Adventures With a Texas Humanist/James Ward Lee

I've known Jim Lee for several years now and always enjoy getting a chance to talk with him about books, as I did last week during all the NOAH'S RIDE activities. He's a fine essayist, and his collection TEXAS, MY TEXAS is well worth seeking out. I think ADVENTURES WITH A TEXAS HUMANIST, published a couple of years ago by TCU Press, is his most recent book. I've been reading it the past few days, along with the Kinky Friedman book (now there's a pair for you, Jim Lee and the Kinkster).

This volume is divided into three sections: literary criticism about Texas writers and their work; folklore; and autobiographical essays. Now, I don't mind admitting that lit-crit is usually pretty heavy going for me, but Jim Lee writes some of the best I've run across. His essays are clearly written, straight to the point, and entertaining as well as informative. The centerpieces of this section, lengthy articles entitled "The Age of Dobie" and "The Age of McMurtry", are both excellent reviews of Texas writing, and to prove that academic endeavors can extend to a wide variety of subjects, Lee also provides a fine analysis of the Clark Gable/Spencer Tracy movie BOOMTOWN and ties it in with numerous novels centered around the oil industry in Texas (a particular interest of mine). I'm not that interested in folklore, but the essays in this section are interesting, and one of them, about sidekicks in B-Western movies, is great fun. The autobiographical essays are my favorites, as they take Lee from a young man in a private school in Tennessee through his service in the Navy during the Korean War to his four decades as an English professor at what is now the University of North Texas. His sense of humor really comes through in these.

What baffles me is how I managed to spend several years as an English major at what was then North Texas State University in the mid-Seventies, when Jim Lee was the head of the English department, and never take one of his classes or even really know who he was. I'm glad that's not the case now.