The paradigmatic scene in a Western – witnessed in numerous movies, such as High Noon (1952), The Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), or Tombstone (1993), as well as in classic western novels, such as Louis L’Amour’s The Lonesome Gods (1983) or Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove (1985) – is that of a confrontation between a sheriff and a bandit: it suggests the forces of civilization taking hold on the frontier, even if tentatively, and ultimately a triumph of the order imposed to protect those in need of protection. As a result of the confrontation, the rugged individualism of the frontier is replaced with the democratizing influence of the public institutions, which may not provide the same cinematic or novelistic appeal as the confrontation between the lone outlaw and the equally singular representative of the law, or their riding off into the sunset. But the ideological appeal of the restoration of peace and working for the greater good of the community is undeniable, and in many recent oaters it becomes the driving force.
This special issue of Anglica Wratislaviensia invites essays which will explore the political dimension of the Western (novels, movies, TV series, and other genres) and asks them to consider the political as understood by Hannah Arendt who argues in The Human Condition that “Power springs up whenever people get together and act in concert, but it derives its legitimacy from the initial getting together rather than from any action that then may follow” (Ch. V). Some recent Westerns move away from glorifying solitary heroes and lean towards examining what it means to act together – or fail to act –when confronted with chaos, injustice, or survival; in other words, they align with Arendt’s explanation of the legitimacy of power which arises out of concerted action of a community, which the philosopher contrasts with one person triumphing alone. A similar contrast between power (growing out of the collective action) and violence (linked to an individual act) can be gleaned in e.g., The Revenant (2015), whose characters operate in a political vacuum, facing a world dominated by violence and retribution. In Godless (2017), a Netflix miniseries, the protagonists form a fragile political community challenged by violent external forces. So even if traditionally the Western foregrounds rugged individualism, it can paradoxically be seen as staging the political in Arendtian terms.
The Western as a genre dramatizes the tension between law and violence and often suggests – along Arendtian lines – that when individuals are left to pursue private concerns and evade moral responsibility for the community, the political life erodes. It is precisely the preservation of the political and its erosion that the special issue of Anglica Wratislaviensia invites to consider. The essays might examine the following themes:
The legitimacy of power in the Western;
Communities and their authority;
Individuals and their authority;
Communal vs individual power;
Individuality and singularity in a community and outside it;
Institutions of the frontier;
Creating kinship and building communities;
Forgiving and promising in Arendtian terms;
Plurality and freedom.
We invite essays of around 6,000 words, including in-text citations, footnotes and references, prepared adhering to the MLA citation style. Each article should be preceded by an abstract of up to 200 words and 4-8 keywords. Please check Author Guidelines for specific formatting requirements. To submit the manuscript, authors need to create an account on the journal website (wuwr.pl/awr), where they can submit the manuscript in electronic format using Open Journal Systems. The deadline for submission is 31 March 2026, with the planned publication in 2026. Please send initial query to katarzyna.nowak-mcneice@uwr.edu.pl. All essays will be blind peer-reviewed. Anglica Wratislaviensia is indexed in EBSCO, MLA, CSA, Pro-Quest, Erih Plus and others.