A Woman’s Place: Women Writing New Mexico by Maureen E. Reed (review)

1 0 6 W e s t e r n A m e r i c a n l i t e r a t u r e S p r i n g 2 0 0 7 vis ual his tory o f the We s t” (38 ). Sm y th points o ut the obstacles to film ing the no ve l at all: s uch as R K O ’s financia l ins tability a nd the re ce nt failures o f othe r e pic tre atme nts o f the We s t. She also goes in to some de tail about the way th a t the actual film e mbodie d Es tabrook’s vis ion, and she argues tha t s tudents o f We s te rns have ignore d or disparaged C im arro n because it does n o t s upport d o m in a n t e xpans ionis t ideology. Ka thle e n A . M c Do n o u g h takes a comparative approach in “W e e W illie W in k ie Goe s We s t: T he Influe nce o f the Br itis h Empire Ge nre o n Ford’s Ca valry Trilogy.” T he e mpire genre was popular in the 1930s w h e n Am e r ic a n filmmake rs be gan to recognize the dangers o f fascism a nd Eng la nd as a line of defense. Afte r W o r ld Wa r II, Am e r ic a re place d Br ita in as the d o m in a n t force in world affairs, a nd the cavalry films e mphas ize d the spread o f c iviliza tion (versus the We s te r n’s e mphas is o n the individua l) a nd the pos itive role o f w o m e n as civilizing forces in the goal o f as s imilating forme r ene mie s. U n lik e the “a dult” We s te rns , w h ic h were pessimis tic a bout the via bility o f s ocial ins titutions (see also Ma tthe w J. Co s te llo ’s “Re w riting H ig h N o o n ” in this co lle c tio n), these films he ld hope for society as we ll as the individual. T he s e essays are more e qual th a n some othe rs in the c olle c tion— mos t o f w h ic h are w orkmanlike ; a few s me ll o f the s e minar room; one or two seem, in Lucky Jim ’s words, to be “a ps e udo- inve s tigation o f non- proble ms .” But as a w hole the c olle c tio n justifies Ray Me r loc k’s vie w tha t “r e thinking , reimagining , a nd re aligning the We s te rn w it h conte mporary issues o f race, class, gender, a nd viole nce w ill le ad to ne wly refined ... critical, cultural, a nd his torical analysis” (xi). Stude nts w ill also be grate ful for the e xte ns ive filmography a nd bibliogr a­ phy, tho ug h some may w onde r at a writer w ho feels compe lle d to describe w ha t He re ford cattle lo o k like , or the re liability o f the editors, w ho regard Blazing S addles as “the mos t mindle s s ” We s te r n come dy (20). A W o m a n ’s P la c e : W o m e n W r it in g N e w M e x ic o . By Ma u r e e n E. Re e d. Alb u q u e r q u e : U n iv e r s ity o f N e w M e x ic...