Brokeback Mountain
A standalone edition of Annie Proulx’s beloved story “Brokeback Mountain” (in the collection Close Range)—the basis for the major motion picture directed by Ang Lee (…).
Annie Proulx has written some of the most original and brilliant short stories in contemporary literature, and for many readers and reviewers, “Brokeback Mountain” is her masterpiece.
Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands, come together when they’re working as sheepherder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line. At first, sharing an isolated tent, the attraction is casual, inevitable, but something deeper catches them that summer.
Both men work hard, marry and have kids. Yet over the course of many years and frequent separations this relationship becomes the most important bond in their lives, and they do anything they can to preserve it.
The New Yorker won the National Magazine Award for Fiction for its publication of “Brokeback Mountain,” and the story was included in Prize Stories 1998: The O. Henry Awards. In gorgeous and haunting prose, Proulx limns the difficult, dangerous affair between two cowboys that survives everything but the world’s intolerance.
Source: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Brokeback-Mountain/Annie-Proulx/9780743271325
Keywords/Themes
Sexual orientation, homosexuality, homophobia, gender roles, love, marriage, grief, loneliness, Wyoming, ranch life, 1960s, love affair, Cowboys, isolation, displacement, desire, freedom, identity, repression, discrimination, fear.
Book Review & Recommended Use in Classroom
A very compelling story. The extraordinary wording is chosen carefully. The descriptions are dense and often fierce, very graphic. It is easy to picture the plot in one's mind. The Wyoming slang of the Cowboys seems authentic and very fitting for the plot, which shows the rough, yet also very affectionate relationship between the two men. The dilemma of forbidden love is painfully present. The story could be used as a starting point to teach the history of the gay liberation movement. Discussions about the various types of relationships, family constellations and love may be interesting (both men have wives and kids). I would possibly compare the film and short story.
The dialogue contains a lot of slang, which may not be easy for young ESL students. Vocabulary may be very foreign at times.
(Miriam O., May 2025)
Sensitive Content
Sex scenes are quite graphic. Violence.
About the Author
Annie Proulx (born August 22, 1935) is an American author known for her vivid portrayals of rural life. Born in Connecticut, she spent much of her childhood moving around the northeastern U.S. before settling in Vermont, where she developed a deep connection to the land and small communities. Proulx has been married twice and has two children. She studied English and literature but found her unique voice later in life, drawing heavily on personal experience and her surroundings. Despite a private personal life, her writing often reflects themes of family, hardship, and survival in isolated areas.
