Cather, Willa. (1873 - 1947).
L i f e
- born in Virginia x but: moved to the agricultural Nebraska > a deeply rooted regionalism
- worked as a NY magazine editor, journalist, and teacher
- became a full time writer (1912)
W o r k
- wrote novels, short stories, and poetry
< Sarah Orne Jewett
< drew on her own childhood experience in Nebraska
- portrayed the region and the life
- criticised the materialist society
- criticised the unjust position of women in the American society: a topical feminism in her women characters trying to find themselves, their own lives, and independence
- portrayed the aspirations of young men and women in the frontier conditions: defeat and betrayal x hope and will
- analysed one’s day dreams and the result of these dreams in courage: her planters in the wilderness preserving their virtues and moral strength
- emphasises the role of the past and the religious faith
Alexander’s Bridge (1912):
- concern: Bartley Alexander, a construction engineer, experiences a mid-life crisis
O, Pioneers! (1913):
- concern: a woman's struggle to keep her inherited farm going while other farmers are giving up
Song of the Lark (1915):
- concern: a woman's protagonist dream to become an opera singer
My Ántonia (1918):
- the wilderness x planter settlements; immigrant families x native Americans; weak and irresolute men x strong and energetic women
- a sentimental idealisation of the past
- a loving attachment to nature: the role of the sun, seasons, etc.
- Ántonia: an ambivalent character = very masculine in the way of achieving what she wants x very feminine in the nature of her achievement (a husband and large family)
=> a scandal: strong-willed women punished in the earlier literature x but: Ántonia ends up happy
A Lost Lady (1923) and The Professor’s House (1925):
- written after she recovered from her breakdown after the woman she loved married
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927):
- concern: a Roman Catholic missionary in the New Mexico frontier areas
Basics
(Photo: Carl Van Vechten. 1936. Source: Wikipedia).
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Author
Willa (Sibert) Cather. (1873 - 1947). American. -
Work
Novelist. Short story writer. Author My Ántonia (1918). -
Genres
Modern fiction. Feminist themes. Regionalism.
Literature
Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton, 1995.
Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed. The Cambridge History of American Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Cunliffe, Marcus. The Literature of the United States. London: Penguin, 1991.
Lauter, Paul, ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Lexington: D. C. Heath, 1994.
McQuade, Donald, gen.ed. The Harper American Literature. New York: Harper & Collins, 1996.
Ruland, Richard, Malcolm Bradbury. Od puritanismu k postmodernismu. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1997.
Vančura, Zdeněk, ed. Slovník spisovatelů: Spojené státy americké. Praha: Odeon, 1979.
Quote
"Men are all right for friends, but as soon as you marry them they turn into cranky old fathers, even the wild ones. They begin to tell you what's sensible and what's foolish, and want you to stick at home all the time. I prefer to be foolish when I feel like it, and be accountable to nobody".
From My Ántonia (1918).