A Larry McMurtry Bibliography

C H A R L E S D. P E A V Y University of Houston A Larry McMurtry Bibliography Larry McMurtry, the son and grandson of Texas cattlemen, grew up in the little West Texas town of Archer City. McMurtry published three novels before he was thirty years old: Horseman, Pass By (1961), Leaving Cheyenne (1962), and The Last Picture Show (1967). WT hen McMurtry’s first novel was published, A. B. Guthrie said “I cannot understand how so young a man knows so much about the language of fiction . . .,” and John Howard Griffin described his work as “the starkest, most truthful, most terrible and yet beautiful treatment” of the ranching country that he had ever seen. McMurtry’s descriptions of the contemporary West are indeed stark and truthful, and he has done much to destroy the cowboy stereotype that has been as pervasive in American fiction as the moonlight and magnolia myth of the Old South. McMurtry’s writings have already won him many awards. For example, he received three Texas Institute awards—the fiction prize for Horseman, Pass By in 1961, the periodical prose award for his 1965 Holiday magazine article, and the Jesse H. Jones award for The Last Picture Show—as well as a Gugenheim award for creative writing (1964). He also held a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. The motion picture Hud, which won three academy awards in 1963, was based on Horseman, Pass By. McMurtry has taught English and creative writing at Rice University since 1965, and is currently completing his first non­ fiction book, a collection of essays about Texas towns, and a fourth novel (about professional rodeo life). 236 Western American Literature This bibliography includes all of McMurtry’s writings to date, as well as a collection of manuscripts and typescripts in the Special Collections Room at the library of the University of Houston. This collection also includes a series of letters to McMurtry’s friend, Mike Kunkel, in which McMurtry discusses his early efforts at writing. I. McMurtry’s Published Writings A. Fiction “The Best Day Since.” Avesta, XXXVI (Fall 1956), 32-36. “Cowman.” Avesta, XXXVII (Spring 1957), 20-25. “A Fragment from Scarlet Ribbons.” Coexistence Review, 1:2 (no date). “From the Prologue to Horseman, Pass By.” Coexistence Review, 1:1 (no date). “Grandad’s End: a section from Horseman, Pass By.” Coexistence Review, 1:1 (no date). Horseman, Pass By. New York: Harper 8c Brothers, 1961. “Horseman, Pass By.” The Rice Mill, I (Fall 1958), 5-8. Editor’s note indicates “the following are two excerpts from a recently completed novel which Mr. McMurtry is now in the process of revising.” “Horseman, Pass By.” Southwest Review, XLVI (Spring 1961), 122-27. Variant version of text later published as the prologue to the novel by the same name. Hud. New York: Popular Library, [n.d.] Paperback re-issue of Horseman, Pass By. The Last Picture Show. New York: The Dial Press, 1966. “The Last Picture-Show.” Janus, Fall 1965, pp. 2-5. A selection from Chapter VIII of the novel. The Last Picture Show. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1967. Paperback re-issue. Leaving Cheyenne. New York: Harper 8c Row, 1962. Leaving Cheyenne. New York: Popular Library, 1964. Paperback re-issue. “Leaving Cheyenne.” Stanford Short Stories, 1962. Stanford: Stan­ ford University Press, 1962, pp. 54-72. Contains excerpt from novel (then in progress) but shows variations in text and in headnote. “Roll, Jordan, Roll.” Avesta, XXXVIII (Fall 1957), 33-37. A Larry McMurtry Bibliography 237 “There Will Be Peace In Korea.” Texas Quarterly, VII (Winter 1964), 166-70. Variant version of the incidents described in The Last Picture Show, Chapter XXV. B. Poetry “Credo.” Coexistence Review, 1:1 (no date). “First Prize W inner.” Coexistence Review, 1:2 (no date). “For Erwin Smith, Cowboy Photographer.” Southeast Review, XLV (Winter 1960), 73. “From ‘The Watch-Fires’.” Coexistence Review, 1:2 (no date). This selection not published in 1:1. “Quietus.” Avesta, XXXVII (Fall 1957), 27. “The Watch-Fires.” Coexistence Review, 1:1 (no date) “Yes, I Am Old.” Avesta, XXXVII (Spring 1957), 31. C. Non-Fiction “The Beat Academy.” Janus, March 1960, pp. 13-15, 28-31. “Beiderbecke.” Avesta...