The Lost Frontier: Reading Annie Proulx's Wyoming Stories

Annie Proulx is one of the most provocative and stylistically innovative writers in America today. She is at her best in the short story format, and the best of these are to be found in her Wyoming trilogy, in which she turns her eye on America's West—both past and present. Yet despite the vast amount of print expended reviewing her books, there has been nothing published on the Wyoming Stories. The Lost Frontier fills this critical void by offering a detailed examination of the key stories in the trilogy: Close Range (1999), Bad Dirt (2004), Fine Just the Way it Is (2008). The chapters are arranged according to western archetypes—the Pioneer, Rancher, Cowboy, Indian, and, arguably, the most important character of them all in Proulx's fiction: Landscape. The Lost Frontier offers students a clear sense of the novelist's early life and work, her stylistic influences and the characteristics of her fiction and an understanding of where the Wyoming Stories, and Annie Proulx's work as a whole, fits into traditional and contemporary writing about the American West.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. Landscape Chapter 2. Pioneers Chapter 3. Ranchers Chapter 4. Cowboys Chapter 5. Indians Chapter 6. Losers Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Mark Asquith teaches English at Trinity School Croydon, UK where he specialises in the modern American novel, and holds a PhD from the University of London, UK. He is author of Thomas Hardy, Metaphysics and Music (2005).

Review :
In The Lost Frontier: Reading Annie Proulx’s Wyoming Stories, Mark Asquith examines the brilliance and despair of Proulx’s Wyoming trilogy (Wyoming Stories: Close Range, Bad Dirt, and Fine Just the Way It Is), reminding us of the importance of her background as an historian and of her ongoing engagement with landscapes and their communities from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Bird Cloud, Wyoming. Peeling back layer after delicate layer, Asquith situates Proulx’s work within traditions of American fiction, nature writing, regionalism, and the continuing American obsession with the frontier. The prose here is both beautiful and deliciously sharp, and Asquith excels in providing remarkable insights into the development of the female voice in Proulx’s Western fiction, of the troubled relationships she imagines between men and their myths, and her frequently overlooked engagement with Native people and their relationships to the land, their white neighbors, and each other. Mark Asquith offers an insightful and original study of Annie Proulx’s Wyoming Stories. The organization of his material along thematically-based chapters does full justice to the richness and complexity of the stories themselves, while Asquith’s in-depth knowledge of the history and literature of the American West helps us to appreciate Proulx’s contribution to that area. Asquith argues that, in the American West, Proulx has found a landscape commensurate to her creative talents. In Asquith, Proulx has found a knowledgeable and confident critic whose insights enrich our understanding of the author. Mark Asquith brings a nuanced understanding to Annie Proulx's Wyoming trilogy. He assesses the edgy contours of Proulx's portrait gallery through familiar tropes and persuasive readings. Her Wyoming emerges as a bracing revision of the popular West. Throughout the book, Mark Asquith illustrates how the ‘crushing’ mythology – ‘the tension between myth and people struggling to live up to that myth’ – is the focus of much of Proulx’s work. In expressive prose, that effectively counterbalances Proulx’s mimicking of Wyoming’s elliptical speech patterns, Asquith’s comprehensive analysis shows ‘the existential difficulties’ experienced by Proulx’s characters. […] Asquith expertly draws attention to the punishment of the ‘unwary’ – no one, he demonstrates, whether pioneer, rancher, cowboy, Indian, holiday-maker, Hollywood star or retiree, has the requisite qualities for a healthy relationship with Proulx’s Wyoming. What makes Asquith’s reading of Proulx’s Wyoming Stories so compelling is the rich context that he presents with each chapter. Asquith demonstrates an awareness of Western history and literature, both past and present, locating Proulx’s work clearly in this context ... This study would appeal not only to those interested in the Wyoming Stories trilogy and Proulx’s fiction, but to any reader and scholar interested in the study of Western, environmental, or regional fiction.