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Texas literature

{{Short description|Literature about the history and culture of Texas}}

{{More footnotes needed|date=October 2008}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}

{{Culture of the United States}}

Texas literature is literature about the history and culture of Texas. It ranges broadly in literary genres and dates from the time of the first European contact. Representative authors include Mary Austin Holley and Katherine Anne Porter.

Literature through the nineteenth century

=Non-fiction=

File:Mary Austin Holley.jpg

The earliest works relating to Texas were written in Spanish and were primarily historical in nature. Authors and works include:Graham, Don B. "[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kzl01 Literature]" in the Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved September 26, 2008.

The first English book which was solely about Texas was Texas (1833) by Mary Austin Holley, cousin of Stephen F. Austin. It was expanded in 1836 and retitled History of Texas.

A later author in this period, John Crittenden Duval, was dubbed the "Father of Texas Literature" by J. Frank Dobie. Duval wrote Early Times in Texas (serial form, 1868–71; book, 1892) and Adventures of Big-Foot Wallace (1872).

=Fiction=

Fiction about Texas was written starting in the early 19th century and consisted primarily of romantic historical novels. The Alamo figured prominently in many of these works by authors such as Augusta Evans Wilson and Jeremiah Clemens.

1900 to the present

=Non-fiction=

Two seminal writers who wrote about Texas in the Western tradition are J. Frank Dobie and Walter Prescott Webb. Other non-fiction writers about Texas include Tom (Thomas Calloway) Lea, Paul Horgan, and J. Evetts Haley.

=Fiction=

One of the most notable early 20th century works of Texas fiction was The Log of a Cowboy (1903) by Andy Adams. It was written in response to the immensely popular novel by Owen Wister, The Virginian, which had been published a year earlier.

Joseph A. Altsheler wrote a trilogy of Texas fiction in his series The Texan Star (1912), The Texan Scouts (1913), and The Texan Triumph (1913).

Noteworthy authors of the 1930s include Edward Anderson, whose novel Thieves Like Us (1937) has been filmed twice: first in 1949 by RKO Radio Pictures as They Live by Night, later in 1974 MGM/UA studios released Thieves Like Us, directed by Robert Altman. This period also included the work of pulp magazine authors, such as Robert E. Howard{{cite web|url=http://www.rehfoundation.org/a-short-biography/|access-date=February 12, 2013|title=A Short Biography of Robert E. Howard|first=Rusty|last=Burke|date=2008|website=The Robert E. Howard Foundation}} and Jim Thompson.{{Cite web|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/wild-town/|title=Wild Town|date=November 1, 1999|website=Texas Monthly}}

Born in Indian Creek, Katherine Anne Porter is arguably the finest 20th century short-story writer from the state.{{Cite web|date=2013-01-21|title=Katherine the Great|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/katherine-the-great/|access-date=2021-05-27|website=Texas Monthly|language=en}} Her childhood home in Kyle was dedicated as a National Literary Landmark in 2002.{{Cite web|author= |date=2002-06-13|title=Laura Bush dedicates Porter home as literary landmark |url=https://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2002/06/laurabushporterhome061302.html |access-date=2024-10-21|website=Texas State University San Marcos |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719201449/https://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2002/06/laurabushporterhome061302.html |archive-date=July 19, 2008 |url-status=dead}}

Post-World War II authors of fictional accounts of Texas include Elmer Kelton and Larry McMurtry. Cormac McCarthy{{Cite web|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-invisible-man/|title=The Invisible Man|date=July 1, 1992|website=Texas Monthly}} and Gloria Anzaldúa{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/gloria-e-anzald-a-who-is-she-life-career-google-doodle-today-cultural-scholar-immigration-borders-a7968441.html|title=Gloria E Anzaldúa: 5 facts about the cultural scholar you need to know|website=Independent|date=September 26, 2017|first=Clark|last=Mindock}} are contemporary writers whose work is set in the state.

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • Almon, Bert. This Stubborn Self: Texas Autobiographies. Texas Christian University Press, 2002.
  • Clifford, Craig, and Tom Pilkington, eds. Range Wars: Heated Debates, Sober Reflections, and Other Assessments of Texas Writing. Southern Methodist University Press, 1989.
  • Dobie, J. Frank (1952). [https://web.archive.org/web/20050324011303/http://oldcardboard.com/lsj/olbooks/dobie/dobie.htm Life and Literature in the Southwest] — Online version of the guide to books about Texas
  • Graham, Don, James W. Lee, and William T. Pilkington, eds. The Texas Literary Tradition: Fiction, Folklore, History. University of Texas at Austin, 1983.
  • Graham, Don (ed.). Lone Star Literature: From the Red River to the Rio Grande. W. W. Norton & Company, 2003. {{ISBN|0-393-05043-2}}. Paperback, 2006. {{ISBN|0-393-32828-7}}
  • Grider, Sylvia Ann, and Lou Halsell Rodenberger, eds. Texas Women Writers: A Tradition of Their Own. Texas A&M University Press, 1997.
  • {{cite book|title=Library of Southern Literature |editor= Knight, Lucian Lamar |publisher= Martin and Hoyt Company |location=Atlanta |year= 1913

|chapter= Fifty Reading Courses: Texas

|volume=16 |page=214+

|hdl= 2027/uc1.31175034925258?urlappend=%3Bseq=522 |chapter-url= https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31175034925258?urlappend=%3Bseq=522

|via=HathiTrust

}}

  • Pilkington, Tom. State of Mind: Texas Literature and Culture. Texas A&M University Press, 1998.
  • {{cite book|author=Wiesepape, Betty Holland |title=Lone Star Chapters: The Story of Texas Literary Clubs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6tBR_FyWTe8C|year=2004|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|isbn=978-1-58544-324-6}}

External links

  • [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kzl01 Handbook of Texas Online — LITERATURE]
  • [http://www.texasinstituteofletters.org Texas Institute of Letters]
  • [http://www.infography.com/content/451839776454.html The Infography about Texas Literature]
  • [https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/TDNP/ Texas Digital Newspaper Program]

{{English literature}}

{{Culture of the United States by state}}

Literature

Literature