Popular Culture Review Vol. 2, No. 2, July 1991 | Page 13

A Peculiar Method of Literary Transformation

5

cowboy hero's "age—indeterminate, as required by convention—
[doesn't] change in the least over the many years of simple historical
time covered by the novels." But Berkeley's static time pattern is
countered by the time pattern of the cover illustrator, "whose
illustrations reveal. . . a slow aging process" barely noticeable when
"the books are placed side by side—from the boyish tenderfoot to the
tanned and weathered veteran." This latter format is inconsistent
with the publication dates "either of the books on which the
illustrations appear or of those containing the incidents to which the
illustrations refer . . . " Whatever else Greenberg may have had in
mind, there is a clear echo of the textbook editorial apparatus for
Fenimore Cooper's five Leatherstocking Tales: sequence of events and
aging process of the protagonist Natty Bumpo are in one pattern,
while publication dates of the serial novels are in another. But
Greenberg makes the obvious point about paperback thrillers and
their lurid cover illustrations: you can't tell a book by its cover.
The Invention of the West on one level describes the narrator's
determined search for his cowboy hero MacLean, his physical entry
into the world of the latter (MacLean will call him Bill, though that
is not his name), and his dogged trailing of MacLean all over creation
until they meet and relate superficially, whereupon Bill continues
following MacLean, but much more closely. A weirdly pedantic young
woman named Emily, knowing almost nothing about the latter, also
gets the MacLean fever and takes off after him. Under Western skies
Bill, and Emily, sometimes MacLean too, discuss such matters as the
inner essence of life in relation to literature, and vice versa. But
MacLean knows, from his reading of Berkeley's novels about him,
that there is to be a great showdown in the town of Marshall, at
twilight on Sunday, and that he will be killed. The matter worries
him to distraction. Finally, with a contemptuous oath, he leaves.
This uncharacteristic move (he is going against his own life story)
makes Bill feel that either MacLean is losing control or Berkeley is,
or both are. Properly out of the story now, MacLean heads for some
distant place. Before long, he may even deplane from a jet at
Chicago's O'Hare Airport and be met by his wife. Emily, totally
hooked on MacLean, rides off to find him, but Bill know she won't
succeed. Even if MacLean were found, Bill is convinced that neither
he (Bill) not Emily could keep up with the fast-paced cowboy.