“One man’s tenuous hold on the earth”: The Metaphor of Barbed Wire in Ron Rash’s Writing
Résumé
David Miller’s 1962 western movie Lonely Are the Brave, inspired by Edward Abbey’s 1956 novel The Brave Cowboy, which was adapted into a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, starts with a striking scene. The opening scene focuses on a 20th century version of the lonesome cowboy under the features of American actor Kirk Douglas, who would later admit this was his favorite role ever: the landscape in which he is shown napping, while his mare tries hard to get his attention, is one of vast deserted plains, arid and yellow with drought. Yet the clear sky of that typically Western scenery is conspicuously traversed by a passing plane—the first indication that the Conquest of the West is far behind. After breaking camp, man and horse resume their journey across the plains.