OXFORD WORLD CLASSICS: THE VIRGINIAN : A HORSEMAN OF THE PLAINS PB B

The Virginian (1902) is Owen Wisters classic popular romance, and the most significant shaping influence on cowboy fiction. Its narrator, fresh from the East, encounters in Wyoming cattle country a strange, seductive and often violent land where the handsome figure of the Virginian battles for supremacy with Trampas and other neer-do-wells. His courtship of the genteel Vermont schoolteacher, Molly Wood, is a humourously observed battle of the sexes, demonstrating that the customs of the country must eventually prevail. Rich in vernacular wit and portraying a romanticized escape from the decorum of the patrician East, The Virginian exudes a sense of redemptive possibility, drawing on Wisters experience of a summer spent on a Wyoming ranch in 1895. This edition includes Wisters neglected essay, `The Evolution of the Cow-Puncher (1895), a revealing companion to a novel that has disturbing undercurrents. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.