The Frontier is Still Open

This was my first John Williams experience. It’s hard to believe that such a great writer once fell into obscurity. I first heard of John Williams from a friend who raved about Stoner, and it seems to be an entry point for NYRB Classics for many. I haven’t gotten around to Stoner yet, but Butcher’s Crossing is a great read. A western like none I’ve come across before. Like most, I grew up with an affinity for the Western genre. Guns, outlaws, combat, cowboys… the whole thing. In college, I took a class on the American West and deepened my love of the genre; the depth of expansion, the desire to conquer, conflict with the federal government, frontier culture, encounters and conflicts with the existing inhabitants, and how all of this isn’t exclusive to the US (elements that exist in Tolstoy’s The Cossacks and Llosa’s The War of the End of the World). So I read this from an American West perspective as well as an overarching frontier culture perspective. But this doesn’t really fit into either. It is a western in that the protagonist is attempting to escape is old, limited life in New England by going west and getting off the grid. There are guns and action, hard living and violence, but the other usual trappings of a Western are missing. No “cowboys and Indians”, no shootouts. Williams used the West as a vehicle to tell a poignant coming of age story that demonstrates how life and the choices one makes breaks and hardens a person.Similar to J.L. Carr’s A Month in the Country, the plot is centered around one single task, a buffalo hunt in this case. So in recommending this book, I’d say “It’s a Western about a buffalo hunt.” But everything around that central story is what makes this such a great read. Williams crafted a complete, real-life story using the western genre to make it appealing. His writing style on its own is a pleasurable experience. I teed this one up in an effort to read more English-language literature and recommend this to anyone who’s interested in top-tier writing in general.