The Layering of Contexts

Abstract

The need to recognise different, coexistent layers of formula is implicit in the argument of the last chapter. Thus in The Virginian Wister uses the archetypal adventure setting, that of a dangerous landscape. More specifically, he follows the pattern of the American adventure formula: lawlessness allows the individual maximum opportunity for personal enrichment. Like other Westerns, The Virginian features an even more particularised setting: an embryonic society struggles in a wilderness environment. All these layers are present in Wister’s setting.