‘It was an odd thing, but true, that the death of an enemy could you affect you as much, almost as much, as the death of a friend.’
Today we are discussing the first part of Larry McMurtry's sweeping saga. We are meeting his characters together, wrangling with profound themes of the human condition, and immersing ourselves in the vivid world of Lonesome Dove.
We're discussing cinematic storytelling, friendship, Epicureanism vs Stoicism, Latin mottoes, seeing the world through another's eyes, the history of the West, the hero's journey, great Western films, men and women, finding meaning in hardship, and much more.
Please feel free to listen before, during, or after your reading and enjoy the work at the pace that best suits you. You do not need to have read all of these chapters to enjoy the discussion as I am staying away from plot details revealed later in the work.
Timestamps:
0:00 welcome to Lonesome Dove
2:00 meeting the novel’s characters
4:00 the marvel of free indirect style
6:00 philosophy of Augustus McCrae
8:00 Lonesome Dove vs Blood Meridian
10:00 influence of Dante’s Inferno
12:00 Rio Bravo film appreciation
15:00 appreciating A Fistful of Dollars
18:00 influence in the Western genre
20:00 enjoying the first page together
22:00 how Augustus views his pigs
24:00 the horse of Woodrow Call
26:00 the friendship of Call & Gus
28:00 meaning of the name Augustus
30:00 prophet of sunrise & sunset
31:00 the meaning of Call’s name
33:00 Newt, Pea Eye, Deets, Bolivar
35:00 town as microcosm of America
37:00 what makes one American?
40:00 seeing through another’s eyes
42:00 Civil War as recent history
45:00 is history ever fully behind us?
47:00 US relation to the native tribes
49:00 waning of the Comanche raids
50:00 rise of transcontinental railroad
51:00 how Lonesome Dove was born
53:00 Call’s longing for meaning
56:00 existential danger of retirement
58:00 combatting depression & anxiety
1:00:00 older the violin, sweeter the music
1:03:00 driving North across the US
1:05:00 refusal of the call to adventure
1:06:00 McMurtry’s women protagonists
1:08:00 the character of Lorena Wood
1:10:00 what do men truly want?
1:11:00 the scar & silence of Lorrie
1:14:00 locales to aim at in our minds
1:16:00 the character of Jake Spoon
1:18:00 paternity as perennial story
1:20:00 where did the title come from?
1:22:00 aren’t we all lonesome doves?
1:24:00 homecoming vs setting out
1:26:00 why the allure of Montana?
1:28:00 manifesting your own destiny
1:30:00 yearning for meaning in danger
1:32:00 being possessed with an idea
1:34:00 Hat Creek Cattle Company sign
1:38:00 what does the Latin motto mean?
1:40:00 life’s about the company you keep
1:41:00 Wilbarger’s need for a remuda
1:42:00 the inflection point of the story
1:44:00 Lorena Wood falls for Jake Spoon
1:46:00 how Jake really feels for Lorrie
1:48:00 Deets’ sublime moon monologue
1:51:00 crossing the border to steal horses
1:54:00 even sinners can do Christian acts
1:57:00 does justice change at the border?
1:59:00 when the action finally kicks off
2:01:00 what does it mean to be a man?
2:03:00 mourning the death of their enemy
2:06:00 the crew leave Lonesome Dove
2:10:00 your thoughts on the novel so far?
Resources to Explore:
Film Appreciation: We previously recommended two great Westerns from Howard Hawks and Sergio Leone. If their films resonated with you, it's definitely worth exploring the rest of these directors' filmographies. For Hawks, Red River is another great Western, but he also does great film noir with The Big Sleep (screenplay by Faulkner) and screwball comedy like His Girl Friday. For Leone, the Dollars Trilogy, with For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, in particular is a sublime cinematic sweep, and Once Upon a Time in the West is an astonishing masterpiece. Going deeper into Sergio Leone, note the influence of Akira Kurosawa upon him and, coming forward in time, enjoy homage to both titans in the films of Quentin Tarantino. But my two curated Western film recommendations this week are: The Searchers (1956, dir. John Ford) and The Wild Bunch (1969, dir. Sam Peckinpah). For another movie from McMurtry's filmography, check out Terms of Endearment (1983, dir. James L. Brooks), which was adapted from another of his novels penned prior to Lonesome Dove. As you continue watching John Wayne, consider the fact that McMurtry wanted him to play Woodrow Call. Can you see him as the character?
Music Appreciation: With our good friend Augustus McCrae in my mind, I've been listening to Hank Thompson sing 'The Older the Violin, the Sweeter the Music' from 1974 on repeat as my daughter loves this genre of music: 'These specks of gray that's in my hair just make me look distinguished / They don't mean I'm over the hill baby I'm not extinguished.' For another great song, and one of my favourite pieces of cinema history, enjoy Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson singing 'My Rifle, My Pony, and Me' from Rio Bravo: 'The sun is sinking in the west / The cattle go down to the stream / The redwing settles in the nest / It's time for a cowboy to dream'. Or, if you want to crank up the intensity of your day-to-day life, Ennio Morricone's soundtracks for the great Spaghetti Westerns are phenomenal.
Radio & TV: One can easily become obsessed with Old Time Radio, especially with classic shows like Gunsmoke, which would also become a popular long-running television series. As it's set during the same era as Lonesome Dove, you might find it interesting to tune in to an episode. If you're looking to get into a more recent series, with high production value and influenced by McMurtry's world, then Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone, 1883, and 1923 are enormously popular.
Interviews: There is a wonderful segment from CBS Sunday Morning in which we get a brilliant glimpse into the working and writing relationship of Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana as they wrote the screenplay for the Oscar-winning Ang Lee film Brokeback Mountain. There is also a superb talk with some of the cast and crew from the Lonesome Dove series adaptation from the Austin Film Festival called 'The Women of Lonesome Dove' and also 'The Making of Lonesome Dove'. There are clips that show some plot details, so first time readers might like to hold this talk back for when the reach the end of the work, or have watched the series, as a treat.
Reading Assignment:
Our next discussion will cover up to and including chapter seventy-four of the story, which takes us through part two of the saga.
This coming weekend, we will be discussing the Oresteia of Aeschylus, which means the following weekend we will be back to Lonesome Dove. If you're reading both at the same time, it would be great to know what you're making of that experience.
Questions for You:
1) What are your impressions of Lonesome Dove thus far?
2) Which of McMurtry's characters is your favourite and why?
3) 'The older the violin, the sweeter the music.' Do you agree with Gus?
4) If you were setting off on the cattle drive, what would your journey be about?
If this is your first reading of Lonesome Dove, I would love to know how the story is meeting your expectations. If this is a reread for you, what is it like returning to the story? And please do share with us your favourite passage from the first part of the story.
Happy reading, everybody!