This course will trace the development of the theme of the West in American culture and the development of the Western as a distinctly American genre from the Early National period to the present. It will address attendant issues, such as the marking and crossing of borders (geographical borders, borders of genre, borders of identity), the construction of masculine individualism, inter-racial relations, and forms of hybridity.

Requirements: short writing assignments, final exam. Students who wish to enroll in this course are required to attend film screenings in the second half of the semester.

Texts include fiction by James Fenimore Cooper, Bret Harte, Owen Wister, and films by John Ford, Fred Zinnemann, Clint Eastwood.