Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The American West: A Challenge to the Literary Imagination

The American West: A Challenge to the Literary Imagination John R. Milton Western American Literature, Volume 1, Number 4, Winter 1967, pp. 267-284 (Article) Published by University of Nebraska Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/wal.1967.0058 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/528610/summary Access provided at 22 Feb 2020 04:02 GMT from JHU Libraries J O H N R. MILTON University of South Dakota The A. merican W est: A Challenge to the Literary Im agination The American West poses a problem for the literary imagina­ tion partly because it is the largest and most varied region within the United States. It is a land of extremities and of relatively few people, tempting the writer to focus his attention upon the land­ scape and to view the people either as pawns of nature or, if they survive, as heroes. In addition to low rainfall, the Western states share climatic extremes, a comparatively high elevation of land, and wide expanses of either plains or mountains. Weather is easily visible and has a direct effect upon the people. Most of the land is open and unprotected, so that the Westerner must always con­ front his total environment. In many places the landscape is mono­ tonous, and yet there are accessible and often unavoidable con­ http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Western American Literature The Western Literature Association

The American West: A Challenge to the Literary Imagination

Western American Literature , Volume 1 (4) – Oct 4, 2017

Loading next page...
 
/lp/the-western-literature-association/the-american-west-a-challenge-to-the-literary-imagination-UChw0zQV4K

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
The Western Literature Association
ISSN
1948-7142

Abstract

John R. Milton Western American Literature, Volume 1, Number 4, Winter 1967, pp. 267-284 (Article) Published by University of Nebraska Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/wal.1967.0058 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/528610/summary Access provided at 22 Feb 2020 04:02 GMT from JHU Libraries J O H N R. MILTON University of South Dakota The A. merican W est: A Challenge to the Literary Im agination The American West poses a problem for the literary imagina­ tion partly because it is the largest and most varied region within the United States. It is a land of extremities and of relatively few people, tempting the writer to focus his attention upon the land­ scape and to view the people either as pawns of nature or, if they survive, as heroes. In addition to low rainfall, the Western states share climatic extremes, a comparatively high elevation of land, and wide expanses of either plains or mountains. Weather is easily visible and has a direct effect upon the people. Most of the land is open and unprotected, so that the Westerner must always con­ front his total environment. In many places the landscape is mono­ tonous, and yet there are accessible and often unavoidable con­

Journal

Western American LiteratureThe Western Literature Association

Published: Oct 4, 2017

There are no references for this article.