Larry Mc Murtry

First Guest of the Corpus Christi Literary Readings in the Spring of 1987

"Go West, young man . . . " may have been the 1850 directive of Horace Greeley, but the most vivid storytelling to come out of the resulting westward stampede has been penned by Larry Mc Murtry, son and grandson of Texas cattlemen.

McMurtry's first novels dealt with life in the West but it wasn't until LONESOME DOVE, for which he won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize, that he met with worldwide recognition for being the master storyteller he is.

No other author has so thoroughly and delightfully debunked the ill-advised romanticism of the American West. McMurtry's immense talent punctures the cowboy mythology with such finesse that the reader never feels the prick; we just joyfully go along for the ride of a lifetime.

Yet for all the brilliance of his sweeping Western sagas, I will always remember Larry Mc Murtry as the inventor of the irrepressible Aurora Greenway and the daughter with whom she is constantly at odds in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.

Forget the movie; the book is the real treasure. Bursting its bindings with memorable characters, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT has held a place of honor on my all-time Top Ten List since I first read it. Three readings later, I am still tickled by Aurora, her indomitable array of suitors, her feisty housekeeper, and her recalcitrant daughter, Emma. I am still moved to laughter and to tears by the unflinching portrayal of a complicated mother/daughter relationship and by the trials and tribulations of Emma's marriage.

Nothing demonstrates the greatness of his talent more than McMurtry's ability to fashion a believable --- and lovable --- cast no matter what the setting. He imbues his characters with motivations and desires universal in scope but charmingly particular in detail, whether it's a Vegas showgirl or an old West saloonkeeper, a contemporary mother or a pioneer wife, a depressed oilman or a phlegmatic cowpoke . . . or even a Comanche warrior. The setting of a McMurtry novel has become synonymous with a Western landscape, but his writing is equally at home amidst the glitz and grit of Hollywood, Las Vegas, and New York.

An antiquarian bookseller who declares he was once afraid of shrubbery and poultry and who searches for the meaning of memory at the local Dairy Queen, Larry Mc Murtry is an American landmark in the world of fiction. Whether he's guiding us through sagebrush or skyscrapers, his literary expeditions are compelling, unforgettable, and fun.

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