Vol. 5: Rolando Hinojosa and the American Dream

Published: September, 1997  Pages: 192  Features: Bib. Index.

Rolando Hinojosa is a Texas writer with his sense of place centered in the Texas Valley, a world in itself and a place recognizable as a discrete community. But Hinojosa’s work transcends the regional, transcends the Valley, transcends Texas, while it remains rooted in all three. more... about Rolando Hinojosa and the American Dream

• Association of College and Research Libraries, Choice Outstanding Academic Book, 1997

Vol. 4: Larry McMurtry and the West: An Ambivalent Relationship

Published: May, 1995  Pages: 359  Features: Bib. Index.

“McMurtry has emerged as one of the leading fiction writers of our time, yet there has been little substantive discussion of his work… Here Busby… looks at each of McMurtry’s published books, and… discusses screenplays and archival materials… Frequent passages from interviews with McMurtry punctuate the book and add biographical interest… The result is a very useful work.” —Choice more... about Larry McMurtry and the West: An Ambivalent Relationship

Vol. 3: The Texas Legacy of Katherine Anne Porter

Published: March, 1991  Pages: 180  Features: Bib. Index.

In this study of Porter’s work, Tanner focuses on Porter’s denial of her Texas heritage, her apparent urge to distance herself from Texas and all things Texan. He analyzes Porter’s settings and characters, emphasizing and clarifying the influence of her Texas upbringing on her creative art, exploring the conflict between the Texas Porter and the urbane-sophisticate Porter. more... about The Texas Legacy of Katherine Anne Porter

Vol. 2: Benjamin Capps and the South Plains: A Literary Relationship

Published: March, 1990  Pages: 205  Features: Bib. Index.

Benjamin Capps has been called the Texas author whose work will be read 100 years from now, but Clayton notes that Caps has not been the frequent subject of nationally disseminated critical interpretation, perhaps because he is an anomaly—a writer of serious, literary fiction set in the West. Notable are Capps’s perceptive characterizations and his use of historical background and folklore. more... about Benjamin Capps and the South Plains: A Literary Relationship

Elmer Kelton and West Texas: A Literary Relationship

Published: January, 1989  Pages: 161 

more... about Elmer Kelton and West Texas: A Literary Relationship

William Humphrey: Destroyer of Myths

Published: January, 1900  Pages: 240 

This is the first full-length study of the life and writings of the Texas novelist, William Humphrey, who died August 21, 1997. Based on research in Humphrey’s vast archives at the University of Texas, it provides the first full picture of his life and identifies many untraced sources of his work. The guiding principle is an exploration of Humphrey’s satire on life-destroying myths: the myths of the hunter, the South, the cowboy hero, the Depression-era outlaw, and, supremely, the myth of Texas. To his dismay, Humphrey was often seen as a celebrator of these myths. more... about William Humphrey: Destroyer of Myths