Lonesome Dove Schedule 2025

Lonesome Dove at 40: McMurtry, Mythmaking, and the Reimagining of the American Southwest

November 14–15, 2025 | ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ Methodist University

Day 1: Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Hall 121

Day 2: Frances Anne Moody Hall


Sponsored by The Clement ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ for Southwest Studies &

The Department of English's Narrative Now

 

 

8:15–9:00 a.m. Coffee and Light Breakfast
9:00–9:15 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks
Ariel Ron, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ and Christopher González, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ
9:15–10:30 a.m.

Panel 1: Age, Ability, and Embodiment in Lonesome Dove
Moderator: TBD


"An Old Man Finally Dribbles, Same as a Fresh Calf:" McMurtry's Masculine Metamorphosis from Streets of Laredo to Lonesome Dove. Abel F. Fenwick, University of Arkansas

Disability in the American West: Streets of Laredo. Brittany Maloy, UNLV

Marked on the Body: Towards a Borderlands Consciousness in Larry McMurtry's Streets of Laredo. Cordelia Barrera, Texas Tech University
10:30–11:00 a.m. Coffee Break
11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m.

Panel 2: Marriage and Maternity in Lonesome Dove
Moderator: TBD


"When I told Gus I was marrying Bob, he looked relieved": Clara Allen's "Non-Marriage Plots." Clifford Earl Ramsey, University of Arkansas-Little Rock

"Death was no respecter": Broken Marriages and Shattered Kinships in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove. Derek Graf, New York Institute of Technology

The Quietness of Lorena: Exploring Silence and "Proper" Womanhood in Lonesome Dove. Noelle Buffo, University of Oklahoma
12:15–1:15 p.m. Lunch (provided)
1:15–2:30 p.m.

Panel 3: Lonesome Dove on Film
Moderator: TBD

Death of a Cowboy: Exploring (Family) History in Lonesome Dove. Richard Robinson, Independent Scholar

Costumes, Cowboys, and Call Sheets: Inside the Lonesome Dove Television Miniseries Archives. Susannah Broyles, Texas State University

The American West Through Lonesome Dove. Bailey Nutter, Oklahoma State University
2:30–3:00 p.m. Coffee Break
3:00–4:00 p.m.

Keynote Address: The Victorian World of Larry McMurtry, Roger Walton Jones
 4:00–5:00 p.m. Reception

8:15–9:30 a.m. Coffee and Light Breakfast
9:30–9:45 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks
Ariel Ron, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ and Christopher González, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ
9:45–11:00 a.m.

Panel 4: The Fictionalized Figures of Larry McMurtry
Moderator: TBD

Larry McMurtry’s Goodnight Doppelgänger. Alex Hunt, West Texas A&M University

The Beau Ideal of Lonesome Dove: Larry McMurtry, Charles Goodnight, and the Mythic West. Andrew Graybill, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ

Augustus McCrae versus Oliver Loving: History, Fiction, and Larry McMurtry. Deborah Liles, Tarleton State University
11:00–11:30 a.m. Coffee Break
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Conversation Panel 5: Horsemen, Pass By — Larry McMurtry and the Cracked Lenses of Western Myth, History, Geography, and Fiction. Sam Haynes, University of Texas at Arlington and Charles Travis, University of Texas at Arlington
12:30–1:45 p.m. Lunch (provided)
1:45–2:45 p.m.

Panel 6: Challenging Assumptions — Subversion in the Works of Larry McMurtry

Moderator: TBD

Beyond Acknowledgement: Must Lonesome Dove Be a Tragedy? Fabrizio S. Ciccone, New Mexico State University

Light My Fire in Amarillo: Counterculture and Larry McMurtry's Texas. Arthur Monning, Tulane University

Take My Typewriter from the Wall: A Cultural Valediction of Larry McMurtry. Darrell Hamlin, Fort Hays State University
2:45–3:00 p.m. Coffee Break
3:00–4:00 p.m.

Keynote Address: Romance and Realism: Larry McMurtry and the Legacy of Writing Texas, Marcela Fuentes
4:00–4:15 p.m.

Closing Reflections
Ariel Ron, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ and Christopher González, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ