By Josh Humphrey
Here at the Kearny Library, we are very much into revisiting some Fiction classics. In an attempt to hit some genres that I don’t normally read, I decided to tackle ‘Riders of the Purple Sage’, one of the most famous novels of the Western genre written more than 100 years ago, in 1912, by Zane Grey, who spent his youth as both a Dentist and near-professional baseball player.
Having read a couple Westerns before (including the wonderful 1949 novel, ‘Shane’ by Jack Schaefer), I thought I knew what I was getting into. However, I was completely wrong in how many facets this book brings into play. It is pure Western, but it is also a very good Romance, a bit of a study on nature and a deep discussion of religion.
In terms of a pure Western, there are lots of cowboys and horsemanship, a mysterious gunfighter with a checkered past and lots of good, old-fashioned action. For Romance, there is a strong, scrappy, beautiful woman in Jane Withersteen, who meets her match in the notorious gunfighter, Lassiter. There is also a beautiful subplot about the lonely outcast, Venters, who starts the book on the trail of an infamous band of cattle rustlers and ends up finding the purpose and true love of his life.
In the usual vein of Zane Grey, the book also includes many wonderful details of the Utah countryside and its iconic purple sage plant, tall enough to blanket much of the land. What truly surprised me, however, was its take on religion. Since it takes place in Utah, much of the story is themed on the interplay between Mormons and Gentiles, with the Mormons being in power and the Gentiles trying to find their place, reflecting some of the unfortunate anti-Mormon sentiment of its time. However, in its heroine Jane Withersteen, we see grand, traditional religious ideals of kindness and generosity put to the test of a wild, sometimes lawless country.
The novel has been adapted into both opera and film, with five versions spanning all the way back to a silent film in 1918 and a more contemporary version in 1996. There is also a film in 1925 that stars one of the most famous Hollywood cowboys, Tom Mix. And, to plug it an entirely different way, if you spent the Summer watching the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, as many folks did, this is an interesting exploration of Mormon traditions and how they were viewed and understood over a hundred years ago.
If you are in the mood to stretch your literary wings a bit and take on something a little bit off the beaten track, give Zane Grey a try and start with his most famous work of fiction, ‘Riders of the Purple Sage’.
Editor’s note: Josh Humphrey is the Kearny Library Director.
