The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989 Page: 10
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Southwestern Historical Quarterly and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
the novels of his time and place, and as the years passed there were
more and more to read.
In the nearly two and a half decades since Dobie's death his own criti-
cal reputation has fallen, much like Carl Sandburg's. Regional sages, if
they are to last, have to have a basis in good writing or in some form of
art more lasting than the memories of those who knew them in the
flesh. Will Rogers, for example, once regarded as a great national wit
and treasure, has almost completely faded from sight. In Dobie's case,
during all of his writing life, he enjoyed immense prestige; there were
no serious challenges to the quality of his writing. Leaving aside the
tributes that appeared upon the occasion of his death, many of which
were brought together in a special issue of the Texas Observer in the late
196os, while his memory was still very green, there have since appeared
both encomia to his work and a famous dissenting opinion. In a pam-
phlet on Dobie published in 1967, folklorist Francis E. Abernethy ex-
pressed what many white liberals in Texas felt about Dobie's presence
in the cultural life of his time and place. Abernethy championed Dobie's
value as a spokesman for freedom: "His cry was a war whoop to the
spirited throughout the world . .. a battle cry and a call for a universal
onslaught against any man or creed that tried to impose its claims
on another." Reading many of Dobie's works as "parables of freedom
written during the McCarthy sickness," Abernethy unabashedly pro-
claimed Dobie an "artist" without ever really demonstrating wherein
lay his artistry.0 Having the right (or in this case centrist liberal) ideas is
hardly enough.
That same year Larry McMurtry, in his essay "Southwestern Litera-
ture?" shifted the focus from content and charisma to the writing itself.
McMurtry thought that "much of [Dobie's] own prose reads as if it had
bored him to write it." Specifically, he found Dobie too enamored of
the anecdote, too hasty, too sloppy, too suspicious of the imagination to
be anything but a pedestrian writer whose principal strength lay in the
appeal of his subject matter. But to whom did it appeal, these stories of
men who "would do to ride the river with," of men "out of the old
rock," of men "with the bark on"-all signature turns of phrase that
Dobie could hardly write a chapter without invoking? According to
McMurtry, that audience was "composed primarily of middle-aged
nostalgics, and it will probably not outlive him much more than a
generation.""
'oAbernethy, J. Frank Dobte, 1 (ist quotation), 36 (2nd quotation), 43 (3rd quotation).
"Larry McMurtry, "Southwestern Literature?" in In a Narrow Grave: Essays on Texas (Austin:
Encino Press, 1968), 44 (5th quotation), 46 (1 st quotation).
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989, periodical, 1989; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101212/m1/37/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.