Maverick Zone
by John M. Myers
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Book Summary Information
Author: John M. MyersEdition: Hardcover
Published: 1961-06
ISBN: 0803846142
Publisher: Hastings House Pub
Book Reviews of Maverick Zone
Book Review: Chaucer in a Cowboy Hat
Summary: 5 Stars
`Maverick Zone' stands alone, unique in all the writings of the American West. Its author, John Myers Myers was known for his idiomatic writing style and the unique voice which he brought to all of his books, including twelve, both fiction and non, which also chronicled the great American West, but with `Maverick Zone', he outdid himself. The book is a collection of three novellas of the Wild West, each written in the form of verse rather than prose. Stories of cowboys on a spree, outlaws, card sharks, dance hall girls, and prospectors are treated with the same literary reverence as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, yet using a fresh poetic style perfectly suited to the shores of the New World and its wild and raw subjects rather than one nicked from the dusty halls of Europe. The result is both charming and fascinating. At the time of its publication in 1961, it was praised by poets, including John Crowe Ransom and Robert Hillyer (who claimed it to be better than anything since Masefield and in the tradition of Chaucer), but was, unfortunately, thunderously ignored by the public.
The three tales told in `Maverick Zone' each concentrate on a different period of the Western experience, and draw on both history and Western legend. The first tale, "Red Conner's Night in Ellsworth", tells the tale of a young Cowboy on a spree in town while on Seth Marbury's great beef drive to Idaho. Several historical characters inhabit the tale, most notably the erudite bad man Johnnie Ringo, and its climax is the legendary pistol wielding Lady Godiva act staged by Ellsworth's leading red-light dance hall girl, Prairie Rose (also a historical figure). The second tale, "The Sack of Calabasas", tell of the exploits of an archetypal Western con man, Abimelech Jones, as he fleeces the local toughs in the boom town of Calabasas, which was soon to go bust. The final entry, "The Devil Paid In Angel's Camp" chronicles sudden death in the camps of California prospectors, and features an incident where pall bearers at the funeral of one prospector desert the coffin of their comrade to join a lynch mob in hanging a card shark who just killed another gold grubber.
The first two tales in this unique collection are particularly strong, and though told in verse, are lucid and easily followed. The author found a poetic style which enhanced the subject, and seemed natural to the tales told. The final story, while having moments of brilliance, is rather convoluted, and is much harder to follow. The author added to it many flashbacks and asides which had me constantly re-reading it in an often vain attempt to follow the action. As a whole, the combined tales make for fascinating reading, as traditional Western themes are made fresh and new through their startling packaging in verse.
`Maverick Zone' is like the Lost Dutchman Mine - it is a treasure trove rich in literary thrills that has been lost to most of the reading public, but which waits to reward those readers intrepid enough to seek it out and mine its riches. As one who has just been enriched by doing so, I highly recommend that you follow my example - you wont be disappointed.
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