Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth

In his prelude to the twentieth anniversary publication of Virgin Land, Henry Nash Smith wrote “much good work has been done during the past twenty years on topics dealt with in Virgin Land, but none of it seems to me to cast doubt on my conclusions.” Perhaps his conclusions remain true; however, Smith’s failure to define the methodology used to draw the conclusions presented in Chapters Nine and Ten, The Western Hero in the Dime Novel and the Dime Novel Heroine, casts doubt on the integrity of the conclusions. Smith’s own essay, “Can ‘American Studies’ Develop a Method?” lends credence to this criticism.

4805. Virgin Land The American West as Symbol and Myth, by Henry Nash Smith (read 15 Mar 2011) (Bancroft Prize in 1951) I read this because it won a Bancroft prize in 1951. The author learnedly discusses concepts of the West in American fiction, especially in the fiction of James Fenimore Cooper, Edward Eggleston, Hamlin Garland, and lesser known 19th century authors of fiction. I could not get very excited about the book, though some of what he talked about was of some interest.