An analysis of the cultural significance of the American frontier, that strange, mobile, usually vertical line that simultaneously divides the familiar from the alien and binds the two terms uncomfortably in a new shared space. Because our time is short and our subject is large, we will restrict ourselves (for the most part) to a relatively narrow focus: the frontier in the nineteenth-century American West, as it first entered the cultural marketplace and as it underwent revision in twentieth-century literature and film. After a quick introduction to current versions of frontier narratives, we will trace the genealogy of some of the images that recur most often in representations of the nineteenth-century West, and conclude with a reconsideration of the relationship between the nineteenth-century Western frontier and twenty-first century American life. Authors include Mark Twain, Willa Cather, Zane Grey, and Leslie Marmon Silko; films include My Darling Clementine, The Wild Bunch, and Unforgiven. Requirements: pre-class responses and four short papers. No prerequisites. Enrollment limited to 19. Two sections.