Re-writing the canon : Wilderness narratives of pam Houston’s cowboys are My Weakness

Abstract EN

This paper explores how Pam Houston, in her collection of short stories Cowboys are My Weakness, examines an issue that is left out in American wilderness writing: the exclusion of women from wilderness excursions.

The adventures in the canonical wilderness narratives are for the most part, about males who feel as if they have been driven into the wilderness alone.

However, Pam Houston's narrators are presented as strong and smart women in love with the men they accompany into the wilderness in an attempt to reach a monogamous relationship of commitment.

Though subordinate, her narrators into sometimes play significant roles as life-protecting figures for the men they accompany.