Lonesome Dove
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Lonesome Dove, written by Larry McMurtry, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning western novel and the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series.
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Plot introduction
The story follows the lives of retired Texas Rangers and cohorts as they drive cattle across the country to the unsettled lands of Montana. The book was filmed as a television miniseries in 1989. It starred Robert Duvall as Augustus McCrae, Tommy Lee Jones as Woodrow F. Call, Diane Lane as Lorena Wood, Anjelica Huston as Clara Allen, Danny Glover as Joshua Deets, Rick Schroder as Newt Dobbs, and Robert Urich as Jake Spoon. The series was awarded six Emmy Awards and was nominated for 13 others.
Origins
McMurtry originally developed the tale in 1972 as a theatrical motion picture entitled The Streets of Laredo (a title later used for the sequel), which was to have starred John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and James Stewart, and directed by Peter Bogdanovich. When plans fell through, the original screenplay went into limbo. McMurtry later resurrected the unproduced screenplay as a full-length novel, which became a best seller and won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The mini-series is considered by many to be one of the finest westerns ever made.
Plot Summary
The story focuses on the relationship of several retired Texas Rangers and their adventures driving a cattle herd from Texas to Montana.
Two of them, Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae and Captain Woodrow F. Call, run a ranch in the small Texas town of Lonesome Dove. McCrae is a romantic figure whose happy-go-lucky nature and good fortune with women prohibits him from doing any real work around the farm. Call, however, is a no-nonsense, hard-working taskmaster who tolerates very little and McCrae even less. Working with them are Joshua Deets, a black man who is an excellent tracker and scout, Pea-Eye Parker, another former Ranger, and Bolivar, a retired Mexican bandit who is their cook. They adopted Newt, a boy who may be Call's illegitimate son by a prostitute named Maggie, after his mother died; at the time of the story, Newt is seventeen. Call, dedicated to raising the boy, does not admit to anyone, least of all himself, that he is Newt's father. Call and McCrae's old friend and fellow Ranger, Jake Spoon, is a ladies' man and gambler. While in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Jake fired upon another player who assaulted him, but accidentally killed a dentist, who was also the mayor, and whose brother, July Johnson, is the sheriff.
Jake returns with Deets to Lonesome Dove to evade Johnson, who is under pressure from his sister-in-law to bring Spoon to trial, despite the accidental nature of his brother's death. Reunited with McCrae and Call, his description of Montana inspires Call to gather a herd of cattle and drive them to Montana. Call is attracted to the romantic notion of finally having something to do besides sitting idly at home and of being able to see one of the last pieces of untamed land before the end of the Old West.
"We Don't Rent Pigs"
Once two of the most famed lawmen on the border, retired Texas Rangers Woodrow F. Call and Augustus McCrae now lead a dull, uneventful life in the South Texas town of Lonesome Dove, the owners of the run-down Hat Creek Cattle Company. When a former comrade-in-arms, Jake Spoon, comes in on the run from the law, he convinces Call to start a cattle drive to the great wilderness of Montana, more for adventure than for profit. Gus goes along with his own interests - seeing a former love of his, who now lives in Nebraska. Accompanied by Pea Eye Parker (another former ranger), Josh Deets (a freed slave and former scout), and Newt (the orphaned son of a prostitute whom Gus and Call took in), the rangers round up cattle and cowboys and start their drive north, fraught with danger, from snakes and sandstorms to horse theives and Indians. Featuring a delightful cast of intriguing characters, Lonesome Dove is memorable as a modern classic and one of the best westerns of all time. In 1989, it was made into a popular mini-series, starring Robert Duvall (Gus), Tommy Lee Jones (Call), and Danny Glover (Deets)
Characters in "Lonesome Dove"
- Captain Augustus McCrae - Co-owner of the Hat Creek Cattle Company, McCrae considers himself the brains of the outfit. Generous, humorous, and lazy to the point of eccentricity, he serves as a foil to the more serious, practical Call. When not working (which he does as little as possible), Gus pursues his twin interests in life - whores and alcohol.
- Captain Woodrow F. Call - Gus's partner, Call is co-owner of the company. Less verbose and chatty than McCrae, Call works long and hard, and sees no reason why others should not do the same. A former ranger, he served with Gus when both were young men. Though Call has utter disdain for lazy men who drink, gamble, and whore their lives away, he has his own secret shame which he hides carefully from his comrade.
- Pea Eye Parker - The wrangler and blacksmith of the Hat Creek Cattle Company, Pea Eye served as a ranger under Gus and Call. Pea Eye (his real name long forgotten) is not especially bright, but is reliable, brave, and kind. He follows Call's lead without question.
- Joshua Deets - An escaped slave, Deets is a hand at the Company. On the drive, he serves as scout. A remarkable tracker and morally upright man, he is one of the few men whom Call respects and trusts.
- Newt Dobbs - A young orphan raised by Gus and Call. His mother was a whore named Maggie, who died when he was a child. He is uncertain as to who his father is - both Jake Spoon and Captain Call are possible candidates.
- Jake Spoon - A former comrade in arms of Gus, Call, Pea Eye, and Deets. Jake is, if anything, even lazier and even less reliable than Gus. A gambler and drinker, Jake prefers living in luxury and ease and shirks work with a passion, which irks Call mightily. He is, however, a man of great personal charm and is seldom unlucky in love.
- Dishwater Boggett - A cowboy of great skill, Dish serves as the top hand for Call's cattle drive. His main aspiration in life is to win the love of Lorena Wood
- Lorena Wood - A kind hearted young woman, who was forced into prostitution by her lover, then abandoned in Lonesome Dove. Lorena is silent, strong willed, and intimidating, refusing to submit meekly to her various admirers. Discontent with her line of work, Lorie hopes to leave the dead town and find her way to San Francisco.
- Blue Duck - When Gus and Call quit Rangering, Blue Duck was unfinished business. The son of a Comanche war chief and his Mexican prisoner, Blue Duck leads a band of renegade Indians and buffalo hunters. He is feared across the plains as a murderer, rapist, and slaver.
- July Johnson - The sheriff of the town of Fort Smith, Arkansas. July is a kind, long suffering young man, recently married to a woman he knows little about. After his brother, Ben, is accidentally killed by Jake Spoon, July's domineering sister-in-law, Peach bullies him into setting out in pursuit. July is accompanied by his young stepson, Joe, and his incompetent deputy, Roscoe.
- Clara Allen - A former love of Gus, who turned down his marriage proposals years ago. She lives in Nebraska, married to a horse trader; they have two girls, though she is afflicted deeply by the death of her sons. Though separated by Gus by many miles and years, she still holds him fondly in her heart. Call, in contrast, she has utter contempt for.
Allusions/references to actual history and current science
According to McMurtry, Gus and Call were not modeled after historical characters, but there are similarities with real-life cattle drivers Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight. When Goodnight and Loving's guide, Bose Ikard, died, Goodnight carved a wooden tombstone for him, just as Call does for Deets. Upon Loving's death, Goodnight brought him home to be buried in Texas, just as Call does for Augustus. (Goodnight himself appears as a minor but sympathetic character in this novel, more so in the sequel, Streets of Laredo.)
Other books of the Lonesome Dove series feature more prominent historical events (the Santa Fe Expedition, Comanche raid) and characters (Buffalo Hump, Judge Roy Bean)
Lonesome Dove exists as a Baptist church and cemetery in Southlake, Texas.
Awards and nominations
| Preceded by: Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie (1985 winner) | Pulitzer Prize Winners for Fiction | Succeeded by: A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor (1987 winner) |
Trivia
Publication sequence is not the same as narrative sequence.