The Freudian Cowboy

Texas bronc-rider Hitch Givens lacks formal education but possesses a Wordsworthian passion for poetic composition. At a Chuckwagon Cowboy Poetry event, his reading impresses a wealthy rancher who sits on the Board of Trustees at the University of Texas. A recommendation is made, and U.T. offers Hitch a one-semester visiting writer scholarship. Thrilled by the opportunity to gain knowledge that will improve his poetry-and in need of a change after a recent difficult divorce-Hitch...
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Texas bronc-rider Hitch Givens lacks formal education but possesses a Wordsworthian passion for poetic composition. At a Chuckwagon Cowboy Poetry event, his reading impresses a wealthy rancher who sits on the Board of Trustees at the University of Texas. A recommendation is made, and U.T. offers Hitch a one-semester visiting writer scholarship. Thrilled by the opportunity to gain knowledge that will improve his poetry-and in need of a change after a recent difficult divorce-Hitch leaves his home-town of Abilene and moves to into U.T. dorm as, "prob'ly the most under-prepared country sumbitch who's ever enrolled."Assuming it will improve his poetry, Hitch enrolls in English 3040--Introduction to Literary Theory. The instructor is Harvard- and U.C. Berkeley-educated Dr. A.J. Whitlatch. An Assistant Professor in the Rhetoric, Cultural, and Critical Studies Program, Dr. Whitlatch is an arch continental feminist. Also, as Hitch discovers on the first day of class, she is beautiful. Hitch rapidly falls in love, but Dr. Whitlatch is appalled by Hitch's "patriarchal totemic" cowboy attire. Dr. Whitlatch has a few secrets, though: she drinks alcohol to extreme levels of authenticity and harbors an erotic/ideological sado-masochistic attraction to cowboys. So begins an unlikely, forbidden affair.Prone to overblown attachment, Hitch gushes in his discovery of true, soul-mate love-and reels with manic devastation when he discovers his true-love soul-mate has another cowboy lover. What ensues is a rollicking tale of good-ol'-boy masculinty and post-structural feminism.Content Warning: In his cowboy-candor, Hitch recalls graphic sexual experiences, violent fights, and extreme episodes of alcohol and drug abuse-and he often does so with rustic vulgarity.