Lin McLean, Owen Wister’s first attempt at creating a cowboy hero, is largely a Bildungsroman tracing the gradual evolution of a young man from his first realization that something is lacking in his life, through numerous attempts to find that something, to marriage with a soul mate who provides him with the home he deeply desires. Structurally Lin McLean is a collection of previously published stories about the book’s central character which were rewritten with some additional material added to fill in the gaps of the narrative. These six stories that provide the book’s basic structure include “How Lin McLean Went East”, “The Winning of the Biscuit-Shooter”, “Lin McLean’s Honeymoon”, “A Journey in Search of Christmas”, “Separ’s Vigilante”, and “Destiny at Drybone”. They were all published between December 1893 and December 1897 in one of...
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Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "Lin McLean". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 August 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3928, accessed 09 June 2026.]
