» John D. Nesbitt's Dissertation on the Classic Western

I want to dedicate some space and spend some time on a dissertation on the American western novels that, through a friend, I discovered and have since procured a copy. The writer, John D. Nesbitt, who lives in the west, Torrington, Wyoming as a matter of fact and also writes his own westerns, wrote this at University of California, Davis in 1980. It is called "Literary Convention in the Classic Western Novel." Here is the table of contents:

Chapter 1: A Critical Perspective of the Western
Chapter 2: Early Writers of the Classic Western

Owen Wister
Andy Adams
Emerson Hough
Zane Grey
Eugene Manlove Rhodes

Chapter 3: Popular Writers of the Classic Western Since Zane Grey

Ernest Haycox
Luke Short
Louis L'Amour

Chapter 4: Good Westerns and Good Novels

The Trek: The Trail to Ogallala and The Way West
The Range War: The Sea of Grass, Shane, and Riders of Judgment
The Town Problem: The Ox-Bow Incident and Welcome to Hard Times

Chapter 5: Conclusion

I'll share more as I get to read more.

» Original Beginning of Solzhenitsyn’s The First Circle

John Miller at the Corner just discovered The New Yorker's publication of the original beginning of Solzhenitsyn’s The First Circle. Here is the lead-in.

Although the complete text of Solzhenitsyn’s first full-length novel, “The First Circle,” has been published in Russia, the only version available in English so far is an abbreviated text that Solzhenitsyn “lightened” in the vain hope of getting it past Soviet censors. The “lightened” version opens in December, 1949, as Innokentii Volodin, a Soviet diplomat, tries to caution a doctor he knows against sharing an experimental drug with Westerners. In Solzhenitsyn’s original opening, which follows in its first English translation, Volodin has learned that a Soviet spy in New York is about to be given classified information on atomic-bomb technology. An insider, no longer able to deny that he operates within a totalitarian regime, Volodin faces a moral dilemma: should he warn the U.S. Ambassador?

Read the rest here.

» New Whit Stillman Site

Phil has finally put together an up-to-date website dedicated to Stillman and his works. Check it out here. I'll take this as an opportunity to quote some of his dialog. From Last Days of Disco:

Tom Platt: The environmental movement of our times was sparked by the rerelease of Bambi in the 1950s.

More from LDOD:

[Josh describes Lady and the Tramp]
Josh Neff: There is something depressing about it and it's not really about dogs. Except for some superficial bow-wow stuff at the start, the dogs all represent human types which is where it gets into real trouble. Lady, the ostensible protagonist, is a fluffy blond cocker spaniel with absolutely nothing on the brain. She's great looking but, let's be honest, incredibly insipid. Tramp, the love interest is a smarmy braggart of the most obnoxious kind, an oily jail bird out for a piece of tail or whatever he can get.

----

Josh Neff: No, he's a self confessed chicken thief; an all around sleaze ball. What's the function of a film of this kind? Essentially it's a primer about love and marriage directed at very young people, imprinting on their little psyches that smooth talking delinquents recently escaped from the local pound are a good match for nice girls in sheltered homes. When in ten years the icky human version of Tramp shows up around the house their hormones will be racing and no one will understand why. Films like this program women to adore jerks.