Riders of the Purple Sage

1912 Western novel by Zane Grey

For another use, see Riders of the Purple Sage (band).

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Riders of the Purple Sage

Grosset & Dunlap first edition cover

Author| Zane Grey
Illustrator| Douglas Duer
Cover artist| Wendell Galloway
Language| English
Genre| Western
Publisher| Harper & Brothers, Grosset & Dunlap

Publication date

| 1912
Publication place| United States
Media type| Paper, 8vo
Pages| 356
Preceded by| The Heritage of the West
Followed by| The Rainbow Trail

Riders of the Purple Sage is a Western novel by Zane Grey, first published by Harper & Brothers in 1912. Considered by scholars[1] to have played a significant role in shaping the formula of the popular Western genre, the novel has been called "the most popular western novel of all time".[2]

## Plot

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Riders of the Purple Sage is a story about three main characters, Bern Venters, Jane Withersteen, and Jim Lassiter, who in various ways struggle with persecution from the local Mormon community led by Bishop Dyer and Elder Tull in the fictional town of Cottonwoods, Utah, around 1870-71.

Jane Withersteen, a born-and-raised Mormon, provokes Elder Tull because she is attractive, wealthy (and single), and befriends "Gentiles" (non-Mormons), namely, a little girl named Fay Larkin, a man she has hired named Bern Venters, and another hired man named Jim Lassiter. Elder Tull, a polygamist[3] with two wives already, wishes to have Jane for a third wife, along with her estate.

The story involves cattle-rustling, horse-theft, kidnapping and gunfights.

## Setting

[edit]

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The setting is Southern Utah canyon country, 1871. The influx of Mormon settlers from 1847 to 1857 serves as a backdrop for the plot. The Mormons had been living in Kirtland, Ohio, in the 1830s, but ventured west to escape local religious persecution.

## Point of view

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The story is told by an omniscient narrator reporting the characters' actions and thoughts, for example: "On this night the same old loneliness beset Venters..."[4]

## Characters

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Jane Withersteen

Wealthy owner and operator of the sizable Withersteen ranch founded by her father. She is single, having resisted the efforts of others to push her into a plural marriage. Miss Withersteen sympathizes with both Mormons (her own people) and Gentiles, which gets her into trouble with the local bishop and elder.

Bern Venters

Venters is a non-Mormon employed by Miss Withersteen. As the story opens he is in a very poor state, being persecuted by the local Mormons. He is very able with firearms and horses, and is determined to survive and prosper.

Jim Lassiter

Lassiter is a gunfighter on a mysterious mission which brings him to Cottonwoods and Miss Withersteen. He is a non-Mormon and has no creed except his own pride.

Bess/Elizabeth Erne

Bess, known as the Masked Rider, has been raised by the outlaw Oldring and his band of rustlers; she has very little memory of her mother.

Elder Tull

Tull practices "plural marriage" and desires to marry Jane Withersteen. He also tries to drive Bern Venters and Lassiter out of town and out of the region.

## Sequel

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The Rainbow Trail, a sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage that reveals the fate of Jane and Lassiter and their adopted daughter, was published in 1915. Both novels are notable for their protagonists' strong opposition to Mormon polygamy, but in Rainbow Trail this theme is treated more explicitly. Both plots revolve around the victimization of women in the Mormon culture: Riders of the Purple Sage centers on the struggle of a Mormon woman who sacrifices her wealth and social status to avoid becoming a junior wife of the head of the local church, while Rainbow Trail contrasts the fanatical older Mormons with the rising generation of Mormon women who will not tolerate polygamy and Mormon men who do not seek it.

## Adaptations

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### Films

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Riders of the Purple Sage has been adapted to film five times.[5]

* Riders of the Purple Sage (1918), starring William Farnum and Mary Mersch (silent)
* Riders of the Purple Sage (1925), starring Tom Mix and Mabel Ballin (silent)
* Riders of the Purple Sage (1931), starring George O'Brien and Marguerite Churchill (sound)
* Riders of the Purple Sage (1941), starring George Montgomery and Mary Howard
* Riders of the Purple Sage (1996), starring Ed Harris and Amy Madigan (television film)

### Other media

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During World War II the novel was rejected for publication as an Armed Services Editions paperback provided to US servicemen due to perceived bias against Mormonism.[6]

In 1952, Dell released a comic book version of the novel (Dell # 372).[7]

Riders of the Purple Sage was adapted into an opera by composer Craig Bohmler and librettist Steven Mark Kohn. It had its world premiere in February and March 2017 by the Arizona Opera in Tucson and Phoenix.[8] The opera was broadcast nationwide on November 25, 2017, on the WFMT Radio Network's American Opera Series,[9][10][11][12] and broadcast internationally in 2018 via distribution to the European Broadcasting Union.[13][14][15]

## In popular culture

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Riders of the Purple Sage has inspired a number of homages, including:

* Author Philip José Farmer's 1967 science fiction novella, Riders of the Purple Wage, and his 1980 Thieves' World short story, "Spiders of the Purple Mage."
* Bobbi Anderson, a novelist who is the main protagonist of Stephen King's 1987 novel The Tommyknockers, mentions Riders of the Purple Sage as one of her favorite novels, indicating that her copy of it had been read "nearly to tatters".
* Three separate western music bands have used the name Riders of the Purple Sage, one of which further inspired the name of country rock band New Riders of the Purple Sage.
* During the 1960s, the novel enjoyed great popularity among teenagers in SFR Yugoslavia, and Yugoslav rock band Parni Valjak paid homage to the novel on their 1976 debut album Dođite na show! (trans. Come to the Show!). The record is a concept album telling the story of the rise and decline of the fictional band called Ludi Šeširdžija i Jahači Rumene Kadulje (Mad Hatter and the Riders of the Purple Sage).[16]
* A two part scenario for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game titled "Tortles of the Purple Sage" appeared in Dungeon Adventures #6 and #7 (1987).

## References

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Citations

1. ^ Handley, William R. Introduction. Zane Grey. Riders of the Purple Sage. New York: Modern Library, 2002; p. xi. ISBN 978-08129-66121.
2. ^ Grey, Zane (2004). Fred Stenson (ed.). Riders of the Purple Sage. New York: Barnes & Noble. p. ix. ISBN 978-0760757550.
3. ^ Mormons officially ended the practice of polygamy in 1890.
4. ^ Grey, Zane. Riders of the Purple Sage. New York: Modern Library, 2002; chapter 4. ISBN 978-08129-66121.
5. ^ Hulse, Ed (2007). Filming the West of Zane Grey. Lone Pine: Museum of Lone Pine Film History. pp. vii–x. ISBN 978-1880756096.
6. ^ "Armed Service Editions".
7. ^ "The Writings of Zane Grey: Comic Books". Zane Grey West Society. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
8. ^ Lengel, Kerry (20 February 2017). "'Riders of the Purple Sage' is Arizona Opera's first-ever world premiere". azcentral.com. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
9. ^ "International Broadcast Takes Arizona Opera's Riders of the Purple Sage Around the World". Arizona Opera. September 13, 2017.
10. ^ "International broadcast takes Arizona Opera's Riders of the Purple Sage around the world". Arizona PBS. September 13, 2017.
11. ^ "American Opera Series 2017 Presented by The WFMT Radio Network". WFMT Radio Network. 2017.
12. ^ "AZ Opera's Riders of the Purple Sage Set for Nationwide Broadcast This Fall". Broadway World. November 25, 2017.
13. ^ Burch, Cathalena E. "AZ Opera's 'Riders' getting national audience". Arizona Daily Star. September 13, 2017.
14. ^ "Riders of the Purple Sage". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. July 22, 2018.
15. ^ "Program: 3. 11. 2018". Vlata. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
16. ^ Janjatović, Petar (2024). Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960-2023. Belgrade: self-released / Makart. p. 223.

Bibliography

* Grey, Zane (1912). Riders of the Purple Sage. New York: Leisure Books. ISBN 978-0843956016.
* Gruber, Frank (1969). Zane Grey: A Biography. Mattituck, New York: Amereon Ltd. ISBN 978-0891907565.
* May, Stephen J. (1997). Zane Grey: Romancing The West. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0821411810.
* Pauly, Thomas H. (2005). Zane Grey: His Life, His Adventures, His Women. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0252074929.

## External links

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Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Riders of the Purple Sage

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Riders of the Purple Sage.

* Riders of the Purple Sage at Standard Ebooks
*   * Riders of the Purple Sage at Project Gutenberg
* Riders of the Purple Sage public domain audiobook at LibriVox

* v
* t
* e

Zane Grey

Novels|

* The Spirit of the Border (1906)
* Riders of the Purple Sage (1912)
* Last of the Duanes (1914)
* The Lone Star Ranger (1914)
* The Rainbow Trail (1915)
* The Border Legion (1916)
* Man of the Forest (1920)
* Tonto Basin (1921)
* To the Last Man (1921)
* The Day of the Beast (1922)
* The Call of the Canyon (1924)
* Under the Tonto Rim (1925)
* Forlorn River (1927)
* Nevada (1928)

Other works|

* Code of the West (1925 film)
* Born to the West (1926 film)
* Tales of Tahitian Waters (1931 short story collection)
* King of the Royal Mounted (1935 comics series)

Miscellaneous|

* White Death (1936 film)
* Zane Grey Cabin
* Zane Grey Estate
* Zane Grey Highline Trail 50 Mile Run
* Zane Grey Museum

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States

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