Wister, Owen (wĭs`tər), 1860–1938, American author, b. Philadelphia, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1882; LL.B., 1888). Trips to the West for his health gave him material for his short stories and for his greatest success, The Virginian (1902), a novel about Wyoming cowhands. He wrote several biographies, including one in 1930 on his friend Theodore Roosevelt. His other books include the novel Lady Baltimore (1906) and the short stories "Lin McLean" (1898) and "Jimmyjohn Boss" (1900). His collected works, in 11 volumes, appeared in 1928. The journals of his Western travels from 1885 to 1895 were published in 1958 as Owen Wister Out West.

Wister, Owen

Wister

(credit: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(born July 14, 1860, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died July 21, 1938, North Kingstown, R.I.) U.S. novelist. A well-to-do Easterner who graduated from Harvard, he spent his summers in the West from 1885. After practicing law for two years, he devoted himself to a literary career. His novel The Virginian (1902), the story of a cattle-ranch foreman who depends for his life on a harsh code of ethics, was a great popular success and helped establish the cowboy as an American folk hero and stock fictional character; the novel became the basis of a play, numerous films, and even a television series. His other major work was Roosevelt: The Story of a Friendship, 1880–1919 (1930), detailing his long acquaintance with his Harvard classmate Theodore Roosevelt.

Wister, Owen (1860–1938) writer; born in Germantown, Pa. He graduated from Harvard (1882) before studying music composition in Paris (1882–84). Suffering from ill health, he spent summers in the American West, and these visits profoundly affected his future writing. He studied law at Harvard (1885–88), and settled in Philadelphia, where he practiced law. By 1891 he devoted himself to writing biographies, essays, and novels. He is remembered for his Western novels, notably The Virginian (1902), a book containing the prototype of the American cowboy in subsequent fictions and films.