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Reviews 79 relationships in general — all are typical of the questions Wister’s work presents. Indeed, a modern reader might be inclined to agree with Remington’s implied criticism, as put forth in My Dear Wister, that Owen Wister was incapable of becoming more consistently authentic, less nostalgic and unsentimental, in his fictional portrayals of Western life. One feels a strange sense that Remington’s illustrations, despite the artist’s desire mentioned in the letters to be faithful to prose written by Wister, offer a quite contradictory Western vision. Possible reasons for this and its literary ramifications are an interesting aspect of the book. Wister’s popular success in his own day could very well have been comprom­ ised through greater realism, of course, though his strengths — first-hand know­ ledge, descriptive vividness in landscapes, ear for Western lingo and humor, a sense of the impact of the West on inhabitants and outsiders — might have led to work of considerable power. This is the kind of speculation raised by a valuable, well-written volume. With minimal strain, Ben Vorpahl manages to bind the two artistic careers together during the years covered and still give a sense o f the men’s separate endeavors and backgrounds. My Dear Wister is enhanced by an excellent foreward by Wallace Stegner and the inclusion, throughout the text at appropriate points, of Remington illustrations and numerous facsimiles of his letters. Also included are three pertinent pieces by Wister (“The Evolution of the Cow-Puncher,” “La Tinaja Bonita,” and “Destiny at Drybone”), one by Remington (“With the Fifth Corps”), and several photographs of the two artists. One wishes more of Wister’s side of the correspondence was available for inclusion, but the book is excellent and possesses considerable interest for readers intrigued by evolution o f Western myth, the cowboy as literary figure, and the impact of Eastern com­ mercialism on Western art and writing — as well as those concerned with Owen Wister and Frederic Remington as individuals, friends, and collaborators. ROBERT A. RORIPAUGH, University of Wyoming Jessamyn West. By Alfred S. Shivers. (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972. 160 pages, $ .) “Jessamyn West’s contribution to national and world literature is her unique concern in her art about Quaker life in such works as Friendly Persuasion and Expectfor Me and Thee. Surely they have not been approached with such quality by any other writer anywhere.” Such is the assessment of Alfred S. Shivers inJessamyn West, the first booklength analysis o f Miss West’s writings. Jessamyn West is another in the Twaine United States Authors Series. 80 Western American Literature Jessamyn West opens with a biographical chapter relating Miss West’s life and times to her art. Of special interest for some readers are her years at Whittier College, where she graduated only a few years ahead o f her cousin, Richard M. Nixon. The two following chapters deal in practical, detailed, and often bril­ liant criticism. The last chapter, “Learn to Say Good-bye,” is a highly perceptive summing up, an assessment, and a pointing to new directions in the writing of Jessamyn West. Dr. Shivers’exegesis in the middle chapters is close, orderly, but richly varied, sounding at times the philosophical, the moral, the aesthetic, the psychological. In the last chapter are opened out the rewarding perspectives that are built upon sound and extensive literary knowledge and intensive scholarship: the attention given to critical theory, to style, to method, to literary tradition; and the evaluations which let us see Miss West as a wr riter in relation to regionalists, to stylists, to some o f the masters o f fiction. Dr. Shivers’ position might be described as lying somewhere between that o f the biographer-critic who is an admirer of his subject and her works (“Several o f her books bear the stamp of genius”) and an experienced man o f letters who recognizes her present-day standing with the literary establishment as “a minor artist, a biregionalist, in the literature of America, fit company for John Steinbeck and William Faulkner, Willa Cather and Eudora Welty.” Critic Shivers sees the stamp o f genius on Friendly Persuasion, Except for Me and Thee, Witch Diggers...

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