The significance of the frontier in the evolution of the Western genre

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to show the pivotal role of the American West in the evolution of the Western genre. The West is understood here not only as the uncharted area lying west of the Mississippi river but, above all, as a mythical place, which is how it came to be represented in Western fiction. The paper commences with an examination of the Frontier Thesis, aimed at illustrating the symbolic meaning of the Frontier and the West; and then proceeds to discuss precursors of the genre. Next, The Virginian is presented as the first American Western, and it is demonstrated that its key characteristics correspond to the basic premises of the Frontier thesis. The paper then follows the evolution of the Western in the 20th century, arguing that transformations in the formula since the 1960s reflect a new, revisionist treatment of the myth of the West.