[This entry was updated by Sarah English (Meredith College) from the entry by John Gerlach (Cleveland State University) in DLB 143: American Novelists Since World War II, Third Series, pp. 137-150.] Larry McMurtry has been known to sport a sweatshirt bea...

Larry McMurtry's work is marked by his imaginative connections with the American West. Drawn to place, McMurtry demonstrates in his work the mythic pattern of escape and return to his "blood's country," his homeland. After garnering initial celebrity by...

Although Larry McMurtry has moved beyond the status of a minor regional writer, he is still closely identified with Texas. His first six novels and a collection of essays (In a Narrow Grave, 1968) reflect life in his native state, and he has returned to...

Yes, love is a many-splendored thing but sometimes a person, in her down-to-earth moments, may feel as if a relationship is a series of problems to be solved. A few of those problems have to do with language.  What terms should a new couple...

The city council is considering a symbolic resolution calling for New Yorkers to stop using the n-word, and supporters say Black History Month is a relevant time to call attention to the racial slur.Queens Councilman Leroy Comrie spearheaded the nonbinding measure before the New York...

A city councilman says he hears it over and over on the streets of New York City: young people casually addressing each other using a racial slur that has a painful history intertwined with slavery."You hear it 10 times within two minutes," says Councilman Leroy...

Jack Nicholson, the legendary ladies' man, says he'd like to fall in love again."I never minded being a fool for love," the 70-year-old Oscar winner tells AARP The Magazine. "It's nice to have a place to be foolish. Ask any old friend of mine, they'll...

[As Terms of Endearment proves, Larry McMurtry] is possessed of gifts that seem to be growing ever more rare among American novelists, chief among these being a true and literate wit. There are others: a feeling for place, an abundance of energy, and an absolute commitment to the depths and lines of character. This is not to say that his saga of a Houston family is without flaws, for there are a number here, among the more serious of which is Mr. McMurtry's tendency to nudge the reader overmuch and t...