Plotting the Wild West: Action and Description in the Dime Novel Western

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: This thesis investigates the roles of action and description in the dime novel western. Text mining and machine learning tools show that the dime western uses a significant amount of description - much more than standard critical reception would have you believe - and uses it in surprising ways. Closer investigation of a particular kind of descriptive moment shows just how important description can be, for the novel, the happy ending, and the reader's experience of escape.

Type of resource	text
Date created	May 2016

Author	Redding, Ellie
Primary advisor	Spingarn, Adena
Advisor	Algee-Hewitt, Mark
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Department of English

Subject	Stanford University
Subject	Department of English
Subject	dime novel
Subject	western
Subject	digital humanities
Subject	escape fiction
Subject	genre fiction
Subject	19th century
Subject	nineteenth century literature
Subject	Deadwood Dick
Subject	Edward L. Wheeler
Subject	Beadle and Adams
Subject	description
Subject	action
Subject	plot
Genre	Thesis

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/vg776bv4406

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

Preferred Citation: Redding, Ellie. (2016). Plotting the Wild West: Action and Description in the Dime Novel Western. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: http://purl.stanford.edu/vg776bv4406

Stanford University, Department of English, Undergraduate Honors Theses

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