Although I have many McMurtry favorites beginning with “Horsemen Pass By” and, of course, the “Lonesome Dove” tetralogy, my favorite may be his, perhaps one, work of non-fiction: “In a Narrow Grave.”
Personally, I think that some literary critic’s categorization of whom might be a “minor” versus a “major” author is always contrived, perhaps wrapped in the ego of the categorizing critic’s own ego. Like works of art or music, it is always in “the eye or ear of the beholder.”
A present thought fleeting across my mind is what would Marshall McLuan have said about the place that the late Larry McMurtry occupies on the North American experience as compared to the current Taylor Sheridan’s, if he would have said anything at all. Perhaps this is a better question put to Joseph Campbell were he still around to put it.
In a Narrow Grave is a fine book of essays—one that caused a minor stir among his Texas-loving readers—but it isn't his only book of nonfiction. He published a three volume memoir: Books, Literary Life, and Hollywood, as well as two travelogues: Roads and Paradise. One of his favorite books is Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen.
Regarding the minor/major categorization—that comes from McMurtry himself. He didn't place his writing along side of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, or O'Conner—all of whom he considered major writers. McMurtry was happy to be a minor writer. Most well-known and important writers, in his estimation, were minor writers, including McCarthy.
I don't know what McLauan or Campbell would make of McMurtry vis-à-vi Sheridan. I, for one, don't place them in the same category. Sheridan is a fine screenwriter, when he takes the time to carefully construct his stories, but he's not a literary writer. He's entertaining, as far as that goes, but he's not attempting to wrestle with larger human questions as McMurtry did. If Sheridan wrote novels, I suspect he'd write genre novels, whether they be Westerns or thrillers of some kind, which can be well written but are generally written to a formula—a sort of paint by numbers approach to fiction writing.
Terrific stuff. Thanks for sharing, Derrick. - Jim
Thanks, Jim. And you’re welcome.
Although I have many McMurtry favorites beginning with “Horsemen Pass By” and, of course, the “Lonesome Dove” tetralogy, my favorite may be his, perhaps one, work of non-fiction: “In a Narrow Grave.”
Personally, I think that some literary critic’s categorization of whom might be a “minor” versus a “major” author is always contrived, perhaps wrapped in the ego of the categorizing critic’s own ego. Like works of art or music, it is always in “the eye or ear of the beholder.”
A present thought fleeting across my mind is what would Marshall McLuan have said about the place that the late Larry McMurtry occupies on the North American experience as compared to the current Taylor Sheridan’s, if he would have said anything at all. Perhaps this is a better question put to Joseph Campbell were he still around to put it.
In a Narrow Grave is a fine book of essays—one that caused a minor stir among his Texas-loving readers—but it isn't his only book of nonfiction. He published a three volume memoir: Books, Literary Life, and Hollywood, as well as two travelogues: Roads and Paradise. One of his favorite books is Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen.
Regarding the minor/major categorization—that comes from McMurtry himself. He didn't place his writing along side of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, or O'Conner—all of whom he considered major writers. McMurtry was happy to be a minor writer. Most well-known and important writers, in his estimation, were minor writers, including McCarthy.
I don't know what McLauan or Campbell would make of McMurtry vis-à-vi Sheridan. I, for one, don't place them in the same category. Sheridan is a fine screenwriter, when he takes the time to carefully construct his stories, but he's not a literary writer. He's entertaining, as far as that goes, but he's not attempting to wrestle with larger human questions as McMurtry did. If Sheridan wrote novels, I suspect he'd write genre novels, whether they be Westerns or thrillers of some kind, which can be well written but are generally written to a formula—a sort of paint by numbers approach to fiction writing.