Tex

Rating:
Summary: Clarence E. Mulford -- literary threat or logorrheic menace?
Review: "Tex" should be required reading in every creative-writing class -- as an appalling example of how _not_ to write. If Strunk & White were forced to read "Tex," they'd tear their hair out.

The author, Clarence E. Mulford, is a lot like his title -- excuse me, eponymous -- hero, Tex Ewalt. Both love to throw their intelligence in other peoples' faces, and jam their education down their throats. Tex spews so many big words and literary allusions it's surprising no one punches him out. Perhaps his height and ability to deliver a solid zetz im kopf -- not to mention the gun he carries -- protect him.

Mulford never met a fifty-cent word he didn't like. Common Anglo-Saxon workers are sent a-packin', replaced with highfalutin Latin immigrants. Not to overlook his use of ten words when three will do. And Mulford adores being clever for the sake of being clever. A roan horse with a "peppery" disposition is named Oh My Cayenne. Just in case you didn't get the joke, one of the characters conveniently explains it for you!

It's hard deciding whether "Tex" is a good story, because the writing keeps getting in the way. Mulford's influences do not include Mark Twain, who introduced to American letters the principle of simple expression, so clearly enunciated by Strunk & White as "omit needless words." He also turns Twain's admonition that good writing requires careful observation on its head by piling on excessive detail. The following excerpt (page 89) is a good example of his Mulford's penchants for wordiness and overwrought detail:

"His roving glances saw and passed the gold scales, two metal cups hanging by three threads each from a slender, double-taper bar. Beside it was a tin box which he guessed contained weights."

A Strunk & White purist would reduce this to:

"He noted the miner's scales, and their tin box of weights."

That's a 70% reduction -- from 34 to 11 words.

There are occasional graceful and clever passages (such as Tex explaining why faith is a better guide to life than knowledge and reason), but they're overwhelmed by the dense and logorrheic ones. Mulford's writing almost always schleps; it rarely hops along. (That's a joke, I say a _joke_, son; get it?) If Mulford's writing were only as lean as his cow-punchin' wranglers...

Tex hisself is a hybrid of Sam Eliot and Kelsey Grammer -- with a bit of Sherlock Holmes and a little Philip Marlowe. Despite his gun-toting skills, he's basically an intellectual. Violence is his last resort. His principal way of handling enemies is to psychologically manipulate them by lying, but sometimes he gets rid of them by turning them into friends. And he carries bullets filled with chloral hydrate, which he drops in a drink when he needs to put someone out of action. Tex is such a strange olio of personality traits that he's hard to accept as a real human being.

"Tex" has no plot, as such. The story is driven -- rather less than more -- by the antagonisms among the miners, "punchers," and railroad employees in a small town that's run by a wealthy man and his hired killer. (Sound familiar?) It ends with Tex helping several "good" people escape town to save their lives. But "Tex" is not generally a morality tale. "Good" does not triumph over "evil," and only two of the bad'uns are brought to justice (ie, shot to death). The plausibility of the story is offset by Tex's fundamentally implausible personality.

If you love westerns, you'll probably want to read one penned by the creator of Hopalong Cassidy. (Now you get the joke!) Another reviewer described this novel as "gripping." The only gripping you're likely to experience is your fingers on the book. Reading "Tex" is like slogging through mud.

PS: Mulford actually uses the word "ejaculated" -- twice. We should be grateful he found no reason to include "frigate."

Rating:
Summary: better than Louis L,Amour ; realistic and gripping.
Review: Essentially,the author was able to transport readers to a gritty version of Zane Grey's west with sufficient skill to satisfy any western fan.The long-running television series emasculated or bowdlerized what the author portrayed.Treat yourself to a Mulford.