Warlock

by Hall, Oakley; Stone, Robert

• ISBN13: 9781590171615
• ISBN10: 1590171616
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-21
• Publisher: NYRB Classics

Summary

Oakley Hall's legendaryWarlockrevisits and reworks the traditional conventions of the Western to present a raw, funny, hypnotic, ultimately devastating picture of American unreality. First published in the 1950s, at the height of the McCarthy era, Warlock is not only one of the most original and entertaining of modern American novels but a lasting contribution to American fiction. "Tombstone, Arizona, during the 1880's is, in ways, our national Camelot: a never-never land where American virtues are embodied in the Earps, and the opposite evils in the Clanton gang; where the confrontation at the OK Corral takes on some of the dry purity of the Arthurian joust. Oakley Hall, in his very fine novel Warlock has restored to the myth of Tombstone its full, mortal, blooded humanity. Wyatt Earp is transmogrified into a gunfighter named Blaisdell who . . . is summoned to the embattled town of Warlock by a committee of nervous citizens expressly to be a hero, but finds that he cannot, at last, live up to his image; that there is a flaw not only in him, but also, we feel, in the entire set of assumptions that have allowed the image to exist. . . . Before the agonized epic of Warlock is over withthe rebellion of the proto-Wobblies working in the mines, the struggling for political control of the area, the gunfighting, mob violence, the personal crises of those in powerthe collective awareness that is Warlock must face its own inescapable Horror: that what is called society, with its law and order, is as frail, as precarious, as flesh and can be snuffed out and assimilated back into the desert as easily as a corpse can. It is the deep sensitivity to abysses that makesWarlockone of our best American novels. For we are a nation that can, many of us, toss with all aplomb our candy wrapper into the Grand Canyon itself, snap a color shot and drive away; and we need voices like Oakley Hall's to remind us how far that piece of paper, still fluttering brightly behind us, has to fall." Thomas Pynchon

Author Biography

Oakley Hall was born in 1920 in San Diego and grew up there and in Honolulu, where his mother moved after his parents’ divorce. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Hall joined the Marine Corps and was stationed in the Pacific during the Second World War. Following the war, and with the aid of the GI Bill, he continued his studies in France, Switzerland, and England, returning to the US to receive an MFAin creative writing from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Hall published his first book, Murder City, in 1949 and his most recent, Ambrose Bierce and the Ace of Shoots, in 2005. In between he wrote more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, including the novels The Downhill Racers, Separations, and Warlock, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1958; a libretto for the opera based on Wallace Stegner’sAngle of Repose; and two guides to writing fiction. Hall was director of the writing program at the University of California, Irvine for twenty years and, in 1969, co-founded the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, an annual writers’ conference. Among his many honors are lifetime achievment awards from thePEN Center USA and the Cowboy Hall of Fame. Oakley Hall lives in San Francisco.

Robert Stone was born in Brooklyn in 1937. He is the author of seven novels: A Hall of Mirrors, the National Book Award–winning Dog Soldiers, A Flag for Sunrise, Children of Light, Outerbridge Reach, Damascus Gate, and Bay of Souls. He has also written short stories, essays, and screenplays, and published a short story collection, Bear and His Daughter, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in New York City and in Key West, Florida.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
Prefatory Note	xv
BOOK ONE: THE FIGHT IN THE ACME CORRAL
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	3	(10)
Gannon Comes Back	13	(5)
The Jail	18	(5)
Morgan and Friend	23	(7)
Gannon Sees a Showdown	30	(8)
The Doctor and Miss Jessie	38	(8)
Curley Burne Plays His Mouth Organ	46	(7)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	53	(11)
Gannon Calls the Turn	64	(9)
Morgan Doubles His Bets	73	(7)
Main Street	80	(2)
Gannon Meets Kate Dollar	82	(4)
Morgan Has Callers	86	(6)
Gannon Watches a Man among Men	92	(13)
Boot Hill	105	(3)
Curley Burne Tries to Mediate	108	(8)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	116	(3)
The Doctor Arranges Matters	119	(5)
A Warning	124	(6)
Gannon Has a Nightmare	130	(5)
The Acme Corral	135	(7)
Morgan Sees It Pass	142	(6)
Gannon Witnesses an Assault	148	(5)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	153	(4)
Gannon Goes to a Housewarming	157	(13)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	170	(3)
Curley Burne and the Dog Killer	173	(5)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	178	(7)
BOOK TWO: THE REGULATORS
Gannon Looks for Trouble	185	(2)
The Doctor Considers the Ends of Men	187	(10)
Morgan Uses His Knife	197	(9)
Gannon Takes a Trick	206	(10)
A Buggy Ride	216	(8)
Gannon Puts Down His Name	224	(12)
Curley Burne Loses His Mouth Organ	236	(7)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	243	(8)
Gannon Answers a Question	251	(7)
The Doctor Attends a Meeting	258	(12)
Morgan Looks at the Deadwood	270	(6)
Bright's City	276	(6)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	282	(6)
Morgan Is Dealt Out	288	(6)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	294	(2)
The New Sign	296	(2)
Gannon Visits San Pablo	298	(10)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	308	(8)
Dad McQuown	316	(10)
Gannon Takes a Walk	326	(15)
BOOK THREE: THE ANTAGONISTS
Gannon Walks on the Right	341	(5)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	346	(4)
The Doctor Hears Threats and Gunfire	350	(5)
Gannon Backs Off	355	(5)
At the General Peach	360	(4)
Morgan Makes a Bargain	364	(4)
Judge Holloway	368	(6)
Morgan Looks at the Cards	374	(13)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	387	(5)
Gannon Speaks of Love	392	(5)
Morgan Shows His Hand	397	(5)
Gannon Sits It Out	402	(9)
General Peach	411	(14)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	425	(4)
The Doctor Chooses His Potion	429	(8)
Morgan Cashes His Chips	437	(8)
The Wake at the Lucky Dollar	445	(6)
Gannon Takes Off His Star	451	(6)
Journals of Henry Holmes Goodpasture	457	(3)
Gannon Sees the Gold Handles	460	(8)
Afterword: A Letter from Henry Holmes Goodpasture	468