Author. His novel The Virginian (1902) was the prototype of the modern Western, and helped raise the genre from its pulp origins to the status of Literature. Set in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, during the 1880's, the story concerns a feud between the unnamed title character and a local bad man called Trampas. When Trampas accuses the Virginian of cheating at poker and calls him an s.o.b., the latter lays his pistol on the table and utters the immortal retort, "When you call me that, smile!" After defeating his foe in a showdown, the hero marries the local schoolmarm. The Virginian was filmed four times and became a hit TV series in the 1960's. Wister was born in Philadelphia and studied at Harvard Law School. In 1885 he made the first of several trips to Wyoming for health reasons, and kept detailed diaries of his experiences. These became the source material for his early short stories about the West, which were collected in the books Red Men and White Men (1896), Lin McLean (1898), and The Jimmyjohn Boss (1900). Although The Virginian made him famous, Wister produced no more notable Western fiction. The most popular of his later novels was Lady Baltimore (1906), which dealt with the old gentry in South Carolina. Wister's collected works comprise 11 volumes.
Author. His novel The Virginian (1902) was the prototype of the modern Western, and helped raise the genre from its pulp origins to the status of Literature. Set in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, during the 1880's, the story concerns a feud between the unnamed title character and a local bad man called Trampas. When Trampas accuses the Virginian of cheating at poker and calls him an s.o.b., the latter lays his pistol on the table and utters the immortal retort, "When you call me that, smile!" After defeating his foe in a showdown, the hero marries the local schoolmarm. The Virginian was filmed four times and became a hit TV series in the 1960's. Wister was born in Philadelphia and studied at Harvard Law School. In 1885 he made the first of several trips to Wyoming for health reasons, and kept detailed diaries of his experiences. These became the source material for his early short stories about the West, which were collected in the books Red Men and White Men (1896), Lin McLean (1898), and The Jimmyjohn Boss (1900). Although The Virginian made him famous, Wister produced no more notable Western fiction. The most popular of his later novels was Lady Baltimore (1906), which dealt with the old gentry in South Carolina. Wister's collected works comprise 11 volumes.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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