Telegraph Days is a delightful bagatelle of a novel. "Bagatelle" is used in the sense of a short, light piece of work. It is a most enjoyable read, and turns the stereotype of Western women on its head. In doing so, it likely portrays a more accurate picture of the toughness of the women who helped settle the West. The list of historical persons who weave in and out of her life is extensive. McMurtry captures their characters succinctly but with admirable accuracy.
Heroine Unleashed
Marie Antoinette Courtright (Nellie) is no conventional heroine. She is a Renaissance woman who rises from the arid drudgery of an aptly named "No Man's Land" to become one of the leading women of California. She once thought of singing opera. She can read and write. She is a telegrapher. She knows a few Latin words - well, two or three, anyway. She writes a book describing how her brother shot all six members of the Yazee Gang with only six bullets. She was courted by Georgie Custer, Billy Hickok, and both Virgil and Warren Earp, but her heart was won by snaggle-toothed Zenas Clark. Along the way she meets all the Earps (a nasty bunch of men), Billy the Kid, and General William Tecumseh Sherman.
Marie Antoinette Courtright (Nellie) is no conventional heroine. She is a Renaissance woman who rises from the arid drudgery of an aptly named "No Man's Land" to become one of the leading women of California. She once thought of singing opera. She can read and write. She is a telegrapher. She knows a few Latin words - well, two or three, anyway. She writes a book describing how her brother shot all six members of the Yazee Gang with only six bullets. She was courted by Georgie Custer, Billy Hickok, and both Virgil and Warren Earp, but her heart was won by snaggle-toothed Zenas Clark. Along the way she meets all the Earps (a nasty bunch of men), Billy the Kid, and General William Tecumseh Sherman.
She becomes the majordomo for Buffalo Bill Cody's financial empire because she is "organized." Returning to Rita Blanca, she is named mayor. She ends up in California where she and Zenas begin a successful newspaper and she becomes one of the most respected and powerful women in the state.
Genres Galore!
Telegraph Days cuts across many genres successfully. It is an autobiography (fiction, of course). It is an historical novel, covering the period from 1876 until about 1917 when one of her early screenplays is turned into a movie of her life. It is also in the vein of a picaresque novel for Nellie is a "rogue" in many ways. She wanders as her will takes her. She enjoys "copulating" when and with whomever she chooses. She lives off her wits, which are considerable in every situation. The last two genres intersect. It is both a regional (faithful to a geographical areas and its people) and a western novel. It is set squarely in the Wild West, and McMurtry, as only he can, makes us feel the dust and smell the sweat.
Genres Galore!
Telegraph Days cuts across many genres successfully. It is an autobiography (fiction, of course). It is an historical novel, covering the period from 1876 until about 1917 when one of her early screenplays is turned into a movie of her life. It is also in the vein of a picaresque novel for Nellie is a "rogue" in many ways. She wanders as her will takes her. She enjoys "copulating" when and with whomever she chooses. She lives off her wits, which are considerable in every situation. The last two genres intersect. It is both a regional (faithful to a geographical areas and its people) and a western novel. It is set squarely in the Wild West, and McMurtry, as only he can, makes us feel the dust and smell the sweat.
Nellie says she did not go to see The Telegraph Lady, the movie of her life. As her old friend Charlie Hepworth said, "Once is enough to live your life through, ain't it?" This brief novel is so rich in characterization and has such a sure feel for the West that living her life once may not be enough for the reader.
