Synopses & Reviews
Published in the spring of 1902, the same year as
The Virginian, Frances McElrath's novel
The Rustler enjoyed only brief success before fading from public memory. While
The Virginian has indisputably served as the model for the genre of the Western,
The Rustler remains virtually unknown.
Although both novels were inspired by the Johnson County massacre, The Rustler is an account sympathetic to the perspective of the small cattleman, while The Virginian takes the part of the large cattle operations. Both novels also address, with differing conclusions, the clash between the independent Western man and the genteel Eastern woman.
In this story of the stoic, competent, and fiercely independent cowboy Jim and his ill-fated love for the beautiful Hazel Clifford, McElrath offers an alternative view of the West and the standard marriage plot. In contrast to The Virginian, The Rustler points to the vulnerability of the cowboy ethos and a different sort of redemption for the frivolous Eastern woman. The Rustler is also a significant example of the connection between popular and literary traditions whereby sentimentalism, the Western, and a feminist perspective converge in surprising and fascinating ways.
Review
"Bittersweet love and tragic range war in the 1890's Wyoming enthrall and inform in this tale built upon true facts. . . . [McElrath] brings to this sweaty, testosterone driven western an educated feminist view of the West."and#8212;Meredith Campbell, Historical Novels Review
About the Author
Little information about Frances McElrath has survived in public records, but evidence suggests that she spent part of her life in the West on cattle ranches and army posts,and#160;and wrote The Rustler, her only novel, when she was a young woman. Victoria Lamont is an assistant professor of American literature at the University of Waterloo.