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This paper discusses how the sublime, defined by Edmund Burke as "delightful terror," informs and shapes American Western literature in relation to the Romantic tradition. From the journals of Lewis and Clark to Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, Western writers used Romantic-inspired language to describe the grandeur and unpredictability of the frontier. In the "Cowboy Sublime" individuals find a source of purpose and awe in danger and difficulty. This essay argues that Western literature is not an isolated genre but a continuation of Romantic ideals. Its depictions of landscapes and characters transform the West into an American extension of the sublime.
