The Virginian

The American frontier literature of cowboys, Indians, scouts and trappers stretches back to the dime novels of the late nineteenth century, but it was not until the publication of The Virginian in 1902 that the Western genre came of age. Because of this, it has had as profound an effect on entertainment, through film and television, as any American book of the 20th century.



Set in cattle country of Wyoming in the 1870s, it tells of the rivalry of the eponymous hero and the villain Trampas, and the wooing of the pretty Vermont schoolteacher Molly Wood. When Trampas accuses the Virginian of cheating at cards and calls him 'a son of a -', the response is 'When you call me that, smile', typical of the many crisp one-liners that pepper the book. It portrays the bitter-sweet contrast between the pioneering standards of the West and encroaching civilisation, and features the first walkdown gun duel in American literature.