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Cowboy Classics
The Roots of the American Western in the Epic Tradition
by Kirsten Day
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Book Presentation:
Compares the ancient epic and the American Western as parallel cultural narratives
Cowboy Classics looks at the remarkably intimate connection between Westerns and Greek and Roman epics, each of which focuses on a mythic-historical period from the past where our societal notions of what constitutes heroism, masculinity and honour were first forged.
Through her insightful analysis of Red River, High Noon, Shane, The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Kirsten Day illustrates the parallels between these seemingly disparate yet closely related genres, allowing us to see each through a new lens while gaining insight into the persistence of these concepts in our world today.
Key Features
• Discusses the recent scholarly interest in classical representations in popular culture
• Looks at how both Greco-Roman epic and Western film in general help to define foundational ideologies for their respective cultures
• Includes case studies of four films – Howard Hawks’ Red River (1948), Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon (1952), George Stevens’ Shane (1953), and John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) – which analyze specific affinities with the Homeric epics and Virgil’s Aeneid
• Examines John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) as an Oedipal drama, in relation to Greek and Roman epic
About the Author:
Kirsten Day is Associate Professor of Classics at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois where she lives with her husband Sean and sons Harper and Owen. A native of Arkansas, she received her B.A. from Rice University, completed her graduate work at the University of Arkansas, and studied at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. Her research interests include women in antiquity and classics in popular culture.
Press Reviews:
Cowboy Classics is a straight-talking study in cultural reception. Day's analyses of Golden Age western films in light of Homer and Virgil are nuanced and deeply persuasive. Her work has much to teach us about heroism, gender, and the shaping of cultural identity, in both the present and the past.– Geoff Bakewell, L. Palmer Brown Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities, Rhodes College
Day covers a number of aspects exploring both genres and goes in detail concerning important aspects of the heroic characters such as (sparse) language used, the complex system of ideal manhood (and gender roles in general) and the insistence to stand one’s ground to fight for an ideal or justice. Her solid chapter on High Noon in particular makes this very clear. Recommend reading for any fan of Westerns, classic epic or scholar of American Studies.– Alexander Ebert, popcultureshelf.com
See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press
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