Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Owen Wister, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 3125 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Customer Reviews (1)

The author of THE VIRGINIAN
Owen Wister was born in Philadelphia into elite society, went to Harvard where he studied music and the law, travelled out West because of ill health, fell in love with Wyoming and began writing short stories with western themes. In 1902 he published THE VIRGINIAN, which was a huge success, selling over a million copies. Although he wrote many other books after that, including fiction, history, and biography, none came even close to the success of THE VIRGINIAN.

Basically he was a reactionary, despising progress, and a blatant racist (LADY BALTIMORE, his second best-know work of fiction, is rife with racist ideas). But he was friends with everyone from Teddy Roosevelt and Henry James to Hemingway. Payne's biography is a good one and will probably become definitive. Wister today is thought of as pretty much a one-shot wonder, associated totally and only with THE VIRGINIAN. ... Read more

Book Description