Willa Cather Summary

Excerpt from My Antonia by Willa Cather Excerpt from My Antonia Published in 1918 A novel accurately relates the difficulties experienced by European immigrants in the United States in the late ninete... Read more

Cather, Willa (1873-1947) Willa Cather, variously perceived by critics as realistic, regionalist, or sentimental, as well as an unusual literary stylist of unhurried elegance, memorably exploited th... Read more

Biography EssayWilla Cather is an outstanding example of a writer whose work is deeply rooted in a sense of place and at the same time universal in its treatment of theme and character. The corner of ... Read more

"The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman," Willa Cather observed in her second novel, O Pioneers!, but the same theme resonates throughout all of her work. Passionately in... Read more

"I do not take myself seriously as a poet," said Willa Cather in a 1925 interview. Having by then published many short stories and six novels (of an eventual twelve) and having won a Pulitzer Prize fo... Read more

During the 1973 Willa Cather centennial seminar in Lincoln, Nebraska, Leon Edel--the Henry James biographer who collaborated with E. K. Brown on the first important biographical study of Cather--put h... Read more

In the following excerpt, Murphy discusses Willa Cather and her belief in literature filled with mystery, free of “literalness.” Contemporary literary climates seem alien to what I have ... Read more

In the following essay, Brown traces Cather's early literary development. The decade Willa Cather spent in Pittsburgh—from her twenty-third to her thirty-third year—fell evenly in... Read more

In the following essay, Rosowski contends that Cather's main theme in Obscure Destinies is the acceptance of life as apparent reality, in contrast to her earlier themes of idealism. Wonderful t... Read more

In the following excerpt, Woodress presents an overview of the stories in The Troll Garden and Obscure Destinies, and addresses the effect these publications had on Cather's career and personal... Read more

In the following excerpt, Nelson explores the role of immigrants in Cather's stories, asserting that these characters represent Cather's struggle with the principles of American material... Read more

In the following essay, Harris addresses Cather's conflicted notions about gender and the ways she expressed this ambivalence in her stories. Efforts by feminist scholars to recover Willa Cathe... Read more

In the following essay, Salemi uses the example of “Paul's Case” to demonstrate his theory that Cather employed her training in the cadences and rhythms of classical writing in he... Read more

In the following excerpt, Thurin presents an overview of Cather's debt to classical Greek and Latin literature in her short stories. From Boldness to Conformity The narrative technique that was... Read more

In the following essay, Wasserman surveys Cather's short fiction. Initial Bearings and the Question of Modernism To describe the working habits of Professor St. Peter, the writer-historian in h... Read more

In the following essay, Zitter perceives the main female character of “The Marriage of Phaedra” as a precursor to Cather's later women protagonists. “The Marriage of Phaedr... Read more

In the following essay, Flannigan argues that Cather's insertion of references to the opera Cavalleria Rusticana is a fundamental element to understand the title character of “Eric Herma... Read more

In the following essay, Sullivan examines elements of German culture in Cather's stories, particularly the influence of Goethe on “Uncle Valentine.” More than 70 years after Willa... Read more

In the following essay, Bush maintains that the power of Cather's fiction did not diminish with “The Best Years,” as other critics have asserted. Willa Cather's last comple... Read more

In the following excerpt, Stouck discusses Cather's major narrative techniques as well as her portrayal of the artistic temperament in her short fiction. The Pastoral Imagination In pastoral th... Read more

In the following essay, Arnold presents an overview of Cather's early career and stories. From 1892, when her first story appeared in print, until the end of 1900 Willa Cather published at leas... Read more

In the following essay, Petry locates the meaning of the story “The Sculptor's Funeral” in the protagonist's homosexuality. The fictional works of Willa Cather that have al... Read more