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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Western
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INFOTEXT
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1992-09-02
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Genre of popular fiction based on the
landscape and settlement of the western USA.
It developed in US dime novels and frontier
literature. The western became established in
written form with novels such as The
Virginian 1902 by Owen Wister (1860-1938) and
Riders of the Purple Sage 1912 by Zane Grey.
See also western film. Westerns go back to J
F Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales 1823-41, and
the hunter stories of the German Karl May. In
stylized form, they became frontier stories
of cowboy rangers and Indian villains, set
vaguely in the post-Civil War era. Many
westerns are nostalgic, written after the
frontier officially closed 1890. The
Virginian is the `serious' version of the
form, but prolific writers like Zane Grey and
Frederick Faust developed its pulp
possibilities and its place in universal
fantasy.