Mavericks on the Border

by Canfield, J. Douglas

• ISBN13: 9780813121802
• ISBN10: 0813121809
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-11-22
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky

Summary

" Twentieth-century authors and filmmakers have created a pantheon of mavericks -- some macho, others angst-ridden -- who often cross a metaphorical boundary among the literal ones of Anglo, Native American, and Hispanic cultures. Douglas Canfield examines the concept of borders, defining them as the space between states and cultures and ideologies, and focuses on these border crossings as a key feature of novels and films about the region. Canfield begins in the Old Southwest of Faulkner's Mississippi, addressing the problem of slavery; travels west to North Texas and the infamous Gainesville Hanging of Unionists during the Civil War; and then follows scalpers into the Southwest Borderlands. He then turns to the area of the Gadsden Purchase, known for its outlaws and Indian wars, before heading south of the border for the Yaqui persecution and the Mexican Revolution. Alongside such well-known works as Go Down Moses, The Wild Bunch, Broken Arrow, Gringo Viejo, and Blood Meridian, Canfield discusses novels and films that tell equally compelling stories of the region. Protagonists face various identity crises as they attempt border crossings into other cultures or mindsets -- some complete successful crossings, some go native, and some fail. He analyzes figures such as Geronimo, Doc Holliday, and Billy the Kid alongside less familiar mavericks as they struggle for identity, purpose, and justice.

Author Biography

J. Douglas Canfield is Regents' Professor of English at the University of Arizona.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(8)
PART I: SOUTH TO WEST	9	(40)
Ike McCaslin's Failed Crossing: Go Down, Moses	11	(15)
Tragic Glory: A Bright Tragic Thing	26	(11)
The Border of Becoming: Theodicy in Blood Meridian	37	(12)
PART II: NORTH OF THE BORDER	49	(66)
Broken Arrow: Crossing as Gesture	51	(8)
Lateral Freedom: Buffalo Soldiers	59	(7)
Geronimo Framed	66	(9)
Tombstone: Violence and the Secular	75	(10)
``I'd become my own mother'': Big Nose Kate in Doc Holliday's Woman	85	(11)
L'Etat c'est moi: Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid	96	(9)
``Our Pearl beyond price'': I, Pearl Hart	105	(10)
PART III: SOUTH OF THE BORDER	115	(83)
Lateral Crossing: Dreams of the Centaur	117	(12)
The Impossible Crossing: The Wild Bunch	129	(10)
``Circles upon Circles'': Last Reveille	139	(6)
Monsters from Below: Los de abajo	145	(19)
The Feminizing of Freedom and Fulfillment: Como agua para chocolate	164	(12)
Mirrors, Dreams, and Memory: Gringo viejo	176	(22)
Epilogue: Crossing into Fascism in Bisbee 17	198	(15)
Notes	213	(12)
Bibliography	225	(7)
Index	232