Sunday, October 09, 2005
Montana Literature and Writers
Am I a Montana Writer?
I've recently been reading a lot of "Montana Writers", and I wonder if I'm a "Montana Writer"? I've never been a student of writing, I've never taken or taught any "Western Writing" workshops. I never studied or drank with any elite literary figurehead who claims to be the start or continuation of some Western literary movement.
I'm not from back east or California, and I didn't move to Montana because I was a yuppie fly-fisherman or I wanted to "be a rancher" on 20 acres, or because I love wolves. I'm not a hunter, but I don't love grizzly bears and wolves. I like trees and wilderness but I also like loggers. I'm not some out-of-state'r who moved to Montana because "its beautiful", or I thought it would be neat to live "out west". I'm not a hard-core logger who wants to cut all the big wood, I'm not a rancher who wants to kill every wolf, coyote, or gopher that I can. I'm not a tree-hugger to wants the whole world in wilderness areas. I'm not an "environmentalist" who thinks its ok to hurt people to save a squirrel, or that its ok to vandalize stores in the name of
"free trade".
I was born in Montana, my parents were born in Montana and half my grandparents were born in Montana, and all my grandparents are buried in Montana. I don't live in Montana, I was forced to l eave to find work. I didn't move to Montana to live on my inheritance or the killing I made from selling a house in the bay area.
I'm part of the real Montana, not the yuppified fly-fishing tree-hugging wolf loving neo-nazi extremeist crap that some people think is Montana, "The Big Sky Country". I have family there, I have roots there, not just people that I play cowboy with, or go RV'ing on the weekends or for summer vacation. Its easy to love Montana when you have an trust fund or an inheritance to live off of. Its easy to love, enjoy, or laugh at the weather when all it means is that you might have to sell some of your stocks or mutual funds to buy feed for your registered horses or llamas. Its hurts a little more when it might mean a third mortgage on a farm that has been in your family for four generations.
Will this ever be published? Almost certainly not, why on earth would any sensible editor or publisher ever publish an article so negative about his craft or chosen style or subject matter? No sensible publisher would, but a publisher with guts might, and a real Montana publisher probably would.
I really don't begrudge these so-called Montana or Western writers their stories, they're only writers telling stories or describing people or places or things, doing what writers and story-tellers have been doing for hundreds of years. They're writing about what they see, what they know, who they are and how they feel. What I do begrudge them is that its not the whole story, and its not the only story. Montana is too big, there are too many stories, some good, some bad, some happy, some sad. There are many sides to every issue and most if not all are at least in some part based in truth, honesty, decency,
and good intentions. There are the sad stories, stories of greed and lust, of hatred and dishonesty, we all know those stories and we try and we'd prefer to forget them but we remember. We've been used and abused, trampled on, forgotten, ignored, and taken advantage of, and we still feel the pain. Most of the wounds have healed but there's always the scars. These "western" writers are trying to tell their story, describe things they've seen or felt, but they can only tell one single tiny side of the story, and there are other stories to be told, stories that need to and should be told. Some big stories and lots of little stories, but definitely not something that should be lumped into or labelled as "western literature", not that anything about Montana can really be lumped or labelled.
In many ways Montana is as much a state of mind, a philosophy, a feeling, or a way of thinking as it is a place, so in many ways no matter where you are, whether its Seattle, Singapore, NewYork or North Dakota you can still be in Montana. And conversely there are probably lots of people in Billings, Bozeman, Missoula, Livingston, Whitefish, Bigfork, the Bitteroot, the Northfork, Butte, and Helena who are not in Montana; and there is a lot of writing that is done in and about Montana that is not one bit Montana.
I've recently been reading a lot of "Montana Writers", and I wonder if I'm a "Montana Writer"? I've never been a student of writing, I've never taken or taught any "Western Writing" workshops. I never studied or drank with any elite literary figurehead who claims to be the start or continuation of some Western literary movement.
I'm not from back east or California, and I didn't move to Montana because I was a yuppie fly-fisherman or I wanted to "be a rancher" on 20 acres, or because I love wolves. I'm not a hunter, but I don't love grizzly bears and wolves. I like trees and wilderness but I also like loggers. I'm not some out-of-state'r who moved to Montana because "its beautiful", or I thought it would be neat to live "out west". I'm not a hard-core logger who wants to cut all the big wood, I'm not a rancher who wants to kill every wolf, coyote, or gopher that I can. I'm not a tree-hugger to wants the whole world in wilderness areas. I'm not an "environmentalist" who thinks its ok to hurt people to save a squirrel, or that its ok to vandalize stores in the name of
"free trade".
I was born in Montana, my parents were born in Montana and half my grandparents were born in Montana, and all my grandparents are buried in Montana. I don't live in Montana, I was forced to l eave to find work. I didn't move to Montana to live on my inheritance or the killing I made from selling a house in the bay area.
I'm part of the real Montana, not the yuppified fly-fishing tree-hugging wolf loving neo-nazi extremeist crap that some people think is Montana, "The Big Sky Country". I have family there, I have roots there, not just people that I play cowboy with, or go RV'ing on the weekends or for summer vacation. Its easy to love Montana when you have an trust fund or an inheritance to live off of. Its easy to love, enjoy, or laugh at the weather when all it means is that you might have to sell some of your stocks or mutual funds to buy feed for your registered horses or llamas. Its hurts a little more when it might mean a third mortgage on a farm that has been in your family for four generations.
Will this ever be published? Almost certainly not, why on earth would any sensible editor or publisher ever publish an article so negative about his craft or chosen style or subject matter? No sensible publisher would, but a publisher with guts might, and a real Montana publisher probably would.
I really don't begrudge these so-called Montana or Western writers their stories, they're only writers telling stories or describing people or places or things, doing what writers and story-tellers have been doing for hundreds of years. They're writing about what they see, what they know, who they are and how they feel. What I do begrudge them is that its not the whole story, and its not the only story. Montana is too big, there are too many stories, some good, some bad, some happy, some sad. There are many sides to every issue and most if not all are at least in some part based in truth, honesty, decency,
and good intentions. There are the sad stories, stories of greed and lust, of hatred and dishonesty, we all know those stories and we try and we'd prefer to forget them but we remember. We've been used and abused, trampled on, forgotten, ignored, and taken advantage of, and we still feel the pain. Most of the wounds have healed but there's always the scars. These "western" writers are trying to tell their story, describe things they've seen or felt, but they can only tell one single tiny side of the story, and there are other stories to be told, stories that need to and should be told. Some big stories and lots of little stories, but definitely not something that should be lumped into or labelled as "western literature", not that anything about Montana can really be lumped or labelled.
In many ways Montana is as much a state of mind, a philosophy, a feeling, or a way of thinking as it is a place, so in many ways no matter where you are, whether its Seattle, Singapore, NewYork or North Dakota you can still be in Montana. And conversely there are probably lots of people in Billings, Bozeman, Missoula, Livingston, Whitefish, Bigfork, the Bitteroot, the Northfork, Butte, and Helena who are not in Montana; and there is a lot of writing that is done in and about Montana that is not one bit Montana.
// posted by mattB @ 1:45 PM 
