The Pulp Western by John A. Dinan (review)

Reviews 67 Chapter Eight, on “Style and Message,” contains good material, but it could easily have been developed into two fuller chapters. The section on style does not do justice to the highs and lows of Allen’s style. The discussion of narrative structure and balance is acute, well detailed, and appropriate to the type of literature under discussion. Narrative point of view, however, deserves more than a page of moderate praise. Similarly, Allen’s frequently excessive use of simile and metaphor could use more commentary. And readers may also feel that the discussion of “Message” could benefit from fuller development. It is articulate, but something of a quick survey. Reviewers frequently belittle a Twayne volume or ascribe its short­ comings to the Twayne format, and I don’t mean to do either inconsiderately. However, it is unfortunate to see good books which deserve eight or ten pages receive two or three, while insignificant books which deserve only passing mention receive a page or so of bland summary. I appreciate, as I hope other readers appreciate, the thoroughness in preparation and restraint in expres­ sion that lie behind a book such as this. Furthermore, I appreciate the general enthusiasm, ambition, and good humor that Professor Gale shows in giving Allen a volume of deserved attention. This is a useful book, full of reliable information and commentary. Still, I feel that Professor Gale had more, much more, to say about Allen’s better books and about such worth­ while issues as style, theme, and relative literary quality, and I wish that he and other Twayne authors could cut loose just a little more, and make a good book even better. JOHN D. NESBITT Eastern Wyoming College The Pulp Western. By John A. Dinan. (San Bernardino, California: Borgo Press, 1983. 128 pages, $11.95/$5.95.) The subtitle of John Dinan’s The Pulp Western, “A Popular History of the Western Fiction Magazine in America,” to which the adjective “respect­ ful” should be added, concisely states the purpose of this useful monographlength , reference volume. Drawing upon an impressive amount of research into the history of Western pulp magazines, John Dinan presents the story of the rise of the indigenous American Western story from its humble origins in the dime novel literature of the nineteenth century to its rise to a level of considerable influence in all of the mass media in the mid-twentieth century. There has been far too little serious research done on the history of the popular Western story, and this volume is a very welcome addition to available critical material on the subject. In eight chapters the author tells the history of the pulp Western story by incorporating statements from numerous authors and editors into his narrative text. At times these quotations are too long, but they are hardly 68 Western American Literature dull. The author’s clear enthusiasm for the material and for instructing others about the importance of the pulp Western story form compensate for organization and stylistic imperfections. The Pulp Western is also a rich reference guide for future research projects dealing with the history of the form. The volume does lack a theo­ retical analysis of the pulp Western’s cultural and social significance. But the author is more concerned with the process of creating pulp Westerns than he is with interpreting their broader significance beyond their entertainment value. Invoking the “vision of the pulp Western,” John Dinan presents an impressive listing of artistic credits for a story form that helped shape Ameri­ can consciousness about the western experience. Perhaps Western writer Harry Wilkinson stated it best when he said, “I was happily surprised to discover that the West was pretty much as I had imagined it and written about it.” John Dinan’s study is a beginning, pointing the way to needed primary research on the many writers and their stories which comprise a rich tradition. MICHAEL T. MARSDEN Bowling Green State University Willa Cather’s Short Fiction. By Marilyn Arnold. (Athens, Ohio, and Lon­ don: Ohio University Press, 1984. 198 pages, $21.95.) “The short story is a great art in its way,” Willa Cather wrote in 1895, three years after her...