In this thesis I try to discover the American West in Annie Proulx¡¦s Wyoming Stories. I do so in three chapters, each devoted to a different approach of the stories: chapter one looks at Proulx¡¦s work from the point of view of history, chapter two from that of sense of place, and chapter three looks at the grotesque elements in the Wyoming Stories. While approaching Wyoming Stories with a historical perspective, I discuss how Proulx reverses the stereotypical Western images that have been widely accepted since Frederick Jackson Turner published his ¡§The Significance of Frontier.¡¨ I use historian Patricia Limerick¡¦s historical observations, which discover the intertwined relationship of the mythisized West and American culture, to be my theoretical base to examine how the stereotypes of the American West create a virtual American West while marginalizing the real American West. I argue that Proulx¡¦s Wyoming Stories break the Western myths and suggest that the region has many of its own stories to tell. By presenting an unconventional Western image to readers, the stories also invite new perspectives on the region which may lead more outsiders to see the West without stereotypes. In chapter two, I argue that Proulx¡¦s stories contain a ¡§sense of place¡¨ that does not resemble the joyous topophilic feelings usually associates by that phrase, but that rather, presents complicated relationships between humans and the landscape. By presenting different relationships between humans and landscapes in her Wyoming stories, Proulx also exposes urban-rural conflicts that result from an urban living style that turns away from landscapes and ¡§the world out there.¡¨ However, as the urban pushes the rural far away, Proulx suggests that the rural, also rejects the urban. Nevertheless, I argue that, Proulx establishes in her stories a communal path for both sides with her sense of place that stresses that ¡§everything is linked.¡¨ In the third chapter, I turn to the grotesque to discuss Proulx¡¦s writing style and how this style leads the readers into the inner culture of Wyoming that is itself grotesque and full of contradictions. I also argue that with the form of grotesque, Proulx¡¦s stories weave complex and challenging texts that often confuse and challenge readers so that they have to constantly work with the stories, questioning them as well as their own experiences and knowledge in order to make sense out of the stories. And such a process not only allows the readers to, again, connect to a Wyoming or American West that does not exist in the stereotypes, but also provides a chance for readers to see conflicts, struggles, and grotesques in themselves and their own cultures.

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Annie Proulx’s three Wyoming short story collections, Close Range, Bad Dirt, and Fine Just the Way It Is, tell regional stories that push against the myths surrounding the American West. Elements of Naturalism in her work reverse the paradigm of man’s dominance over the frontier. The cyclical nature of time in her stories shows the unfulfilling nature of nostalgia. She uses folk storytelling techniques to take an insider’s perspective and to utilize the subversive nature of dark humor.