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JA N R O U SH Utah State University Research in Western American Literature: 1986-1987 At the 1987 meeting of the Western Literature Association held in October, one of the sessions, “Problems in the Study of Western American Literature,” addressed the issue of directions, specifically the direction in which research and scholarship within the organizationwas headed. Apanel ofthree teacher/scholars—Robert Gish, Melody Graulich, andAnn Ronald —responded to a questionnaire that William Bloodworth had sent to selected members of WLA for their responses. Specifically, he asked two questions: (1) What general problem—orproblems—doyouseein western American literary scholarship and criticism? and (2) What do you see as the mostsignificant themesfor teachers and scholarsto explore? One of the respondents, Ann Ronald, succinctly summarized the questionnaires, identifying in the process what appeared to be a disjunction in what these said. She noted WLA members had indicated that a major problem with the direction of research and scholarship in western literature was a lack of innovation; yet when asked to identify what they felt were the most significant themes to be incorporated in the study of western literature, these same people selected the traditional themes which have always been at the core of this body of scholarship. Themes they identified include the frontier; western myth — “whatever that is”; definitions of western experience; notions of cyclical change; the contemporary West; women; minorities; landscape; a sense of place; the wilderness or environ­ m ent; a ‘"voice” of place-, the relationship between myth and reality, past and present-, a “western” literary language-, violence or materialism vs. spiritualism as part of the cultural heritage—or “the heroic past vs. the horrible present” as one member phrased it. The research that islisted belowwould seemto bear outthisassessment of disjunction. Of the thirteen theses, sixty-eight dissertations, and eight research projects in progress—not only in such fields asAmerican literature and American studiesbut related fieldssuch asart, cinema,cultural anthro- 342 Western American Literature pology, economics, folklore, geography, law, theater, and history—the ma­ jority center on these traditional themes. Of those studies of specific people, the emphasis is again traditional: Twain is the focus in eleven different treatments and Cather in five. Two works on Washington Irving reflect a return to the past, while two on Leslie Silko identify a recognition of our present. In almost every title can be found descriptors that match those listed in the themes above: myth, reality, history, and heroism; women, family, kinship, and other relationships. Both a voice and a sense of place, be it in the wilderness or environment or landscape, are also frequently encountered. Interestingly, there is a strong focus on Native Americans this time; this descriptor appears in some form in twenty-six different titles. Not only does this traditional trend appear in the written research;it is also carried out in the papers that are being read in major literary confer­ ences. A quick perusal of the recent WLA program yieldsmostlytraditional topics, forinstance“WillaCather’sIdeas ofArt,” “Women’sWestern Land­ scapes,” “Oral Traditions in Native American Literatures,” and “Western Types and Stereotypes,” to name just a few. The 1987 MLA Program reveals a similar format among sessions in American, specifically western American, literature. “Mark Twain and the West,” “A Decade of Native American Literary Studies: Twenty-Twenty Hindsight,” and “Transform­ ing Nature: Gender and Authority on the Frontier” are not necessarily reflective of new and exciting research trends emerging from the discipline, especially when compared to titles of sessions from other disciplines, titles such as “Brechtian Discourses in the Americas” or “Toward a Theory of Feminist Dialogics.” What does this analysis indicate about western literature and the direction it is headed? A paradox that emerges revolves around this notion of tradition vs. individuality, or a breaking away from the crowd. So fre­ quently one hears complaints about the stodginess of the eastern literati and their reluctance to accept western literature as a legitimate genre. Yet what a close look at these research trends indicates is an attempt to create a vocabulary, create a past, if you will, which begs for acceptance by that very establishment. The question arises: Are we prostituting ourselves for the illusion of authenticity? More to the...

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