OXFORD WORLD CLASSICS: THE VIRGINIAN : A HORSEMAN OF THE PLAINS PB B – OWEN WISTER-ROBERT SHULMAN

The Virginian (1902) is Owen Wister s 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 ne er-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 Wister s experience of a summer spent on a Wyoming ranch in 1895. This edition includes Wister s 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 World s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford s 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.