"Ten Very Fine Neo-Westerns" by Joe Wilkins

During the first month of 2011, Dzanc Books will be sharing a number of "Best of 2010" lists written by our authors, our editors, and other affiliated folks. Today's list comes from Joe Wilkins, whose Killing the Murnion Dogs, is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press.

Ten Very Fine Neo-Westerns

First, notice I’m not claiming a top ten list here. I started this project with a few films that I was sure were top ten material. Then I went to my bookshelf and found half a dozen books that just had to make the list. Then I was talking with my wife, and she said, well, what about this one? and this one? and, oh, that one? wasn’t that one great? and, yes, I said, it was great, and so were all the others. My list was out of control.

So, having only ten slots to spare, I holed up and did some hard work this morning and finally pared my list down to a mix of ten very fine films and books that have stayed with me. And these are all pieces that I’ve dubbed Neo-Westerns. Though there seems to be a bit of contention online as to what exactly constitutes a Neo-Western, or a Revisionist Western, or a Contemporary Western, I’m not too worried about all that. Here are a handful of books and films, mostly set in the American West, that work against our national myths of individualism, community, ownership, land use, borders, race, violence, and masculinity in surprising, stunning ways:

In the Wilderness, Kim Barnes

No Country for Old Men, Ethan and Joel Coen

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Andrew Dominick

Smoke Signals, Chris Eyre

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Tommy Lee Jones

Owning It All, William Kittredge

Red Rover, Deirdre McNamer

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Michael Ondaatje

First, Body, Melanie Rae Thon

Winter in the Blood, James Welch

Joe Wilkins

Joe Wilkins was born and raised north of the Bull Mountains of eastern Montana. He lives now with his wife and son on the Iowa prairie, where he teaches writing at Waldorf College. He is the author of the chapbook Ragged Point Road, and his poems, essays, and stories appear in the Georgia Review, the Southern Review, the Sun, Orion, Slate, and Best American Magazine Writing 2010. His first full-length collection of poems, Killing the Murnion Dogs, is forthcoming from Black Lawrence Press.