Editorial

E d ito rial This issue of Western American Literature departs from its usual editorial policy by publishing essays by a Western writer and an Eastern publisher on the treatment of Western literature by the Eastern establishment. Despite the interest of these essays, the continuation of the controversy in this journal is not our aim, and it would only detract from our specific direction —to give to Western literature the scholarly treatment it has long deserved. The articles do point up certain facts, however, which perhaps should be considered. There is a cultural lag in the West which results in both advantages and disadvantages to the writer. The disadvantages are largely financial, and stem from the Eastern publishers’ interpretation of a reading public still centered in the East. The advantages are largely those which result from the incorporation of valid tradition into a more slowly changing cul­ ture. But all this is readily apparent. What is not so apparent is the cultural lag in the East. East­ erners continue to fail to see beyond the popularized stereotype of the American West. Strangely, the East’s failure is lack of so­ phistication, the ability to distinguish between the quantities of “paperback” Westerns and the serious novels which are set in the West. The Western writer who wishes to write “universally” is immediately classified according to the stereotype. Most important is the Eastern publishers’ failure to separate the serious from the stereotyped in their advertising and promotion. Had Salinger written The Catcher in the Cactus, there would have been a small first edition with little publicity, followed by a paperback edition under the listing “Western.” One can only 242 Western American Literature wonder how much more publicity William Eastlake would have received had he written The Sportscar People, or Ed Abbey The Brave Astronaut. What publishers would have clamored for Frank Waters’ latest novel had it been titled The Woman at Toko Ri Bridge? Especially in this day of image-creation through advertis­ ing, the East should be able to benefit financially by capitalizing on the obvious interest of Americans in anything Western. In England and Europe, where the stereotype is not as much in evi­ dence, Abbey and Eastlake are still in print. For those of us who are professionally involved with the literature of the American West, however, there is yet another cultural lag. We have allowed ourselves to create an additional stereotype in order to separate, superficially, the mavericks from our closely guarded herd, which we brand with the iron of his­ torical authenticity. But Tom Lea’s The Wonderful Country is a good novel for more reasons than its historical and descriptive accuracy. How many critics who have written on Western writers have insisted that all Western literature fit the patterns of 19th century local color realism or be denied the brand of critical ap­ proval; in short, have insisted on a pattern as stereotyped and stifling to creative growth as the pattern of the Eastern publishers? And how many courses in Western American literature have treated Western literature more as history than as literature? The main purpose of Western American Literature is to pro­ vide a scholarly journal for the publication of articles which treat Western literature with seriousness. Other scholarly journals are often too interested in the great names of Eastern literature, both past and present, to consider Western writers. But all the fault does not lie with those editors. John Milton, editor of The South Dakota Review, has for some time devoted one issue each year to Western literature, and has never received enough articles to cause him great editorial problems in selection. Our own experi­ ence has been the same. We would encourage you to write, and not only of the past Western writers, but of our contemporaries: Ed Abbey, Forrester Blake, Hal Borland, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, William Eastlake, Vardis Fisher, A. B. Guthrie, Oakley Hall, Tom Lea, Frederick Manfred, Larry McMurtry, Frank Waters, Editorial 243 John Williams —all interpreters of the universal human experience in the locale of the American West. They are writers worth study, and the list could be extended. They will not be seriously treated in the East until...