Signet, NY. 334 pages. A classic novel which changed the cowboy hero, who became a definite presence, hero, to readers then and now. An effective afterword discusses Wister's life and how many of his ideas changed when he made his first trip to the American West.

The foreman of a large cattle ranch on the Wyoming frontier lives by the honor code of the West even though it means helping lynch a friend or possibly losing the girl he is to marry.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by WISTER, OWEN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by WISTER, OWEN

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by WISTER, OWEN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Virginian

The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains (Oxford World's Classics)

The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains (Oxford World's Classics)

The Virginian: A Horseman Of The Plains

The Virginian

The Virginian

The Virginian

The Virginian

The Virginian

The Virginian