The Virginian – A Horseman of The Plains by Owen Wister, published in 1902, the first fictional western ever written, included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list How will The Virginian vote today, I wonder - 9 out of 10

 

The Virginian – A Horseman of The Plains by Owen Wister, published in 1902, the first fictional western ever written, included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list

How will The Virginian vote today, I wonder

9 out of 10

 

 

There is a sensation of exuberance, elation one feels (well, I did) when reading The Virginian, but it is mixed with a sadness, the sense that America and the world have progressed since the 1880s, economically, in technology, social standards (at least in the civilized world, not say in Russia) but some values have been lost

 

The hero, who is called The Virginian throughout, we have no name for him – someone uses Jeff, but briefly, and it could not be taken as the real thing- has so many qualities that he could be descended from Olympus  https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/02/arcadian-nights-greek-myths-reimagined.html

Valliant, principled, generous, loyal, indeed, let us check with the list of Character Strengths, as identified by Martin Seligman, co-founder of positive psychology, and see what, if anything is missing – humanity, with its components love, social intelligence, munificence is checked, temperance – modesty, self-control, prudence, forgiveness and mercy

 

Additionally, courage has four elements integrity, bravery, persistence, vitality, then wisdom with curiosity, creativity, perspective and wisdom, love of learning and open-mindedness, justice included fairness, citizenship, leadership and finally, transcendence has appreciation of excellence and beauty, gratitude, humor, hope and spirituality…

I do not see where The Virginian will be short, he will be seen with different eyes, if readers will insist to use modern day standards – the most important moment might be a climax (hence a spoiler alert, though I expect most people to have a look at the first couple of lines, if that, and then just move on, as they should)

 

The hero is challenged by the nemesis, the absolute villain, thief, killer, ‘a waste of space’, to quote Basil Fawlty aka John Cleese in the best comedy series ever https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/waldorf-salad-by-john-cleese.html in fact, a catastrophic use of space, who wants to murder the main character, prompting a dilemma

There had already been (remember the spoiler alert) a clash, the cowboy had had to ‘apply the law’, and see that a couple of cattle thieves had been hanged, which was called lynching – a novel aspect in the book, I thought the word only applied to that gruesome, sadistic, racist execution of black men – to the horror of Molly

The latter is a teacher, the most important female personage, one that has an old family, if not aristocratic, nevertheless with some claim to a higher position, but she is forced by the penury of the parents to accept what is seen as a demeaning position then, and she is saved by The Virginian, when she travels alone by coach

 

The driver is drunk, and the danger he poses is high, only The Virginian intervenes, takes the woman by surprise, rides the horse and then she is too stunned to say anything, furthermore, albeit they had met, when they see each other again, at a social function, she is asking for decorum, she speaks with men she has been introduced to

Slowly, but steadily, Molly Stark Wood is seduced by the sincere, decent, kind, reserved, strong (and then all the other traits listed above) cowboy, against the will of her family, she is tempted to part ways, when fate pushes them together again, as she finds him badly hurt, nurses him back to life, and then is infatuated again, or the feeling is intensified

 

There are fragments that dela with animals, the horses are prominent, as they would be in a western, we have poor Pedro, a very smart animal, who knows tricks and has ‘social intelligence’, but his poor owner is tricked by one of those Trumps of that age, another fraud and a cheater, and the horse ends up abused, like some other creatures

There is the hen, Emily I think she was called, who had this strong mother instinct, but could not produce her own chicks, and she tries to express her parental feelings, even taking babies from another species – I think it is dogs she ahs in her care – but when humans try to help, they give her an egg from another hen

 

The result is however disastrous for the poor bird, because the chicks get out almost immediately, the egg was close to its term, and the hen is scared senseless, expecting to wait and sit on the thing for days, not hours, and then she is so traumatized by this experience that she does not eat, loses weight and then expires…poor Emily…

Molly hears about the execution of the horse and cattle thieves and the judge, the man who is employing the hero, comes to explain the situation, making the comparison with what they do to black people (he uses a different term, one for 1880) in the South, and the need to apply a punishment for thieves

 

He even uses this striking explanation – the laws are made by people sent to congress, by the individual citizens, and the latter have the right to apply the rules, when it is necessary, so killing the robbers makes sense – evidently, it does not from our perspective, and Molly is actually terrified as well, and it does not end here

Trampas is a sort of Trump to my mind- maybe you noticed, the names are similar – an abject creature, who wants to take advantage, selfish, brutish, fraudulent – he would be one of the MAGA mob, among the first to occupy the Capitol in that rebellion, and very likely a favorite with the inner circle of Orange Jesus himself, he is the foe of our favorite character, and wants to murder The Virginian, and other honest law-abiding men…you can listen to this for free, on LibriVox, the site where you can volunteer and find works out of copyright, and into the public domain

 

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Heritage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”