12 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present

Ginger Jones, “Proulx’s Pastoral: Brokeback Mountain As Sacred Space,” in Read-
ing Brokeback Mountain: Essays on the Film and the Story, edited by Jim Stacy
( Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007), pp. 19–28.
Thought-provoking reading of the story through the conventions of the pastoral
as created by Theocritus, arguing in part that Jack takes on many of the experi-
ences of one of Theocritus’s greatest heroes, Herakles (Hercules).

James Keller and Anne Goodwyn Jones, “Brokeback Mountain: Masculinity and
Manhood,” Studies in Popular Culture, 30 (Spring 2008): 21–36.
Argues that Proulx highlights the masculinity of Jack and Ennis in order to make
the sex scenes between two men more palatable to mainstream audiences. More
attention is given to the film than to the story.

Karen L. Rood, Understanding Annie Proulx (Columbia: University of South
Carolina Press, 2001).
Highly useful study of Proulx and her work through Close Range. After a chapter
of biography, one chapter is devoted to each of Proulx’s books. The chapter on
Close Range includes commentaries on all of the stories.

Jane Rose and Joanne Urschel, “Understanding the Complexity of Love in Broke-
back Mountain: An Analysis of the Film and Short Story,” Journal of Men’s
Studies, 14 (Spring 2006): 247–251.
Brief but helpful in its focus on the causes of emotional repression in Jack and
Ennis. The essay must be read with care, as the authors do not always make it
clear when they are discussing the film and when the short story.

Julie Scanlon, “Why Do We Still Want to Believe: The Case of Annie Proulx,”
JNT: Journal of Narrative Theory, 38 (Winter 2008): 86–110.
Examines several of Proulx’s works as fulfilling a contemporary desire for realism
despite the prevalence of Postmodernism; for advanced students.

Jim Stacy, ed., Reading Brokeback Mountain: Essays on the Story and the Film ( Jef-
ferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2007).
Uneven collection with more emphasis on the film than the short story.

Alex J. Tuss, “Brokeback Mountain and the Geography of Desire,” Journal of Men’s
Studies, 14 (Spring 2006): 243–246.
Traces the bifurcated landscape of the story—plains and mountains—to the
divided lives Jack and Ennis lead. Tuss discusses both the story and the film.

—Kathryn West

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Adrienne Rich (1929– )

In “Diving into the Wreck” Adrienne Rich describes the poet’s search for “the
thing itself and not the myth,” a quest for truth hidden behind social myths
that pervades her lifelong explorations of her identity as a woman, poet, mother,
lesbian, and Jew. Adrienne Cecile Rich was born in Baltimore in 1929 to Helen