Essay by USU Professor Melody Graulich Published

The essay “Ain’t the World Small, Though!: Constructing an International West,” by Melody Graulich, was recently published in Exploring the American Literary West: International Perspectives.

Graulich is editor of The Western American Literature Journal and professor of American studies at Utah State University. In the essay, she explores the processes of globalization in the American West.

 

“We cannot be satisfied with narrating the story of a settler nation,” Graulich said while quoting Jay Gitlin. “Our histories must have an international and multinational awareness.”

 

Graulich said people have to look beyond the romantic American West that has been created by writers of popular western stories over the years.

 

“The economic and cultural development of the American West has always been connected to global travel and the global marketplace,” she said.

 

Graulich uses examples from western novels such as Owen Wister’s The Virginian, Leslie Marmon Silko’s The Trail Book and Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose in her essay to support her argument. Popular western writers have for the past hundred years recognized globalization, capitalism and industrialization as part of the American West depicted in their novels, she said.

 

For more information, contact Graulich at 797-3855 or mgraulich@english.usu.edu.

 

 

Contact: Melody Graulich 797-3855, mgraulich@english.usu.edu