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Biography
Though Willa Cather was born in Virginia, her family moved
to the Nebraska Divide when she was ten, introducing the
child to the vast, dry plains peopled by German, Swedish,
Norwegian, and Bohemian Czech immigrants. Cather graduated
from the University of Nebraska in 1896, and, moving east,
she soon began writing for magazines and journals such as McClure's in
New York City. She achieved literary fame by returning to
the people of the plains, writing three classic novels that
featured strong western women: O Pioneers! (1913), The
Song of the Lark (1915), and My Ántonia (1918).
Her later works include A Lost Lady (1923), The
Professor's House (1925), and Death Comes for the
Archbishop (1927).
Explorations
Though Cather's reputation as a major literary Modernist
has been rising steadily in recent years, her work looks
affectionately back over a variety of modes practiced by
her predecessors and contemporaries in American fiction.
Placing her within these traditions -- realist, naturalist,
local colorist, regionalist, or any other -- is less important
than appreciating the chorus of modes and voices that she
combines into a guileless narrative of ethnic, gendered,
and national experience.
1. Should we regard My Ántonia as regionalist
or local-color fiction? Can you compare the use of setting,
of landscape, here to its use in The Awakening or The
White Heron? What would you say are the significant
differences?
2. How does Cather's heroine grow and transform over
the course of the novel? Would you classify this work as
being in the tradition of literary naturalism? Why or why
not?
3. Describe the narrator of My Ántonia. How much
should his personality matter to us, and why? Do you read
this novel as a naive or unsophisticated work of modern
fiction? Or is it in some ways a sophisticated narrative?
Offer reasons for your answer.
Other sites to consult:
Willa
Cather. A comprehensive site maintained by
Scott Newstrom (Harvard University). Includes a biography;
extensive list of publications with links to online
texts (including Cather's high school graduation
speech, "Superstition vs. Investigation"); photos;
information on the locations in her works; and links
to discussions of Cather's sexuality.
American
Modernism: Willa Cather. Includes a bibliography,
brief overview, and study questions. From the PAL:
Perspectives in American Literature site maintained
by Paul P. Reuben (California State University, Stanislaus).
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