Paul Varner's Blog: Zane Grey's The Heritage of the Desert--How Zane Grey became an author - Posts Tagged "owenwister-thevirginian"
The Most Famous Scene In Any Western Novel
(The villian Trampas has just casually called the Virginian a
son-of-a-bitch during a poker game.)
The Virginian's pistol came out, and his hand lay on the table, holding it unaimed. And with a voice as gentle as ever, the voice that sounded almost like a caress, but drawling a very little more than usual, so that there was almost a space between each word, he issued his orders to the man Trampas:-
"When you call me that, smile!" And he looked at Trampas across the table.Yes, the voice was gentle. But in my ears it seemed as if somewhere the bell of death was ringing.
From Owen Wister's The Virginian, 1902
son-of-a-bitch during a poker game.)
The Virginian's pistol came out, and his hand lay on the table, holding it unaimed. And with a voice as gentle as ever, the voice that sounded almost like a caress, but drawling a very little more than usual, so that there was almost a space between each word, he issued his orders to the man Trampas:-
"When you call me that, smile!" And he looked at Trampas across the table.Yes, the voice was gentle. But in my ears it seemed as if somewhere the bell of death was ringing.
From Owen Wister's The Virginian, 1902
Zane Grey's The Heritage of the Desert--How Zane Grey became an author
When Ripley Hitchcock handed Zane Grey a contract in 1910 for Heritage of the Desert, Grey knew he had arrived as an author. He kept the contract through the years as a treasured memento. Selling the
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