A Contested West

by Martin Simonson (Editor), David Río (Editor), Amaia Ibarran (Editor)

As the title of the present book implies, this collection of essays is conceived of as a critical response to mainstream views of the American West. This third volume in the PortalEducation series The American Literary West discloses some of the many - and intriguingly different - accounts of the complex relationships between the West as a physical reality, on the one hand, and human inhabitation and interpretation of this territory, on the other. The subject, while far from new, is also far from being exhausted. In fact, it can never be, because the American West - as any other place - is a perpetual work in progress which is undergoing constant revisions. Thus, the essays of the present volume attempt to illuminate some of these new spots on the ever evolving map of the West, providing fresh perspectives on the struggle to penetrate the veil imposed by traditional accounts, and the urge to comprehend and to portray in writing a number of unique areas that have hitherto been invisible to the vast majority. The project of the writers under study is not only to produce literary archaeology, but first and foremost to offer new interpretations of old histories in a multi-faceted and changing contemporary reality.

258 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look, A Contested West is a messy, loud, glorious train wreck of a family comedy, and I mean that as high praise. Martin Simonson throws a wedding, a lost dog, and a feud over a casserole dish into one weekend, and the scene where the bride's father gives a toast that goes horribly off the rails had me laughing into my coffee. By the last chapter the chaos starts to wear thin. For readers who like their comedy big and their families bigger. Skip it if you prefer quiet, polished humor.

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and honest: A Contested West is a gorgeous, sad, slow thing that asks a lot of you. What worked: the prose, which is quiet and precise, and a final image I haven't shaken. What didn't: I stalled out around the halfway mark and needed a break. Recommend for patient readers who like language, skip for anyone who wants a quick read.