Taggart

Socio-sexual Hierarchy in a Louis L'Amour Western

I picked up three Louis L'Amour western paperbacks at the library booksale last month. I have been intermittently reading Louis L'Amour for almost 39 years. It was his South Sea adventures reprinted from the pulp magazines in two collections, Night Over the Solomons (1986) and West From Singapore (1987) that I first read. I was desperate for pulp exotic adventure to read at the time.

I began reading his westerns, maybe one or two a year. He is not my favorite western writer. Gordon D. Shiffeffs, T. V. Olson, Elmore Leonard, and Elmore Kelton are writers I like better. But, sometimes I want a short western novel to read for an hour before going to bed on a week day. L'Amour delivers. His prose is less hard-boiled than Shirreffs or Lewis Patten. I tend to like my westerns on the hard side. I don't read westerns written before the mid-1940s. The genre underwent a change after WW2 to my liking.

Vox Day made a comment at his blog last week about Louis L'Amour being a Delta author. Delta as in the socio-sexual hierarchy. I thought yes. L'Amour's main characters are generally Deltas.

I read Taggart by L'Amour this week. It is one of my library book sale finds. The novel was first published in 1959. L'Amour incorporated the plot of a short story, “Trap of Gold” from Argosy, August 1951 as part of the plot.

Adam Stark has taken his wife and sister deep into Apache territory to extract gold from a mountain. The situation is dangerous from both Apaches and the precarious situation of the vein of ore within the mountain. Stark mentions being a lawyer in the past, he recently killed a braggart who tried to jump him, and wants to buy a stretch of land to raise cattle. Ever notice in westerns, characters want to raise cattle in the most awful dry country?

Enter, Swante Taggart. He is on the run from New Mexico having killed two men in a fair fight. The two men belong to a big outfit looking to run him out. Peter Shoyer, a bounty hunter is on his tail. Taggart attempts to throw a posse lead by Shoyer off his trail by going into Apache territory. First Taggart and then Shoyer come across the Starks. You have the tension between Taggart and Shoyer and the threat of Apaches finding them (which they do).

The action does not let up with plenty of gun play, some back-stabbing by Stark's Mexican wife, and growing interest between Stark's sister and Taggart.

Stark and Taggart are most definitely Deltas. They are upright, competent men who do the right thing. Stark’s wife thinks she picked the wrong man. Shoyer is a good bounty hunter and a good man in a fight. He likes money for whiskey and women. Is Peter Shoyer a low level Delta? There is a final resolution between Taggart and Shoyer.

I have known men who only read Louis L'Amour. The audience that made L'Amour a very successful author are probably aging out if not dying out. Thirty five years ago, you did not see many L'Amour paperbacks in used bookstores. People would read all their L'Amour paperbacks and then start over. You can see how L'Amour became popular. He permeates his westerns with a slight mythic quality with lots of historical detail. His characters are not overly hard. You don't have the manipulation of situations that a Continental Op or Conan would engage in. There is a reason Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott were L'Amour characters more than once for CBS made for T.V. movies.

I have two more L'Amour westerns in the “to be read” pile. Stay tuned.