Author: owenwister

The novel that introduced the first great American hero: the cowboyThe Virginian cuts an impressive figure when the unnamed narrator of Owen Wister’s groundbreaking novel first encounters him in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. Dark-haired and physically imposing, the charismatic Virginian quickly befriends the narrator, whom he nicknames “the tenderfoot,” and the two embark on a three-hundred-mile journey … three-hundred-mile journey to the ranch where the Virginian works. Life on the frontier is unforgiving–filled with hardship and violence–and as they travel together, the tenderfoot recognizes all the ways in which the stoic and principled Virginian exemplifies the heroism and romance of life…