Two Western Stars: Larry McMurtry and his Boswell

I was barely aware of Larry McMurtry when I received an email asking if we received a copy of David Streitfeld’s book titled Western Star: The Life and Legends of Larry McMurtry. Tucked into his complex resume it turns out he was also a member of the ABAA (1974 – 1993). Would we provide a review? Absolutely, of course. I read all offered books and invariably learn from them. Then I read this book. It has been a privilege to read this account and learn about Mr. McMurtry’s life. I had been close to clueless about his life as an author because I lived outside of the United States from 1974 to 1989 and had grown up in the 1950’s in the Hudson Valley that had its own complex and colorful history and engaging authors, so the McMurtry story was unfamiliar. Larry was a born and bred Texan, a third generation of cattlemen.

His family over eighty years were cattle ranchers on the North Texas rolling plains when that trade was suffused with brutality. People from his place were mostly poor, didn’t read much, and lived within the dimming glow of the mythic, frontier way of life. He was born into that decline in 1936, surrounded by people who remembered and talked about it. In their voices he could hear a distinct stoicism, sharpened by the constant fear of failure. Some succeeded and others broke. So be it.

He had the ear to hear, feel, remember and quickly turn what was in his head into words he hunted and pecked on his Hermes typewriters; converting stammers and hesitations, the sometime anger, anxiety, commitment or failure, turning that drumbeat into a patois that made him singular.

In his 1969 collection of essays, ‘A Narrow Grave’, McMurtry argued that the Texas of his childhood was one of the last truly pastoral, oral cultures in America. For him, this spoken tradition was foundational to understanding what shaped mid-century Texans. While broader perceptions of the West have since evolved, his distinct version of it survives; for many, 20th-century Texas will always be McMurtry’s Texas.

A man of large appetites, he wrote 32 novels, 3 memoirs, 15 essays, biographies and non-fiction histories and wrote or co-wrote roughly 50 screenplays.  McMurtry was a novelist first, though Hollywood soon came calling. His impeccable ear remained his greatest asset. He achieved literary immortality with a Pulitzer Prize for ’Lonesome Dove’ (1985) – which became a massive television milestone – and later earned an Academy Award for co-writing the screenplay to ‘Brokeback Mountain’ (2005).

For some, these accomplishments might have sufficed.

In 1971 he opened the original Booked Up bookstore in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. co-founding it with his business partner, Marcia Carter. When rents rose and his income was rising too, he developed an interesting way to encourage his hometown crowd to experience what was in his mind. He moved his Washington, DC bookstore in 1987 to Archer City, Texas.  There, at its peak, it’s thought he owned 400,000 to 450,000 books spread across 6 buildings. After 25 years in Archer City, recognizing the need to downsize his bookshop, he organized a ‘Last Book Sale’ auction in August 2012. Over 3 days, 300,000 books were sold at auction while keeping 100,000 items of his favorite inventory. 

In 2021, at 84, his heart stopped, but his prose and dialogue will continue to define the American west.

To David Streitfeld, 

Thank you for sending your book. It’s a gem. 

Western Star: The Life and Legends of Larry McMurtry 

You’ll enjoy it.