Title: Brokeback Mountain
Author: Annie Proulx
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Genre: Contemporary M/M (1999)
Length: short story (60 pages approx.)
Rating: 5+ stars out of 5
A guest review by Victor J. Banis
THE BLURB
Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands, come together when they’re working as sheepherder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line. At first, sharing an isolated tent, the attraction is casual, inevitable, but something deeply catches them that summer. Both men work hard, marry, and have kids because that’s what cowboys do. But over the course of many years and frequent separations this relationship becomes the most important thing in their lives, and they do anything they can to preserve it.
THE REVIEW
Brokeback Mountain, book and movie, have become such an iconic part of gay lore that it’s difficult to think of anything that hasn’t been said about them already and hard for me to imagine that there is anyone gay or gay-interested who hasn’t read the former or at least seen the latter. If you love stories of men loving men, this is The One.
But, first, let me correct myself. This is a book, and it isn’t. Originally, it was a short story by Annie Proulx that appeared in New Yorker magazine in 1997. Later, it was included in the anthology of the author’s writings, Close Range, Wyoming Stories. It won an O’Henry award, and a National Magazine Award and in time was published as a kind of book, 58 pages long (or 59 in some versions), which has led some purchasers on Amazon to complain about the price. Admittedly the hardcover collectibles, starting in the mid- thirty dollar range, could be described as pricey, but there are used editions and paperbacks available for far less, and Close Range can be purchased for a bit more than $10, with the bonus of several other stories from the author. Of course, all those numbers are subject to change.
And, of course, it was made into that movie. And it’s hard to talk about the book without at least mentioning the movie.
Frankly, I loved the story so much that the prospect of a film version scared me. I felt sure they would pretty it up, and there, as if to confirm my suspicions, was the trailer with two handsome cowboys riding together. Handsome? Here is how Proulx described them:
“for a small man (Jack) carried some weight in the haunch and his smile disclosed buckteeth, not pronounced enough to let him eat popcorn out of the neck of a jug, but noticeable.” And, “Ennis, high-arched nose and narrow face, was scruffy and a little cave-chested, balanced a small torso on long, caliper legs.” Doesn’t sound much like Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, does it?
In the end, I thought the movie was super, and they couldn’t have picked anybody better to write the screenplay than Larry McMurtry, who is a fine writer and could be said to have an affinity for the cowboy story. And I should add, his co-writer on the screenplay was Dianna Ossana.
But, much as I enjoyed the movie, it was nowhere near the miracle of inspiration that the story was. Proulx’s writing is nothing less than rapturous, vastly encompassing without the prolixity that inflicts so many writers when dealing with grand themes and settings.
Like her protagonists, Proulx’s cowboy world is ugly, dirty and mean, a world of trailers and coyotes with “balls…the size a apples.” Here is her description of their tryst in a motel room: “The room stank of semen and smoke and sweat and whiskey, of old carpet and sour hay, saddle leather, shit and cheap soap.” At the same time, though, she manages to infuse her story with the grandeur of its mountain settings. “The mountain boiled with demonic energy, glazed with flickering broken-cloud light, the wind combed the grass and drew from the damaged krummholz and slit rock a bestial drone.”
Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar are hired to watch a herd of sheep through the summer in the high meadows on Brokeback Mountain, so high up they look down on the wings of hawks. The two men quickly warm to one another, Ennis feeling after a night of drinking and friendly companionship that he “could paw the white out of the moon”. Nights are cold, though, and when they find themselves drunk and sharing a bedroll, the sex that ensues is both white hot and as natural as breathing. Neither of them talks about it afterwards, except to affirm that they aren’t queer, but both know this is how the rest of the summer is going to be spent.
At summer’s end they part, though Ennis feels as if he is “in a slow-motion but headlong, irreversible fall.” Both men marry (and yes, for those who worry about this sort of thing, there are some heterosexual scenes, though symbolically rather lifeless as compared to what happens between Ennis and Jack).
Four years go by before they meet again, and in a scene that fairly blazes in flames from the page, they share a first kiss, a kiss that both realize has sealed their fates. If they can’t call it love, they both know well enough that it is something bigger than themselves, almost certainly the most important thing in their lives, though Ennis says frankly, “it scares the piss out a me.” But, time and place and their very natures conspire against their making anything permanent of it. Jack suggests that they get themselves a spread together, but Ennis holds back, knowing that in their macho world the end result would like be tragedy for one or both.
The story follows the two men over the next twenty years as they meet yearly, going off “fishing” together, on Brokeback Mountain and elsewhere, unable to put a name to their love or to do anything about it. As Ennis puts it, “if you can’t fix it you’ve got to stand it.”
I can’t imagine anyone reading this without shedding a tear. It’s a heartbreaking love story, beautifully told. Time may well prove it a masterpiece. I fervently hope so. It is certainly the best piece of gay-oriented fiction I’ve ever read.
In the movie they took Annie Proulx’s story and fleshed out the domestic parts, they focused on the lives of the men with their wives and the emotional betrayal that took place much more than really is done in the story. The men are presented in the movie as plainly bisexual.
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The book is a whole different animal. Due to presenting the character’s internal dialogs that maps out both men’s feelings on their relationship making that central to the story and their actions when apart become secondary and of no real concern.
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So the movie while good was translated and geared on purpose towards a straight audience while the book is far more understandable as a Gay Love Story.
Oh and Close Range: Wyoming Stories is available in eBook from Fictionwise.
Beautiful review, Victor 🙂
Brokeback is definitely on my DIK list. I remember finish reading it in an hour or two and felt numb and haunted for the rest of the day. The amount of rich details and emotions Annie Proulx packed in those 50 something pages is phenomenal. As the screenwriters admitted that they could expand the story just from one original short sentence in the book.
I think the movie version is superb and I can’t imagine anyone doing it better justice than the perfect combination of Larry, Diana and Ang Lee. And two leads who – despite far prettier than the book version – maintains the spirits of the character and the devastation and impact of the story.
You know once in awhile I still come across people telling me that they think Brokeback is all hype, that they don’t see the “big deal” of it, I kind of feel sorry for them because they obviously have missed something beautiful…
btw, you quoted my two favourite lines in the book. 🙂
Okay, now I’m gonna have to put down Steig Larsson and go read this! BTW I got no complaints about them casting Jake! Sorry! (drools)
Wonderful commentary, Victor. Thank you.
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Here’s an interesting bit of trivia. The story, as published in Close Range and other books includes a prologue paragraph which is really an epilogue…”Ennis Del Mar wakes before five, wind rocking the trailer, hissing in around the aluminum door and window frames. The shirts hanging on a nail shudder slightly in the draft…” This paragraph was not included in the original New Yorker publication of the story. That was the first version I read and I have to say, with/without the paragraph, my whole interpretation of the story changed. Proulx has said that the paragraph was left off in error. It is certainly a pretty big mistake and I continue to wonder how it could possibly have happened.
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I have multiple versions of BBM in multiple languages but one I really recommend is Story to Screenplay which includes the story (with the missing paragraph), the screenplay, essays by Proulx, Ossana, and McMurtry, and some nice black and white pictures from the movie.
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L
Terrific essay, Victor.
Leslie
The version I have (which was released in 1999) as part of Close Range) does have the prologue and you’re right it does make a difference. I didn’t realize that other versions of the book omitted the prologue.
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Whenever Victor writes a review I can really see the story in my mind’s eye.
Just to clarify, Wave — the paragraph is missing in the New Yorker (magazine) version, published in October, 1997, which was the first publication of the story and for many people, myself included, the first version that they read. I was very surprised when I got my copy of Story to Screenplay and saw this “missing” paragraph. Proulx apparently was furious that it was left out in the New Yorker. I have no idea what their publication process is, but I would think she would have seen page proofs at some point before final publication which would mean that she is partly responsible, but who knows?
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L
I found it very haunting, very moving, but at the same time not just a love story. It left me with the feeling that it was a critique of the whole macho, cowboy culture that left its men inarticulate and unable to express themselves except through violence. What stuck in my mind was the way Ennis’ father treated him as a child, beating him up, taking him to see the lynching party, and the fact that you know something just like that happened to Jack…. It’s amazing literature, and I’m glad I read it but I found it too disturbing, too horrific to say that I enjoyed it.
Leslie, that is fascinating about the missing prologue and, gosh, what a difference it makes. I can’t imagine how that happened with the New Yorker. And, yes, Teddy, the movie was opened up and slanted toward the heterosexual (woman) audience, but realistically, it probably couldn’t have been made otherwise and I can’t help thinking we’re all the richer for it. And, Alex, I think you’re right in seeing it as a critique of that macho culture, but it isn’t only cowboys. I had a macho brother in law who was a truckdriver and very kind to me as a child. I used to go on his “runs” with him. He had a friend, also a trucker, and one time they were in the front of the cab and I was in the sleeper bed behind the seats – I’d have been ll or so, and I woke realizing we weren’t moving and when I opened my eyes, they were up front in the cab kissing. Of course, I closed my eyes tight shut and pretended to be asleep, but afterward I watched them when together and was convinced that though both were married, and the families were friends, they were lifelong lovers. My brother in law, btw, killed himself eventually – with a shotgun in his mouth. Freud would have a ready explanation for that. So, both movie and book shattered me. It was so parallel to their experience. Jack and Ennis were two guys that i knew.
Oh God, how terrible! It’s bad enough when it’s fiction. I’m so sorry.
Victor
With all of your life experiences I wonder sometimes how you stay sane. What happened to your brother-in-law would have shattered me probably for life.
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Re the movie, I must say I much prefer the book because of the writing and also it focused more on Jack and Ennis rather than the wives and families. Why is it that any Hollywood movie about gay men kills off one of the men? Is that to send a message that gay men can never be happy together?
This is one of the best assessments of BbM I’ve come across.
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I can, and do, still read the story. But the movie proved too wrenching for me to keep seeing. Twice was enough.
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And god, Victor, that experience of yours — my gut did a little twist reading your account of it. What an incredibly tragic parallel.
Phenomenal review, Victor and my heart goes out to you about your brother in law.
I am so grateful for your sharing your life with us.
Wow, Victor, this story must be absolutely wrenching for you. I swear, you’re such an inspiration as a human being, I can’t even express it.
**big hugs**
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Your review totally speaks for how I feel about the story. It just haunted me from the first time I read it. The movie was beautifully done, and my daughter and I both sobbed like little babies at the end (I was prepared, though; pockets full of Kleenex!) but the short story is far superior. It destroys me every time I read it, and I keep going back for more. Now THAT is the power of words, people!
Thanks all for your kind words. Yes, as I told Jeanne elsewhere, for all practical purposes I didn’t have a father or big brothers, and my bil played that role for me. He was my boyhood hero. At his death, I so wanted to console his friend, but I knew he wouldn’t welcome hearing from me that I understood. They had lived that secret for so many years. Such a tragedy, and the family still has no clue why.
And, Wave, what makes you think I’m sane?
An amazing article, Victor – and a truly poignant experience from your childhood. My heart goes out you, the two men and all the families.
You might enjoy reading the recent article I did for Vulpes Libris book site on the comparisons between the film and the book (both of which I totally loved for different reasons) – it was quite an eye-opener for me as I researched it. Here’s the link:
http://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/adaptation-week-brokeback-mountain-–-the-choices-we-make-and-those-we-don’t/
Axxx
I haven’t read the story, but I saw the movie. It showed on one screen in my town. I caught a noon showing, on a Wednesday, and the place was packed. As the credits rolled, no one moved. As the house lights came up, no one moved. The only sound in the theater was sobbing. From a packed house.
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Later, at the local Gay & Lesbian Center, I asked several men their opinions. Not one could talk about much it, except to say “That was my life up there.”
Angelia, that was EXACTLY the experience my daughter and I had. The movie played on a single screen in downtown Asheville. We drove into town, waited in line, and sat in a sold-out theater for a mid-afternoon show in the middle of the week in a locally owned, non-chain theater. It kept on selling out until the big chains caught on and started showing it, as soon as they realized they could rake in the $$ and not have to deal with the nutbags protesting (I don’t think we ever had any of those; it was pretty much a non-event as far as controversy went).
It’s beautiful review, Victor. There is no other word for it. For any thinking, feeling person, Brokeback Mountain transcends a simple love story. Seeing that it’s more personal for you, I can only say it’s a precious gift you have there that helps you turn the hurts as well as joys into the words we can all experience. Thank you.
The WordPress deleted my comment three times, so I’ll give it one more try.
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It was a beautiful review, Victor. There is no other word for it. For any thinking, feeling person, Brokeback Mountain transcends a simple love story. Seeing that it’s more personal for you, I can only say it’s a precious gift you have there that helps you turn the hurts as well as joys into the words we can all experience. Thank you.
I read the book years ago and can’t remember that prologue. I must have read the wrong version 🙁
A beautiful review for one of my favorite stories, and indeed, one of my favorite writers. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. As always, your vision focuses on what’s beautiful and what’s important, and bring clarity to that.
alan
Thank you!
It’s nice to find a new review of Brokeback Mountain once in awhile.
I suppose I should be bored with it after 4 years but I’m not.
My friends and I enjoyed the story and the movie so much that we had to write a book about it 🙂
http://www.davecullen.com/brokeback/book/
Thank you for a wonderful review, Victor, and for the comments from your heart. I think it’s horrific for two people who share a soul to be torn apart by circumstances outside of their control regardless if they are same sex or opposite. Some of us manage to soldier on and find peace. Others, reach a point where the pain becomes too much to carry forward and oblivion is the only peace. And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put us back together again…
Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to remember our pasts.
What a great review, Victor, but I’m so sorry that real-life events have mirrored the story for you. My heart goes out to you and your brother in law.
I bought BBM when it first came out in that little 58-page form, and then found myself still up at 2am sobbing my heart out over it. It was the first gay-themed story I had ever read, and I was completely blown away by it.
I also dreaded the thought of the movie when I heard they were doing it, but in the end I felt it did the story justice, being as close in spirit to the book as it was possible for a mainstream Hollywood movie to be at the time. For me, it doesn’t pack the emotional punch that the book did, but I’m not sure that anything could. I’ve never been so affected by a story than I was with BBM.