The Atlantic
Revisionist novels are sweeping away some of the literary genre’s most calcified myths.
Anne Rearick / Agence vu / Redux
A gentleman comes from the East Coast to make his fortune. When the train lets him off in a dusty Wyoming town, he encounters an array of cowpunchers, card sharps, and ne’er-do-wells, whose coarse manners shock and intrigue him. At the saloon, he’s treated to their opinions on the local women, as well as one man’s boast that he never forgets a face so long as that face is white. A game of cards nearly turns into a shootout when one man calls the newcomer a “son-of-a ,” causing him to lay his pistol on the table and utter what will become the story’s catchphrase: “When you call me that, smile.”