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Cowboy’s Quill: Thomas McGuane
Published
6 years agoon
Posted By
Outlaw PartnersLiving(ston) legend
By Doug Hare EBS Staff
Books by Thomas McGuane hold a privileged place on my bookshelf. For 40 years, many of them spent on his ranch outside of McLeod, Montana, he has been producing not only acclaimed novels but also short stories that have established him as a true master of the form, chronicling the fringes of American culture from Key West, Florida, to Big Sky Country.
On March 6, McGuane will release “Cloudbursts: Collected and New Stories,” comprised of selections from his first three short story collections: “To Skin a Cat” (1986); “Gallatin Canyon” (2006); “Crow Fair” (2015); and eight new stories. Now in one place, we can look back on his lifelong attempt to make sense of the emotional dislocations and loneliness of backwater America.
“Cloudbursts” showcases a brilliant writing career. Each story is remarkable in its own way, demonstrating McGuane’s range and evolution as a writer, his earlier work more exuberant and experimental, his most recent more cautious, precise, and then suddenly tempestuous—as the title of the collection suggests.
I’m not sure exactly what his secret is, but I haven’t come across many other writers who can conjure the surreal out of the mundane with such fluidity. Awash in the broken dreams and bad decisions of outcasts, misfits, and malcontents trying to make their peace with the world, McGuane can make seemingly unrelated events and images cohere in a single paragraph—a maestro of extracting order out of chaos.
Never read anything by McGuane? I’d recommend the short story he published in The New Yorker last year called “Riddle.” (An audio recording by the author and a text version are available on the magazine’s website.)
It begins, benignly enough, with an old cowboy stumbling around Main Street in Livingston after the bars have closed: “There weren’t many of these fellows left, the ones whom horses had broken so often in accidents far from help, their hands still as hard as lariats. They kept their worn-out Stetsons so you wouldn’t confuse them with railroaders.”
Then there is a disgruntled architect, a car accident, a carjacking, an unexpected sexual tryst, and a reckoning with a police officer all in the span of three pages. In the final paragraph, with the suddenness of a cloudburst, the imagery of the battered old cowboy hobbling down the deserted street takes on a whole new meaning, somehow illuminating the murky vicissitudes of the human condition in plain sight.
Like most of his best work, “Riddle” is a precise, but nonformulaic incantation invoking both the humor and pathos of the human condition.
Doug Hare is the distribution director for Outlaw Partners. He studied philosophy and American literature at Princeton and Harvard universities.
The Outlaw Partners is a creative marketing, media and events company based in Big Sky, Montana.
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February 26 (Monday) - April 21 (Sunday)
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My Barking Dog is a nightmare comedy
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My Barking Dog is a nightmare comedy that tells the story of Toby and Melinda, two lonely people whose lives are forever changed the night they encounter a starving coyote at their apartment building. Over time they grow to expect him, leaving ritual offerings to entice the coyote every night. Toby and Melinda forge a connection over this visitor and share curiosity and concern about his presence in the city. The coyote expands their world–until, one night, their world is shattered. Their lives are pushed suddenly into uncharted territory, sending them on a surreal odyssey that changes their city–and the world–forever.
Directed by LX Miller. Starring Max Schneider and Denise Hergett
Verge Theater is continuing their mission to provide accessible theater to our community. Tickets for My Barking Dog are Pay What You Wish with a suggested price of $35. Audience members are offered the opportunity to select the price point that is comfortable for them when purchasing tickets.
My Barking Dog runs March 15-17, 22-24, 28-30
Performances on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays begin at 7:00 p.m., with Sunday matinees offered at 3:00 p.m.
Suitable for ages 16 . No animals are harmed in the staging of this production.
Tickets are available online at www.vergetheater.com
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15 (Friday) 7:00 pm - 30 (Saturday) 8:30 pm
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Verge Theater
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Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm We will combine the heart-opening powers of cacao with the transcendental powers of breathwork and sound. Together, these practices will give us the opportunity for a deep
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Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm
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March 23 (Saturday) 6:00 pm - April 23 (Tuesday) 8:00 pm
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Santosha Wellness Center
169 Snowy Mountain Circle
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Thursday of the Lord’s Supper Mass St. Joseph Catholic Mission
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Thursday of the Lord’s Supper Mass
St. Joseph Catholic Mission
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