Owen Wister

Early life

Owen Wister was born on July 14, 1860, in Germantown, a well-known neighborhood in the northwestern part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Owen Jones Wister, was a wealthy physician raised at Grumblethorpe in Germantown. He was a distant cousin of Sally Wister. His mother, Sarah Butler Wister, was the daughter of Fanny Kemble, a British actress, and Pierce Mease Butler.

Education

Wister briefly attended schools in Switzerland and Britain, and later studied at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (Alpha chapter). Wister was also a member of The Porcellian Club, through which he became life long friends with future 26th President Theodore Roosevelt. As a senior Wister wrote the Hasty Pudding's then most successful show, Dido and Aeneas, whose proceeds aided in the construction of their theater. Wister graduated from Harvard in 1882.

At first he aspired to a career in music and spent two years studying at a Paris conservatory. Thereafter, he worked briefly in a bank in New York before studying law; he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1888. Following this, he practiced with a Philadelphia firm but was never truly interested in that career. He was interested in politics, however, and was a staunch supporter of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt. In the 1930s, Wister opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal.

Writing career

He began his literary work in 1882, publishing (rather intelligently), the year he graduated from Harvard, the burlesque novel'The New Swiss Family Robinson,' so well received that none other than Mark Twain himself wrote a letter of personally praising the novel.>Wister-Stokes, Fanny (1958). "Preface". Owen Wister Out West; His Journals and Letters (1st ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. p. XI. No ISBN. Library Congress #: 58-9609  </ref>Wister, Owen. Wister, Fanny, ed. "Owen Wister Out West His Journals and Letters". One (1st). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Preface. Lib of Congress # 58-9609  </ref> Wister had spent several summers out in the American West, making his first trip to Territory of Wyoming in 1885; planning to shoot big game, fish trout, meet the Indians, and spend nights in the wild. Like his best friend Teddy Roosevelt, Wister was fascinated with the culture, lore and terrain of the region. He was "...struck with wonder and delight, had the eye to see and the talent to portray the life unfolding in America. After six journeys [into the dying "wild west"] for pleasure, he gave up the profession of law...," and became the writer he is better known as. On an 1893 visit to Yellowstone, Wister met the western artist Frederic Remington; who remained a lifelong friend. When he started writing, he naturally inclined towards fiction set on the western frontier. Wister's most famous work remains the 1902 novel The Virginian', a complex mixture of person(s), places and events dramatized from experience, word of mouth, and his own imagination ultimately creating the cowboy who is was natural aristocrat, set against a highly mythologized version of the Johnson County War and taking the side of the large landowners. This is widely regarded as being the first cowboy novel and was reprinted fourteen times in eight months; it stands as one of the top 50 best-selling works of fiction, and is considered by Hollywood experts the basis for the modern fictional cowboy portrayed in literature, film, and television.>Wister-Stokes, Fanny (1958). "Preface". Owen Wister Out West; His Journals and Letters (1st ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. p. XI. No ISBN. Library Congress #: 58-9609  </ref>Wister, Owen. Wister, Fanny, ed. "Owen Wister Out West His Journals and Letters". One (1st). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Preface. Lib of Congress # 58-9609  </ref>.

In 1904 Wister collaborated with Kirke La Shelle on a successful stage adaptation of The Virginian that featured Dustin Farnum in the title role. Farnum reprised the role ten years later in Cecil B. DeMille's film adaptation of the play.

He was a member of several literary societies and was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University.

Personal life

In 1898, Wister married Mary Channing, his cousin. The couple had six children. Wister's wife died during childbirth in 1913. His daughter, Marina Wister, married artist Andrew Dasburg in 1933.

Death

In 1938, Wister died at his home in Saunderstown, Rhode Island. He is buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Legacy

Since 1978, University of Wyoming Student Publications has released the literary and arts magazine Owen Wister Review. The magazine was published bi-annually until 1996. It became an annual publication in the spring of 1997.

Just within the western boundary of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, there is an 11,490-foot mountain named Mount Wister named for Owen Wister.

Near a house that Wister built near La Mesa, California, but never occupied due to his wife's death, is a street called "Wister Drive." In the same neighborhood are found "Virginian Lane" and "Molly Woods Avenue."

Works inspired by The Virginian

Most, if not all movie industry historians will agree that most, if not all westerns can be claimed to influences from The Virginian. It is nearly universally agreed upon that "Hollywood Cowboy," portrayed in nearly countless examples was, and still is based on this book.

The Virginian (1914 film) directed by Cecil B. DeMille, with Dustin Farnum

The Virginian (1923 film) with Kenneth Harlan and Florence Vidor

The Virginian (1929 film) with Gary Cooper and Walter Huston

The Virginian (1946 film) with Joel McCrea and Brian Donlevy

The Virginian (1962–1971 TV series) with James Drury and Doug McClure

The Virginian (2000 TV movie) with Bill Pullman, Diane Lane, John Savage, Colm Feore, and Dennis Weaver.

The Virginian (2014 Video) with Trace Adkins, Brendan Penny, Ron Perlman, and Victoria Pratt.