Ah, Wilderness! The Frontier in American Literature. by William Humphrey (review)

AH, WILDERNESS! THE FRONTIER IN AMERICAN LITERATURE. BY WILLIAM HUMPHREY (El Paso, Texas: Texas Western Press, 1977. Monograph. 32 p. Illus.) This published treatise was originally delivered as a lecture when William Humphrey was Glasgow Visiting Professor at Washington and Lee University , Lexington, Virginia. Best known for his novels, Homefrom the Hill (1958), and The Ordways (1965), Humphrey's most recent work, Farther Off From Heaven(\911) is a memoir ofhis boyhood in Red River County, Texas. This essay, Ah Wilderness! The Frontier in American Literature, begins with the premise that there are no memorable heroines in all of American literature, and that"ifwe are tojudge by our imaginative literature, we are, . . . a nation of secret bachelors, hermits of the woods and the plains. In books about such figures (as Natty Bumppo, Daniel Boone, et al.) there is no place for any heroine (15). Humphrey discusses the exploits of Natty Bumppo, James Fenimore Cooper's hero, who he says is "the first of a long line of fictional heroes running through our literature" (15). The major quality ofthe classic American hero is his determination to keep his freedom. Referring to the school of American thought fathered by Frederick Jackson Turner, Humphrey says our national character has been shaped by the existence of a permanent frontier (15). This national character, or hero, steadfastly conquers the wilderness in the interest of progress and enlightenment, yet is disgusted with American democratic materialism, greed and destruction. Natty Bumppo, the "celibate king of the forest" moves ever westward to "where the hated sound of the woodsman's axe cannot reach his ears" (14). And through the years, the American hero has changed, as he invades the garden with a machine to help him exploit its resources. Humphrey explores the garden theme and concludes that American authors from Cooper to Faulkner see man as born good, but corrupted by Society (18). To purge himselfman returns to Nature. The celebrated heroes of American literature have always had a wilderness to escape to, and the heroes of Cather, Hemingway, Faulkner, and others are spiritual descendente of Natty Bumppo. The heroines —there are none. At this point, Humphrey leaves the reader to further investigate the matter alone, and challenges them to find some classic American heroines in the tradition of the American literary heroes. DORYS C. GROVER* •DORYS C. GROVER is an Associate Professor of English at East Texas State University in Commerce. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW77 ...