Riders of the Purple Sage (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

If you are not an aficianado of the Western novel but would like to sample the genre, then you should try one or more of the three great classics; Jack Schaefer's "Shane", Owen Wister's "The Virginian" , and this novel by Zane Grey. Of the three, "Shane" has the most literary merit and is the only one with claims to being great literature. "The Virginian" is often regarded as the first true representative of the genre, establishing as it does many of the great archetypal characters and incidents of Western myth, and "Riders of the Purple Sage" remains the best-selling Western ever.
"Riders" has two very remarkable features. The first is the surprising complexity and mythic depth of the story. One of the facets is a Garden of Eden theme, with two of the characters isolated in a lush wilderness. This is so strikingly like the Emil Zola novel "La Faute de l'Abbe Mouret" (The Abbe Mouret's Sin) that one wonders if Grey had read and been inspired by it. Interwoven with this is an Oedipal theme. If all of this sounds a bit much for a cowboy yarn, I can only say that it really is all there.
The other remarkable thing about the book is its attitude toward the Mormon religion. The hero is an avowed "killer of Mormons". The LDS church is depicted as essentially brutal and tyrannical. This, I suppose, reflects a prejudice of the time, but I wonder how present-day members of that church react to this novel.
It has to be said that Grey is not a great writer and in particular, he cannot do dialogue. In fact, the dialogue in the first few pages is so appalling that I nearly gave up on the book there and then. However, I'm glad I stuck with it. It is such a fine and strange story and has such a wonderful sense of place. It will make you want to saddle a horse and ride off through the sagebrush.

Whilst it has to be acknowledged that "Riders of the Purple Sage" is no masterpiece of writing, it is nice to see this renowned western gaining some literary respectability by being included in the Oxford World's Classics series of books. It is a deserved inclusion for a genre that has never been taken too seriously, except for a devoted readership that includes me. First published in 1912, it instantly captured the public's imagination and was a huge bestseller, that is still read today nearly a hundred years later. It has aged remarkably well against some of its close contemporaries, like Owen Wister's "The Virginian" and the novels of Bret Harte, which are written in a more dated style. "Riders" is much closer to the books of more modern writers like Jack Schaefer, Tom Lea and Edward Abbey. The author Zane Grey has certainly influenced the likes of the very popular Louis L'Amour, another entertaining author whom his readers adored, but who would also struggle to be recognised by serious literary critics.

In the story a mysterious black clad gunman rides out of the purple sage as if in answer to the prayers of a pretty ranchwoman in distress. It soon transpires he is has been closing in on the perpetrator of a past evil, that is too dark to talk about. The plot thickens with rustlers and Mormons seemingly in cahoots to ruin the ranchwoman, who is slowly drawn towards the stranger from the sage. Secrecy, seduction, love, captivity and escape set in a majestic landscape, are the elements that Grey uses in his novel. The endless search is reminiscent of Alan LeMay's fine novel "The Searchers", on which the famous film was based, and the stranger riding almost mythically out of the great western landscape strongly resembles Jack Schaefer's "Shane", so it should not be underestimated just how much this novel may have influenced other writers. Grey's Lassiter did much to define the archetypal western hero which culminated in its perfect form with "Shane". One of the highlights of the book is Grey's magical descriptions of the labyrinthine system of deceitful canons, valleys and trails around Deception Pass. His descriptions of the monolithic western landscape can only be surpassed by a writer of the power of Cormac MacCarthy. It is no surprise that he was a fisherman and a hunter who knew landscape and the wild animals that inhabited the land. These were sports that he was able to pursue around the world as a result of the great wealth generated after the success of "Riders...".

An indication of the books popularity can be gleaned from the number of times it has been filmed. Firstly in 1918 with Dustin Farnum as the hero Lassiter, and most recently in 1996 with Ed Harris in that same role. What a pity that the great Gary Cooper never played Lassiter, in what would have been perfect casting. Strangely enough he appeared uncredited in the 1925 version, during his stunt riding days, just before fame and fortune beckoned. Those politically correct minded readers may struggle with the books less than charitable depiction of the Mormon church, whose leaders must have suffered apoplexy at the time of the books publication. This was perhaps an unfortunate reflection of the prejudices that existed at that time. But this minor criticism aside, the novel is a rattling good yarn that contains the occasional inspired purple patches. I will leave you with a taster of one such patch.

"Ages of rain had run down the slope, circling, eddying in depressions, wearing deep round holes. There had been dry seasons, accumulations of dust, wind-blown seeds, and cedars rose wonderfully out of solid rock. But those were not beautiful cedars. They were gnarled, twisted into weird contortions, as if growth were torture, dead at the tops, shrunken, gray, and old. Theirs had been a bitter fight, and Venters felt a strange sympathy for them. This country was hard on trees-and men".

This was the first western I had ever read, and I had not expected such a lyrical, philosophical and highly descriptive story. The plot is bizarre - a convoluted tale of wicked Mormons who capture, marry and imprison `gentile' women and absorb them into the Mormon faith. Lassiter, the lone gunman, is seeking one of these lost women. Jane Withersteen, born a Mormon, is under pressure to marry against her will - and this pressure involves the rustling of her herds of cattle and the loss of her servants and riders. Much of the central part of the book is about Bern Venters, one of Jane's riders (men who guard the cattle) and his meeting with a mysterious girl and discovery of a hidden, Eden-like valley.

Zane Grey's evocation of landscape - the canyons and purple sage of Utah - is superb, and his lengthy descriptions of the secret valley, its wildlife and weather, and Venters' struggle to survive in it, show a joy in nature which is almost mystical. I loved this part of the book. I found the plot intriguing but ultimately absurd, and the dialogue unconvincing.

I would recommend this book. It's well worth reading for the `lost valley' story, the mystery, and the wonderful descriptive passages.