SOURCE: Merrill, Christopher. “Reclaiming the Frontier: New Writings from the West.” New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly 12, no. 2 (winter 1989): 208-19.

In the following excerpt, Merrill compares Bass's The Watch with other books about the American West, arguing that they re-imagine the traditional frontier myth.

“Try this for openers: the art of a region begins to come mature when it is no longer what we think it should be.”

William Kittredge

It is no secret we are a nomadic people. The average American, according to the latest statistics, moves every two years; a questionnaire I recently received from my college alumni office begins with queries about the number of job changes and moves I have made since graduation, underscoring the idea that for many of us mobility has become a central feature of our lives. Rarely do we spend our adult years in the same town or city...