The Virginian

Book excerpt: Laying the foundations for Clint Eastwood’s nameless character in ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,’ ‘The Virginian’ is a landmark novel of the western genre. The eponymous hero is the strong, tall, silent type, acting as an armed escort to Tenderfoot on their journey to Judge Henry’s ranch in Sunk Creek. This action-packed story details their adventures and encounters along the way and includes, just as in any good western, a little romance. If you like your books full of hot bullets and cold killers, then this is the perfect place to start! Credited with setting the template for the classic western novel and the archetypal cowboy hero, Owen Wister (1860 – 1938) was born in Philadelphia. The son of an actress and a doctor, Wister spent his formative years travelling Europe, before returning to America at his father’s behest. After graduating from Harvard Law School, and suffering from poor mental health, he took the first of 15 trips to Wyoming. It was here that he was inspired to write notes and journals about the characters living in the beautiful wilderness. These notes were to serve as the basis for many of his books. His most famous work, ‘The Virginian’, would later become a TV series starring Doug McClure, and filmed for the silver screen, most recently in an adaptation starring Ron Perlman. Wister died in Rhode Island, at the age of 78.