McMurtry, Larry (1936-2021), was an American novelist whose fiction reflects his Southwestern heritage. McMurtry wrote about dissatisfied, lonely characters living in dying Western towns. His novels moved beyond traditional Western fiction through their use of black humor, their frank treatment of sex, and their theme of the rootless Texan lost in the big city. McMurtry contrasted dreams of grandeur with the harsh realities and limited options open on the contemporary frontier. There is a mournful tone to much of his fiction, in response to the fading away of traditions of simplicity and freedom usually associated with the West.
Larry Jeff McMurtry was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, on June 3, 1936. His early novels, such as Horseman, Pass By (1961) and The Last Picture Show (1966), reflect cheerless life on the ranches and in the small towns of west Texas. Terms of Endearment (1975) and McMurtry’s other novels of the 1970’s explore Texas characters who have been attracted to the urban environment.
McMurtry’s major work is a series of four novels set in the Texas frontier of the 1800’s. They are, in the order of the events they describe, Dead Man’s Walk (1995), Comanche Moon (1997), Lonesome Dove (1985), and Streets of Laredo (1993). Lonesome Dove, which describes a cattle drive of the 1800’s, won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Buffalo Girls (1990) uses historical figures from Western history to portray the passing of the Wild West era. The Evening Star (1992) is a sequel to Terms of Endearment. Texasville (1987), Duane’s Depressed (1999), When the Light Goes (2007), and Rhino Ranch (2009) are sequels to The Last Picture Show. McMurtry wrote a four-novel series about the adventures of an eccentric family, named Berrybender, in the West during the 1830’s. The novels are Sin Killer (2002), The Wandering Hill (2003), By Sorrow’s River (2003), and Folly and Glory (2004). The novels were reissued in a single volume in 2011 as The Berrybender Narratives. McMurtry also wrote the nonfiction work Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen (1999), which describes his early life on the plains of west Texas. Boone’s Lick (2000) tells the story of a woman who leads her family on a dangerous journey while trying to find her runaway husband. Telegraph Days (2006) is a novel about a young woman’s encounters with famous historical figures of the American West during the late 1800’s. The Last Kind Words Saloon (2014) describes the last days of the old Wild West as symbolized by two of its most legendary figures, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. A collection of McMurtry’s essays on the West was published as Sacagawea’s Nickname (2002).
McMurtry won a 2005 Academy Award with coauthor Diana Ossana for best adapted screenplay for Brokeback Mountain. McMurtry later wrote two memoirs, Books (2008) and Literary Life (2009). He died on March 25, 2021.
