Tumperkin tips her hat to the Great Western Drive

Don't you just love Kristie J? The woman is a dynamo and she's so full great ideas. I particularly love her campaigns, and her latest is the Great Western Drive, a week long 'encouragement' to try to get more people to read the Western romance genre. She's got various others involved including Wendy the Superlibrarian (whose blog I have only recently discovered and love - yes I know: she has been around for years/ how can I not have visited her blog before etc. Colour me rubbish.)

Now, I have to start this post with a big caveat. Um - I don't really read Westerns. I have reviewed one Western romance (erotic) on this site - and I did enjoy it, albeit with a few minor reservations. It was Caine's Reckoning by Sarah McCarthy. But that is pretty much it. As I explained in my review of that book, I do have something of a prejudicial hurdle to get over with the Western in that my dad - when I was a child - was obsessed with Westerns and watched them/ listened to C&W music all the time. You may think this is odd for a Scottish man but in fact it is not. There is a certain breed of Scot that goes for this in a big way. It is a working-class, Central belt thing. (Think that old 80s BBC Scotland series My Cheatin' Heart featuring a very young Tilda Swinton. View a scene here.)

Anyhoo, the point is that having been subjected to this endlessly as a child, I have a reluctance to engage with the Western romance. Kristie's enthusings have, however, piqued my curiosity and I am determined to try one of her five recommendations. The one that appeals most is probably the Megan McKinney one. But any other suggestions would be most welcome....

For this post, however, I thought I would offer some thoughts (despite my total lack of knowledge about Western romance) on the Western hero. In my defence, I have (somewhat reluctantly) watched a lot of Western movies.

Kristie talked about the 'realness' of the characters and conflict (which Wendy echoed), the lack of class distinctions (as opposed to European historicals) and the fact that the heroes work for what they have (rather than just inheriting it). This seems to chime with the quote below which relates to silent movie Western heroes, and is taken from the University of Virginia website. It seemed apt to me :

The Western may be the perfect vehicle for silent narrative film, since it values action over language. The Western hero is the possessor of physical strength, stamina, and an innate sense of the right thing to do; he rejects eloquence, refinement, and superior intelligence as standards of measure. In the early twentieth century, he holds special appeal for audiences because he functions as the antithesis of Eastern, industrialized culture..... The Western hero is serious not only in his labor, but also in his outlook. According to Jane Tompkins the Western hero is marked by a sense of pragmatism, stoicism, and an acceptance of death.

And this is my sense of the hero too. In a word? Capable. This a hero who - and I have to refer back to that Sarah McCarthy review here, trusts and protects.

Having had that thought (on the bus today, on the way to work) I thought to myself: you know, that is a very different thing from the appeal of the classic Regency rake. Just look at that quote above again. The cowboy rejects all that elegance and refinement and forges a sort of brute virtue. Callouses and dirt are his badges. His verbal style is laconic; he is a man of few words, but each one meaningful. By contrast, the Regency hero is all about excess and glamour and langour. He is often a man who - far from being capable - feels totally useless. Usually is. He is a man in need of reform. He is a man who usually needs a capable woman.

In this light, the preference for Westerns or Regencies takes on a different complexion doesn't it? Not so much a question of chaps over breeches or Stetsons over curly brimmed beavers. More a question of essence.

I do appreciate that these are gross generalisations. For example, there seems to be a sub-set of Western hero - the gambler - who might be a bit more like the rake figure, and not every hero of a Regency is a sex-and-booze addled scoundrel (although whyever not, I can't imagine! *thrills*). But there is certainly enough a pattern to make it remarkable, in the most literal sense of the word.

So what does this say about me? I am a self-confessed Regency addict; a reader who usually avoids the Western (though I am going to try one, I promise. I can scarcely do less in the face of Kristie J's encouragement). Am I attracted to scoundrels? Or to stories in which capable heroines shine?

Or is it - as I suspect - more complex than that?

It's worth a ponder.

It seems appropriate to leave you with a cowboy and Clint is the ultimate cowboy isn't he? So sexy. I soooo would. Check this out. It's a trailer for Two Mules for Sister Sara and its totally built around the fact that Clint Eastwood is the male lead.











I haven't counted the number of times the voiceover says "Clint Eastwood" but it's a lot. Plus it really chimes with all the values above. The opening narration is "Clint Eastwood. Hero for Hire. Blazes his way across a land of injustice. (Pause) Mr Action himself." I particularly love the line "Clint is a one man suicide squad!"