Mountain Masculinity: The Life and Writing of Nello "Tex" Vernon-Wood in the Canadian Rockies 1906-1938.

Gow, Andrew ; Rak, Julie

Mountain Masculinity: The Life and Writing of Nello "Tex" Vernon-Wood in the Canadian Rockies 1906-1938

edited & introduced by Andrew Gow and Julie Rak. Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 224 pp., illus., soft cover, $29.25.

Vernon-Wood was an Englishman who came to Banff about 1906 where he became a hunting guide. There he took the name of "Tex" and started writing folksy stories about life in the mountain wilderness. These were published in such journals as Hunting and Fishing and The Sportsman, and a selection of them are offered here. Stories include such topics as experiences with tourists, winter sports, role of a guide, and trophy heads.

The editors, both English professors, view the stories as literary objects. As they say, "He is not writing local history nor ... writing regional literature. Instead, Tex gives us separate episodes in an undefined mountain West."