Stories from the New West: Frank Bergon's New Western fiction

Abstract

Frank Bergon's novel The Temptations of Sto Ed and Brother S (1993) is the revision of core and periphery identities and cultures. This novel analyses some of strategies that are utilized in the configuration and self-definition of the I. The exercise of exclusion and self-alienation practices is part of the devices that are utilized by Bergon's characters. However, the role of the desert is of utmost relevance, for it constitutes the space where diverse cultures and identities clash with each other; in other words, the desert conveys the meeting point of the different representatives of mainstream and minority America. Bergon's arid and hostile desert mirrors the kaleidoscopic nature that characterizes the American West. Bergon's proposes, rather than impose, the federation of diverse identities and interests in order to establish the I in coexistence and dialogue with the Other.