Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest Part 25

"Look into thy heart and write." "Write what you know about." All this is good advice in a way--but students have to write themes whether they have anything to write or not. The way to get full of a subject, to generate a conveyable interest, is to fill up on the subject. As clouds are but transient forms of matter that "change but cannot die," so most writing, even the best, is but a variation in form of experiences, ideas, observations, emotions that have been recorded over and over.

In general, the materials a student weaves are derived from three sources: what he has read, what he has heard, what he has observed and experienced himself. If he chooses to sketch an interesting character, he will make his sketch richer and more interesting if he reads all he can find that illuminates his subject's background. If he sets out to tell a legend or a series of related folk tales or anecdotes, he will improve his telling by reading what he can on the subjects that his proposed narratives treat of and by reading similar narratives already written by others. If he wishes to tell what he knows about rattlesnakes, buzzards, pet coyotes, Brahma cattle, p.r.i.c.kly pear, cottonwoods, Caddo Lake, the Brazos River, Santa Fe adobes, or other features of the land, let him bolster and put into perspective his own knowledge by reading what others have said on the matter. Knowledge fosters originality. Reading gives ideas.

The list of subjects that follows is meant to be suggestive, and must not be regarded as inclusive. The best subject for any writer is one that he is interested in. A single name or category may afford scores of subjects. For example, take Andy Adams, the writer about cowboys and range life. His campfire yarns, the att.i.tude of his cowboys toward their horses, what he has to say about cows, the metaphor of the range as he has recorded it, the placidity of his cowboys as opposed to Zane Grey sensationalism, etc., are a few of the subjects to be derived from a study of his books. Or take a category like "How the Early Settlers Lived." Pioneer food, transportation, sociables, houses, neighborliness, loneliness, living on game meat, etc., make subjects. Almost every subject listed below will suggest either variations or a.s.sociated subjects.

The Humor of the Southwest Similes from Nature (Crockett is rich in them) The Code of Individualism The Code of the Range Six-shooter Ethics The Right to Kill The Tradition of Cowboy Gallantry (read Owen Wister's

_The Virginian_ and _A Journey in Search of Christmas;_ also novels by Eugene Manlove Rhodes)

Frontier Hospitality Amus.e.m.e.nts

(shooting matches, tournaments, play parties, dances, poker, horse races, quiltings, house-raisings)

The Western Gambler

(Bret Harte and Alfred Henry Lewis have idealized him in fiction; he might be contrasted with the Mississippi River gambler)

Indian Captives The Age of Horse Culture

(Spanish, Indian, Anglo-American; the horse was important enough to any one of these cla.s.ses to warrant extended study)

The Cowboy's Horse The Cowboy Myth

(Mody Boatright is writing a book on the subject)

Evolution of the Frontier Criminal Lawyer

The Frontier Intellect in the Atomic Age

British Chroniclers of the West Civilized

Perspective in Writings on the Old West

The Indian in Fiction

Fictional Betrayal of the West

The West in Reality and the West on the Screen

Around the Chuck Wagon: Cowboy Yarns Stretching the Blanket

Authentic Liars

Recent Fiction of the Southwest (any writer worth writing about)

Literary Magazines of the Southwest Ranch Women Mexican Labor (on ranch, farm, or in town)

Mexican Folk Tales Backwoods Life in Frederick Gerstaecker "The Old Catdeman" in Alfred Henry Lewis' _Wolfville_ Books

Mayne Reid as an Exponent of the Southwest (see estimate of him in _Mesa, Canon and Pueblo_, by Charles F. Lummis)

The Gunman in Fiction and Reality

(O. Henry, Bret Harte, Alfred Henry Lewis; _The Saga of Billy the Kid_, by Walter n.o.ble Burns; Gillett's _Six Years with the Texas Rangers;_ Webb's _The Texas Rangers;_ Lake's _Wyatt Earp)_

Character of the Trail Drivers Cowboy's Life as Reflected in His Songs "Wrathy to Kill a Bear" (the frontiersman as a destroyer of wild life "I Thought I Might See Something to Shoot at" Anecdotes of the Stump Speaker Exempla of Revivalists and Campmeeting Preachers The Campmeeting Stagecoaching Life on the Santa Fe Trail The Rendezvous of the Mountain Men In the Covered Wagon Squatter Life No Shade From Gra.s.s to Wheat From Wheat to Dust Brush (a special study of p.r.i.c.kly pear, the mesquite, or some other form of flora could be made)

Cotton (whole books are suggested here, the tenant farmer being one of the subjects)

Oil Booms Longhorns Coyote Stories Deer Nature, or Whitetails and Their Rattlesnakes, or Rattlesnake Stories Panther Stories Tarantula Lore Gra.s.shopper Plagues The Javelina in Fact and in Folk Tale The Roadrunner (Paisano) Wild Turkeys The Poisoned-Out Prairie Dog Sheep Vanishing Sheep Herders The Bee Hunter Pot Hunters Buffalo Hunters The Bar Hunter and Bar Stories Indian Fighter Indian Hater Scalps Squaw Men Mountain Men and Grizzlies Scouts and Guides Stage Drivers Fiddlers and Fiddle Tunes Frontier Justices of the Peace (Roy Bean set the example) Horse Traders Horse Racers Newspapermen Frontier Schoolteacher Circuit Rider Pony Express Rider Folk Tales of My Community Flavorsome Characters of My Community Stanley Vestal Harvey Fergusson Kansas Cow Towns Drought and Thirst Washington Irving on the West Witty Repartee in Eugene Manlove Rhodes Bigfoot Wallace's Humor Charles M. Russell as Artist of the West (or any other western artist) Learning to See Life Around Me Features of My Own Cultural Inheritance I Heard It Back Home Family Traditions My Family's Interesting Character Doodlebugs in the Sand Bobwhites Blue Quail Coachwhips and Other Good Snakes Mockingbird Habits Jack Rabbit Lore Catfish Lore Herb Remedies

"Criticism of Life" in Southwestern Fiction

Intellectual Integrity in________________ (Name of writer or writers or some locally prominent newspaper to be supplied)

{pages 197 - 222 are an Index -- not included}