""Most Westerns are great adventures about risk and endeavor and glory," he said. The books that he loves invert that mythology, focussing on characters in situations that don't necessarily conclude in triumph and dominion, and depicting a different kind of self-discovery. "Like, if I go into this, I'll be confronted by the measure of myself. I'll be made to confront the question, 'Am I of substance?'""
"Andrews is an educated guy-he's a student at Harvard in the late eighteen-hundreds-but he feels like he doesn't understand some important things. Like what hardship feels like, what it means to be challenged on a more essential level, and the essence of being a man. So, to try and gain that understanding, he leaves school and signs up for a buffalo hunt in Kansas-an experience that turns out to bring not knowledge but, rather, disillusionment."
"This is the story of two queer soldiers who meet amid the complete brutality of the Civil War. To me, it's a book about vulnerability that is set at the edge of an incredibly violent moment in history. The main characters are surrounded by the most abject violence, occupying a world that can sometimes feel lawless-and yet, they are able to create a small haven through their love."
Several recommended novels invert traditional Western mythology by focusing on protagonists who encounter moral and existential limits rather than triumph and dominion. One novel follows an educated young man who leaves Harvard to join a buffalo hunt, seeking hardship and manhood but finding disillusionment instead. Another novel follows two queer soldiers amid Civil War brutality who create a fragile haven through their love, highlighting vulnerability within extreme violence. These works prioritize internal confrontation, the measure of self, and the costs of pursuit over conventional adventure, glory, and conquest narratives.
Read at The New Yorker
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