Cather, Willa

Death Comes for the Archbishop (Vintage Classics)

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Death Comes for the Archbishop (Vintage Classics)
Willa Cather
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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My Antonia
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ASIN: 0679728899
Release Date: 1990-06-16

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Willa Cather's best known novel; a narrative that recounts a life lived simply in the silence of the southwestern desert.

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Bishop Jean Latour and Father Joseph Vaillant are French priests who are sent to the American Southwest region to restructure New Mexico's Catholic diocese. They have been friends since their childhood in France and their mission includes the correction of backsliding priests and the restoration of the Catholic culture. Themes of Indian relations, slavery, heresy, insubordinate clerical conduct, and reclusiveness are presented for Latour's and Vaillant's examination. Latour is dignified and reflective while Vaillant is forthright and optimistic; together they're able to appreciate a simple life in the southwestern desert which has become an oasis of civilization. Latour's commitment to erect a cathedral in the wilderness is realized after nearly forty years of good works in these reverential surroundings. His devotion to his assignment and the wisdom he secures from his inner conflicts are the qualities that sustain him even while his youth drains away. Cather beautifully and powerfully portrays the harmony that results from steadfast purpose. Please Note: This book has been reformatted to be easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.

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My Antonia
Willa Cather
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 039575514X

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It seems almost sacrilege to infringe upon a book as soulful and rich as Willa Cather's My Ántonia by offering comment. First published in 1918, and set in Nebraska in the late 19th century, this tale of the spirited daughter of a Bohemian immigrant family planning to farm on the untamed land ("not a country at all but the material out of which countries are made") comes to us through the romantic eyes of Jim Burden. He is, at the time of their meeting, newly orphaned and arriving at his grandparents' neighboring farm on the same night her family strikes out to make good in their new country. Jim chooses the opening words of his recollections deliberately: "I first heard of Ántonia on what seemed to be an interminable journey across the great midland plain of North America," and it seems almost certain that readers of Cather's masterpiece will just as easily pinpoint the first time they heard of Ántonia and her world. It seems equally certain that they, too, will remember that moment as one of great light in an otherwise unremarkable trip through the world.

Ántonia, who, even as a grown woman somewhat downtrodden by circumstance and hard work, "had not lost the fire of life," lies at the center of almost every human condition that Cather's novel effortlessly untangles. She represents immigrant struggles with a foreign land and tongue, the restraints on women of the time (with which Cather was very much concerned), the more general desires for love, family, and companionship, and the great capacity for forbearance that marked the earliest settlers on the frontier.

As if all this humanity weren't enough, Cather paints her descriptions of the vastness of nature--the high, red grass, the road that "ran about like a wild thing," the endless wind on the plains--with strokes so vivid as to make us feel in our bones that we've just come in from a walk on that very terrain ourselves. As the story progresses, Jim goes off to the University in Lincoln to study Latin (later moving on to Harvard and eventually staying put on the East Coast in another neat encompassing of a stage in America's development) and learns Virgil's phrase "Optima dies ... prima fugit" that Cather uses as the novel's epigraph. "The best days are the first to flee"--this could be said equally of childhood and the earliest hours of this country in which the open land, much like My Ántonia, was nothing short of a rhapsody in prairie sky blue. --Melanie Rehak

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In Willa Cather's own estimation, My Antonia, first published in 1918, was "the best thing I've ever done." An enduring paperback bestseller on Houghton Mifflin's literary list, this hauntingly eloquent classic now boasts a new foreword by Kathleen Norris, Cather's soulmate of the plains. Infused with a gracious passion for the land, My Antonia embraces its uncommon subject - the hardscrabble life of the pioneer woman on the prairie - with poetic certitude, rendering a deeply moving portrait of an entire community. Through Jim Burden's endearing, smitten voice, we revisit the remarkable vicissitudes of immigrant life in the Nebraska heartland with all its insistent bonds. Guiding the way are some of literature's most beguiling characters: the Russian brothers plagued by memories of a fateful sleigh ride, Antonia's desperately homesick father and self-indulgent mother, and the coy Lena Lingard. Holding the pastoral society's heart, of course, is the bewitching, free-spirited Antonia Shimerda.

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In this powerful and astonishing novel, Willa Cather created one of the most winning yet thoroughly convincing heroines in American fiction. Antonia Shimerda, the daughter of Bohemian immigrants, not only survives her father's suicide, poverty, and a failed romance, she triumphs with high spirits.

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My Antonia (Enriched Classics)
Willa Cather
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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My Antonia (Cliffs Notes)
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ASIN: 0743487699

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<CENTER>ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP</CENTER>

The moving portrait of an orphan boy and immigrant girl who find hardship -- and love -- on the American prairie.

<CENTER>EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES:</CENTER>

• A concise introduction that gives readers important background information

• A chronology of the author's life and work

• A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context

• An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations

• Detailed explanatory notes

• Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

• Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction

• A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

<CENTER>Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

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This peerless compendium, voted best nonfiction book of the year by the Mountains and Plains Booksellers' Association, pays tribute to one of North America's most enduring cultures, offering a rich sampling of works by noted Pueblo and non-native scholars, writers, and artists. Carefully selected from an exhaustive catalog of sources, the more than one hundred text selections include works of prose, poetry, autobiography, and historical narrative. Seventy-five unusual illustrations--from a rare drawing by D. H. Lawrence to striking portraits by photographer Edward S. Curtis and the brilliantly colorful paintings of Pablita Velarde and Helen Hardin--illuminate life in the pueblos, recording ceremonies, symbols, and spaces.

Lavishly designed in five colors, this eminently readable volume offers a story and mood for everyone and an authentic introduction to the cultural legacy of the ancient peoples of the Southwest. Fully annotated with bibliography, source notes, maps, and biographical entries, and with an inviting thematic organization for the casual reader, this beautiful book will find a permanent place in homes, libraries, and collections across the country.

Contributors include:

Paula Gunn Allen
Willa Cather
Frank Hamilton Cushing
Tony Hillerman
Oliver la Farge
Harold Littlebird
Barry Lopez
Simon J. Ortiz
Joe S. Sando.

The Professor's House (Vintage Classics)

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The Professor's House (Vintage Classics)
Willa Cather
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679731806
Release Date: 1990-10-31

Book Description

A study in emotional dislocation and renewal--Professor Godfrey St. Peter, a man in his 50's, has achieved what would seem to be remarkable success. When called on to move to a more comfortable home, something in him rebels.

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The moving was over and done. Professor St. Peter was alone in the dismantled house where he had lived ever since his marriage, where he had worked out his career and brought up his two daughters. It was almost as ugly as it is possible for a house to be; square, three stories in height, painted the colour of ashes -- the front porch just too narrow for comfort, with a slanting floor and sagging steps.

Willa Cather : Later Novels : A Lost Lady / The Professor's House / Death Comes for the Archbishop / Shadows on the Rock / Lucy Gayheart / Sapphira and the Slave Girl (The Library of America)

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Willa Cather : Later Novels : A Lost Lady / The Professor's House / Death Comes for the Archbishop / Shadows on the Rock / Lucy Gayheart / Sapphira and the Slave Girl (The Library of America)
Willa Cather , and Sharon O'Brien
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Song of the Lark
Collected Stories (Vintage Classics)

ASIN: 0940450526

Book Description

The six works in this volume--"A Lost Lady," "The Professor's House," "Death Comes for the Archbishop," "Shadows on the Rock," "Lucy Gayheart," and "Sapphira and the Slave Girl"--are at once intensely lyrical and highly controlled. Their fascination with the American Southwest, early Canada and Catholicism reflects the older Cather's search for alternatives to the grasping civilization she felt was increasingly replacing the spirit of the early pioneers. validation-form-field.keypoints: The Library of America is an award-winning, nonprofit program dedicated to publishing America's best and most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts. Hailed as "the most important book-publishing project in the nation's history" (Newsweek), this acclaimed series is restoring America's literary heritage in "the finest-looking, longest-lasting edition ever made" (New Republic).

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Perfectly Written
Somewhat Disappointing This Time.
Wagner Redux
Sacrifice for the sake of Art
A portrait of the diva as a young woman

The Song of the Lark
Willa Cather , and Doris Grumbach
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0395345308

Book Description

Perhaps Willa Cather's most autobiographical work, The Song of the Lark charts the story of a young woman's awakening as an artist against the backdrop of the western landscape. Thea Kronborg, an aspiring singer, struggles to escape from the confines her small Colorado town to the world of possibility in the Metropolitan Opera House. In classic Cather style, The Song of the Lark is the beautiful, unforgettable story of American determination and its inextricable connection to the land. "The time will come when she'll be ranked above Hemingway." -- Leon Edel

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In this novel Willa Cather presents Thea Kronberg, a minister's daughter, living with her family in Moonstone, Colorado. After enrolling Thea for piano lessons, Mrs. Kronberg is told that her daughter's true talent is in the beauty of her voice when her teacher hears her sing in church. Thea leaves home to study music in Chicago where she is unaware of the city's hurrying crowds, glittering shops, and loitering men, and is drawn to the art museum and concert hall. Her ambition to become an operatic artist is set in motion, and though she is completely preoccupied with the emotional and intellectual demands put on her by the arduous training required to achieve her goal, she withstands the grueling regimen. She finds a guardian and love interest in Fred Ottenburg who sends her to Arizona to become rejuvenated. Once there she learns to submit to the physical experience and, at the same time, to control the reaction. Ten years later the reader meets Thea who has just returned from Germany and is the leading soprano of the Metropolitan Opera. Sometimes she is tempted by marriage, but art always comes before any other attraction. Cather makes it clear that the serious artist must refuse any claim to personal regard and work to fulfill the rewards of creation in solitude. Please Note: This book has been reformatted to be easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.

Customer Reviews:

Perfectly Written.......2006-10-04

I love Cather's work, and The Song of the Lark may be the best one of her books I've read yet...Death Come for the Archbishop has been my favorite of her books for so long that I may not be able to supplant it, but SoL is excellent.

The story revolves around the growth of Thea Kronberg into the artist that she is. We begin with her as a child around the age of 10. Her friends are adults and misfits in the town. We don't hear about her interactions with kids her own age nor really about her being a child at all. What we learn about Thea in the beginning of this book is that it is evident to everyone who knows her that she's gifted, but no one can agree about what. She knows, but she keeps her secret carefully guarded.

She begins to blossom when she is sent to Chicago to take lessons from a renowned piano instructor. It isn't until she mentions, almost on accident, that she sings at funerals that her piano teacher discovers her true musical gift--she has a phenomenal "instrument" (as it is often referred). She then switches teachers to a voice instructor and has to play accompaniment to his other lessons in order to pay for her own lessons. She is discovered by a rich cad-about who falls in love with her and worries that she is suffering under the pressures of being an accompanist to her rigid instructor. He sends her to his ranch in Arizona where she "nests" and comes into her art and her self.

The section in Panther Canyon is so well done that I could read it again and again. I finished it feeling the anticipation of what was going to happen to Thea when I turned the next page--was she going to become the artist she was destined to become or would she fail because of some poor decision or accident or simple poverty? Would she be able to accept her gift and learn to live with it, or would she reject it because it could never meet her ideal.

The last section of the book has Thea returning to New York after spending years in Germany discovering her art. She is singing in opera after opera--a different one every night it seems. She is different characters in different voice ranges and truly shows her artistic abilities both in acting and singing. The critics and public are impressed with her, and her old friends are as well. We finally get her reunion with her early friends, and they sit back and watch as the Artist Becomes.

SoL is such a beautiful book. There were passages that I want to keep in my mind forever. Sections of such perfectly written prose evoking such perfectly poignant thoughts that it drives home the images and reality that Cather was trying to create. I wish I knew more about opera so I could understand more of the symbolism of Thea's different characters, but even so I can "get it" that she's done something amazing in the end.

Somewhat Disappointing This Time........2006-09-14

I love O Pioneers and My Antonia. What happened here? Willa Cather is a wonderful storyteller with so much vitality and so many interesting people in wonderfully pictorial settings. This time, the story, herione, and supporting characters fail to win one over, and the only interesting thing about the book is being able to understand Thea's frustration with less-than-talented people being lauded at a craft she cares more about than breathing and is far more superior at. I'm pretty disappointed on this outing, but two out of three is good, so I'll be back for more Willa. So far, she is my idea of a consummate author.

Wagner Redux.......2005-10-08

The Penguin Classic Edition is well-documented almost to a flaw; however, if one is not familiar with Wagnerian
Romanticism nor the cultural history of the immigrant experience in the Western plains, the notes strengthen comprehension. Cather's prose often reaches operatic heights although a modern reader may tire of the descriptive "arias", particularly in the latter third of the book. A warning: some of the ethnic attitudes appropriate to a late nineteenth and early twentieth century American piece may offend contemporary readers.

Sacrifice for the sake of Art.......2005-08-03

To read Cather is to see life stripped bare of all but the essentials, then to recognize its beauty anew, and finally learn something original and profound. This is certainly the case with Song of the Lark.

I won't detail the novel in full. Instead I'll try to offer a few pithy observations.

SOTL is epic in scope. The first "act" taking place in Moonstone is so well developed it is a complete story unto itself. As a result, I am glad I read the book tabula rasa. This allowed me read unencumbered by expectations of plot development and to find each new turn in the novel a surprise.

This novel speaks to anyone who has ever wondered if they must reject their home and leave a life behind in order to achieve greatness. This theme is echoed often in modern literature. The Fountainhead by Rand may seem like a strange comparison but in fact, the concept of giving everything to art is fundamental to both author's works, however divergent their style and tone may be.

Regarding the style, I don't seem to recall as much noteworthy prose as Cather's other novels. That said there certainly is much to admire here. I vividly recall the final pages (spoiler ahead) with Thea's theater exit and a friend left among the waiting throng of admirer's. This scene combined with the narration, evokes the loneliness and separation Thea's pursuit of art has created.

I am surprised to find this novel among my favorite Cather books. After reading My Antonia, this novel provides greater diversion from the homogenous world of the prairie. As wonderful as the aforementioned novel is, it's nice to see Cather explore other places with her eye towards the simple, unrefined beauty that is found everywhere.

A portrait of the diva as a young woman.......2005-03-10

Behind "The Song of the Lark" is a true story, which James Woodress presents in his fine biography of Willa Cather. In 1913, working on a piece for McClure's magazine, Cather interviewed the opera star Olive Fremstad, who had been born in Sweden and raised in Minnesota. By coincidence, the night of their first meeting, Cather went to see a production at the Met; right before the performance was to begin, the director learned that the lead singer had fallen into a dead faint. With only minutes to prepare for the role, Fremstad agreed to fill in, and Cather was amazed that the tired, faded, unapproachable star she interviewed earlier in the day had somehow transformed herself into "a vision of dazzling youth and beauty."

From this kernel grew the story of Thea Kronborg, the heroine of "The Song of the Lark," which is Cather's portrait of the diva as a young woman. The first part, "Friends of Childhood," is standard bildungsroman fare: a young farm girl from a large family in Moonstone, Colorado, grows up and moves to the big city--in this case, Chicago--to pursue her dreams. The early sections of the book are pure Cather: a strong-headed yet friendly young girl surrounded by a colorful cast of multi-ethnic characters, from the anonymous tramp who drowns himself in the water tank to her alcohol-fueled German music teacher to the lively free-spirits living in the Mexican section of town. Nearly a novel unto itself, this opening section sketches the entire town of Moonstone with a multiplicity of tragicomic details

When Thea moves to Chicago, however, both her character and the book's tone changes. Initially her studies go well, but she finds her artistic growth chained by the expectations of the folks back home. Her awakening occurs when she travels to the American Southwest and stays near the ancient dwellings of the cave-dwellers; her removal from the influence of her Moonstone family and the stress of her Chicago education results in her emotional breakthrough. Thea realizes she will find success only after she has stripped away the vestiges of her countrified upbringing and forfeited her life, her friends, even her self to her art. Thea offers explains this sacrifice in terms similar to what the real-life Olive Fremstad told Cather: "It takes you up, and uses you, and spins you out; and that is your life. Not much else can happen to you."

"The Song of the Lark" melds two seemingly disparate literary traditions: the Western realism of the book's first half recalls Sinclair Lewis and the drawing-room sophistication of the later sections evokes Edith Wharton. (I was surprised by how much the first two sections reminded me of Dreiser's "Sister Carrie."). The disparity was intentional: Cather's premise is that the artist must completely transform herself if she expects to shake the dust off her childhood moccasins and step into the heels of an artiste. Similarly, that very transformation (and the length required to present it) is what makes Cather's novel so difficult for many readers: in order to become a star, Thea turns into a self-centered prima donna, a character who may be admirable but who is not always very likeable.

Incidentally, there are two very different versions of "Song of the Lark" available. Most editions reprint the 1915 text, since it is in the public domain. This earlier version is far more detailed and, some have argued, overwritten; her British publisher complained that she "told everything about everyone." For the 1932 Autograph Edition, Cather revised the book substantially, cutting it by seven thousand words and streamlining the overall text. Descriptive passages were pared; Thea's and Fred Ottenburg's roles were altered; and style, opinion, and matters of taste were polished and modernized. This version is still under copyright restriction, and I believe it is available only in the Mariner Books (Houghton Mifflin) edition. The original version is regarded by many readers and scholars as better (and certainly truer to Cather's original intent); this is the book that Mencken praised for its "sharp bits of observation, sly touches of humor, [and] gestures of that gentle pity which is the fruit of understanding."

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Always worth it to take a trip to Cather country
This is a Woman Among Men [83]
willa cather's first masterpiece.
"The land wanted to be let alone, to preserve its own fierce strength, its peculiar, savage kind of beauty."
THE LAND TO WHICH WE BELONG...

O Pioneers! (Vintage Classics)
Willa Cather
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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My Antonia
The Song of the Lark
Death Comes for the Archbishop (Vintage Classics)
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One of Ours

ASIN: 0679743626
Release Date: 1992-12-01

Book Description

Willa Cather's second novel is a timeless tale of a strong pioneer woman facing great challenges, shining a light on the immigrant experience, and revealing the emerging voice of one of our greatest authors.

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The first of her renowned prairie novels--a story that expresses Cather's conviction that "the history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman". When Alexandra Bergson takes over the family farm after her father's death, she falls under the spell of the rich, forbidding Nebraska prairie.

Customer Reviews:

Always worth it to take a trip to Cather country.......2007-06-17

O Pioneers! does not equal My Antonia, but even getting halfway there means you're writing at Pulitzer Prize level. Cather takes a lot of liberty here, skipping ahead by sixteen years at one point and waffling on the main character--is it the land itself or Alexandra Bergson, so passionately and excellently taming it? To use an extremely lowbrow comparison, one wonders every Thursday why Meredith Grey, one of the least likable characters on ABC's wonder child Grey's Anatomy, both titles the show and gets to narrate the beginning and end. The show doesn't always center around her, just as this novel doesn't always center around Alexandra. It elicits an uneven and shortchanged feeling, a desire to see the author shift focus to the peripheral characters. But Cather ultimately catches up with us and makes all of her characters in to full and breathing people.

This is a Woman Among Men [83].......2007-04-08

This novel revolves around Alexandra Bergson, a Swedish immigrant tilling land in Nebraska. Few female characters in American literature have her feminine strength. Maybe Dagny Taggart of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged?" Or Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett O'Hara of "Gone With the Wind." Scarlett and Alexandra are the adhesive, business-minded, matronly women who run things in an otherwise man's world.

Having lived in the midwest for numerous years, albeit in the 1970's, I met people who mirrored the mannerisms and had the backgrounds of Alexandra. Like Alexandra, their parents left continental or scandinavian Europe for Nebraska's farmland. These people are as pure as the black loess within which the corn and wheat survive.

Like many novels of this generation, this tale involves tragedy. A great tragedy. And, like Rand, many conversations about the seemingly obvious include contrarian statements which loudly ring otherwise unobserved truths. For instance, Alexandra seeks to pardon the murderer of those closest to her - she seeks to pardon someone whose single act clouded and depressed her soul forever. But, when you read this novel, you will agree with her decision. One hundred percent.

Agrarian life, sometimes subjected to nature's entropy, is more than a seemingly simple venture. The character of Alexandra also is more complex than her appearance. She was a genius at farming. Today's farmers rotate to keep the land's fertility alive - grow alfalfa (to put nitrogen in the soil) to replenish what corn depletes. Alexandra speaks about rotating her soil because she heard about the concept from a "college boy." They laughed at her. She grew wheat as the revenue stream from the land would increase. They laughed at her. Like Taggart and O'Hara, she was right while the dumb men around her were not. Unlike Taggart or O'Hara, Alexandra moves without confrontation, without eddy, without notice.

She writes without wasting words, many details are delivered with few words. Her style reminds me of J.M. Coetzee or V.S. Naipaul. She is in very good company. She is a novelist I will read again.

willa cather's first masterpiece........2007-03-12

i personally think that willa cather wrote rings around both hemmingway and f scott fitzgerald. her books are more about the art of fiction than about the ego of the author, as in the case of the two fellas i just mentioned. o pioneers! is the first of cather's masterpieces. a simple tale of a woman (alexandra bergson) coming of age on the nebraska prairie in the 19th century, confronting the hardships and realities of the harsh and impersonal landscape, and learning to navigate her way to success in a world socially and politically controlled by men. the land itself stands out like a character here, as cather sculpts a poetic vision of all the openess and sheer size of a place capable of swallowing the individual whole. simply the work of a great novelist. an american masterpiece, for sure.

"The land wanted to be let alone, to preserve its own fierce strength, its peculiar, savage kind of beauty.".......2006-10-14

Willa Cather's second novel draws on Cather's own experiences on the Nebraska plains, where she knew, first-hand, the harsh beauty of the land, the resilience of the farmers who tried to tame it, and the accidents of nature that could, overnight, destroy years of dreams. Here Alexandra Bergson, the bright and hard-working daughter of a farmer, inherits the responsibilities of running the family farm upon the death of her father. With two older, less business-like brothers to work the land, she turns what had been a marginally successful farm into a business profitable enough that she is able to buy land other farmers have abandoned.

Beginning in the late 1800s, when Alexandra is a teenager, and continuing until Alexandra is in her forties, the novel celebrates Alexandra's strength and dedication to her land, at the same time that it emphasizes how isolating farm life can be. Though Alexandra's farm becomes the most successful farm in the area, she has few friends and no lovers, and there is little opportunity for social life. When her earliest friend, Carl Linstrum, whose family long ago gave up their farm, suddenly returns for a visit, Alexandra and Carl find themselves "keeping company," despite the opposition of her brothers. The love of her youngest brother Emil for Marie Shabata, an unhappily married woman, is a parallel love story with additional complications. In both love stories, the accidents of fate, so common in farm life, play a key role in characters' personal lives.

Filled with gorgeous descriptions of the changing seasons, from the brutal harshness of winter to the rebirth in spring and the flourishing of summer, the novel also shows how fickle nature can be. Those who survive, physically and emotionally, are those like Alexandra who can accept and adapt to whatever life offers, instead of fighting against unpredictable disasters. To be successful, one must sublimate the desire for adventure, the urge to explore, and the human tendency to ask oneself, "What if...?" Day-to-day activities, minutely explored here, keep farmers like Alexandra rooted in the real world--imagination is a "luxury" few can afford.

One of the first realistic novels about the pioneer experience, O Pioneers conveys the values and the personal qualities needed for success on the plains, at the same time that it also reveals how quickly and unpredictably nature can change outcomes. Even love is not a haven here--sudden, unpredictable changes occur in love, too. Dramatic and powerful in its depiction of pioneer life, the novel is a paean to the resilient spirit of the early pioneers and the enduring power of nature. n Mary Whipple

THE LAND TO WHICH WE BELONG..........2006-10-12

In this, the author's second published work, the author writes about that which she knew best, early pioneer life in Nebraska, the place to which she and her family moved in 1883 when she was a mere slip of a girl. She eventually attended the University of Nebraska, graduating in 1995, at a time when most girls did no such thing.

In this work, the author was on very sure footing. Her clear, straightforward prose lends itself capably to the story of early pioneers who went to Nebraska and set down roots, weathering the exigencies that often plagued a newcomer to a particular region. It is a surprisingly unsentimental look at pioneer life.

This thematically complex, but simply written story focuses primarily on Alexandra Bergson, the intelligent, independent, resourceful, and strong-willed daughter of pioneer John Bergson. Upon his death he did what was then the nearly unthinkable. He left his land in the hands of his oldest child, his daughter, Alexandra, rather than in those of his sons, recognizing in his daughter those qualities that would ensure that his land would prosper under her stewardship.

This then is the story of not only Alexandra but of that land and those whose sustenance depended upon its fruitfulness. The reader follows the Bergson clan as they live their lives and interact with their neighbors. Under Alexandra's skillful management, the Bergson farm prospers. As the farm prospers, so does its environs, as the area becomes a bustling center of activity with more and more settlers developing the land around that of the Bergsons.

Thematically, the book explores the vicissitudes of life, as well as its life-affirming moments. As in all lives, the characters in this book experience moments of high drama and great tragedy, as well as memorable moments of love and hate. All this is grounded within the context of pioneer life, with all its hardships and privations, as well as its occasional abundance. The author skillfully re-creates a melting pot of the many nationalities that cultivated the land known as Nebraska.

This is a book that those who like reading about pioneer life will certainly enjoy, as will those who simply like a well-written book with a tale to tell. This classic novel was also adapted for a Hallmark Hall of Fame film, starring Jessica Lange in the role of Alexandra Bergson.

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A TRUE AMERICAN CLASSIC...

My Antonia (Oxford World's Classics)
Willa Cather
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 019283200X

Book Description

'As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie the colour of wine-stains...And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running.' My Antonia (1918) depicts the pioneering period of European settlement on the tall-grass prairie of the American midwest, with its beautiful yet terrifying landscape, rich ethnic mix of immigrants and native-born Americans, and communities whose lives experience suffering and joy. Jim Burden recounts his memories of Antonia Shimerda, whose family settle in Nebraska from Bohemia. Together they share childhoods spent in a new world. As adults Jim leaves the prairie for college and a career in the east, while Antonia devotes herself to her large family and productive farm. When he returns Jim sees that although Antonia is careworn, she remains 'a rich mine of life, like the founders of early races'. Described on publication as 'one of the best [novels] that any American has ever done', My Antonia paradoxically took Cather out of the rank of provincial novelists as the same time that it celebrated the provinces, and mythologized a period of American history that had to be lost before its value could be understood.

Customer Reviews:

A TRUE AMERICAN CLASSIC..........2006-10-12

I first read this book when I was in junior high school. I admit that, at the time, I did not appreciate the strengths of the book and the quality of its writing. I am quite glad that I decided to give it another chance, as, having re-read it, I now understand why it is considered to be a classic in literature. It is simply a beautifully written book, covering many of the themes that one stumbles across in life and coalescing them into a work of extraordinary breadth.

The book is the story of two young people, Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda. They meet for the first time when Jim is ten years old and Antonia is fourteen. Recently orphaned, Jim has moved to the Great Prairie to live with his grandparents in Nebraska. Antonia, on the other hand, has been wrenched from her homeland in Bohemia, emigrating with her parents to the United States and finding herself in Nebraska. Jim and Antonia's chance encounter on a train sets the stage for the forging of a friendship and unconditional love that time will not diminish.

The book relates the harshness of immigrant life through the eyes of Jim, who narrates the events contained in the book. There is a relentless stoicism about the book, which is written in spare, clear prose. With intense imagery and descriptive exactitude, late nineteenth century Nebraska comes to life. It also relates the paths that each of the characters choose to follow, as well as the vicissitudes of life that mold and shape them in ways that no one would have imagined.

The focus of the book, which is also a coming of age tale, seems to be on the female characters and their strengths. All the women in it seem to be survivors, despite the hardships that they encounter. This is, without a doubt, a life affirming book, wrought with great feeling and a decided sense of time and place. Yet, despite its poignancy, the book is surprisingly unsentimental and straightforward. It is a testament to the author's literary talent that this book has emerged as a timeless classic. Bravo!

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A tiny gem of a book. You'll be thinking about it long after you're finished.
Frontier loneliness invades this marvalous novel.
A Book About Old Society
LOST TO POSTERITY...
Good, But Not Cather's Best

A Lost Lady (Vintage Classics)
Willa Cather
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679728872
Release Date: 1990-06-16

Book Description

A portrait of a woman who reflects the conventions of her age even as she defies them and whose transformations embody the decline and coarsening of the American frontier.

Customer Reviews:

A tiny gem of a book. You'll be thinking about it long after you're finished........2007-05-03

Critic Leon Edel wrote of Cather, "The time will come when she'll be ranked above Hemingway." Well, I'm there! In fact, I've been there since I finished "O Pioneers." For the last several years, I've been reading her books in order and just marvel at Cather's talent, her insights, and the economy of her writing.

I was disappointed in "One of Ours," the Pulitzer-Prize winning book that preceded "A Lost Lady.' The Midwest sequences in "One of Ours" were fine, but Cather seemed lost in unfamiliar territory when the setting switched to World War I France. "One of Ours" was a memorial tribute to a beloved relative of Cather's, so perhaps her emotions got the better of her writing and her observations.

I was glad that she returned to the land and people she knew best with "A Lost Lady."

Every word in this little book rang true to me. Every character - major and minor - was alive and fully realized. The events and settings - all vivid and deeply credible.

In fact, I stayed in bed all one morning to finish this book. Like a great mystery - this was a "page turner" for me. Cather sprinkles delicious hints throughout that propelled me forward. The satsifaction I felt at the end was similar to what one feels after finishing a first-rate mystery - only here the satisfaction was on the much higher plane of great literature.

If you've read "O Pioneers," "Song of the Lark," or "My Antonia," you know that Cather understood strong, admirable women. What a revelation that she could ALSO write a great book with a charming but weak woman as its central character. We admire and like Marian Forrester for her wit and grace, while at the same time we deplore her superficiality and hypocrisy.

Like Neil, we never are quite sure who Mrs. Forrester is, what she thinks, or what motivates her. But that is precisely what makes this book such a work of art - and so true to life. I expect to reflect on Mrs. Forrester, Neil, the Captain - even Ivy Peters - and the others for many years to come.

This probably should not be the first Cather book you read. "O Pioneers" or "My Antonia" are probably better choices. But don't lose sight of this small but dazzling jewel.

Frontier loneliness invades this marvalous novel........2006-02-17

Once again Willa Cather vividly and yet quietly brings out the inherent loneliness of the American homesteading West.

Set in a small railroad town, the story focuses on one young man's perception of a "lady" who he sees as unlike any other that he has know. Beautiful, lively, kind, aloof yet she shows a warmth and depth that Neil (the protaganist) was unused to in his frontier town.

Over time, heart-ache and isolation eventually cause her to lose her soul.

Cather is a genious in her quiet portrayial of this lonely woman and the on-going breaking of her spirit. Loneliness invades every word, every image and every character in "The Lost Woman".

I would recommend that this novel be listened to as well as read. Reading Cather is a joy, but there are so many details of language that are easy to dismiss unless you can hear the words.

Wonderful.

A Book About Old Society.......2006-02-05

Compelling in its description of time and place, A Lost Lady is about old railroad society and chronicles the graceful standout Marian Forrester, a great lady of the old school. In a time where ladies wore dresses and were hosts to house parties and dinner parties, Mrs. Forrester, the second wife of Daniel Forrester, comes from California to a small railroad town in the midwest called Sweet Water to homestead and receive great men of the railroad at her home. She falls upon hard times and new money takes over old money, but she is always revered by Neil Forrester, a young boy who watches her downfall. Mrs. Forrester is the last holdout from old times, and she remains a fixture in Neil's memory long after the last railroad has been built.

LOST TO POSTERITY..........2005-11-28

This is a simply written but thematically complex, metaphoric story, replete with subtle nuances. The events that transpire are seen primarily through the eyes of a boy who comes of age, a contrivance that the author successfully employed in her best selling classic, "My Antonia". Here, it is no less successful. Through the eyes of Neil Herbert, who lives in Sweet Water, a prospective railroad hub on the Western plains in one of the prairie states, the reader gets to know Marian Forrester. She is the much younger, envied wife of one of the town's more prominent and wealthier citizens, Captain Daniel Forrester, a former railroad contractor.

As Neil grows into a man, his adoration of the lovely Mrs. Forrester undergoes a change. He sees her fall from the pedestal from where he and all the townspeople have placed her and sees her, really sees her, warts and all, for the first time, when he discovers her involved in an unexpected peccadillo. It comes as a shock to him that she may not be all that she seems to be. Still, his life is closely entwined with hers, as his uncle, with whom he lives, is Captain Forrester's personal attorney and of the same social standing in this socially circumscribed backwater.

Just as Neil's perception of Mrs. Forrester begins to change in his eyes, so do the fortunes of the town and that of Captain Forrester. As Mrs. Forrester physically deteriorates under the strain of the vicissitudes of fate, so do the town and its surrounding environs. As she revives, leaving behind her old values and adopting new ones that are anathema to those who respect the traditional ones, her revival parallels changes in the town itself, as the old makes way for the new. These changes also parallel the shifts occurring on the American frontier, as social mores and personal values undergo a change, and those stalwart pioneer values give way to new ones.

Beautifully descriptive of a bygone era and laconic in its pace, this is most certainly a novel to be savored. Fans of the author will especially enjoy it.

Good, But Not Cather's Best.......2004-07-17

"A Lost Lady" is a good read and any experience with Willa Cather's outstanding writing is worth your time, but it's not her best story. "My Antonia" is best followed by "O' Pioneers". Start with those and then by all means read this and everything else that is Cather. She's GREAT!!

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