West by Southeast: Peter Matthiessen's Florida Trilogy as Western Fiction

Set on the edge of settlement in Southwest Florida, Peter Matthiessen's trilogy based on the life and death of the planter E. J. Watson westernizes the South. Killing Mr. Watson, Lost Man's River, and Bone by Bone utilize themes and tropes that are common in fiction set on the frontiers of western North America. The trilogy is "western" fiction in terms of its plot of loner versus community, the character of its protagonist, who is depicted as a western desperado with experience in Oklahoma as well as the South, and description of Florida as a resource frontier experiencing rapacious development. The trilogy fits within a framework of historical interpretation that defines "frontier" in terms of shared social and economic conditions.