Books by Willa Cather

Book SynopsisOne of Ours is Willa Cather''s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the making of an American soldier. Claude Wheeler, the sensitive but aspiring protagonist, has ready access to his family''s fortune but refuses to settle for it. Alienated from his uncaring father and pious mother, and rejected by a wife whose only love is missionary work, Claude is an idealist without ideals to cling to. Only when his country enters the Great War does he find the meaning of his life. In One of Ours, Willa Cather explores the life of a young Nebraskan whose ambitions drive him to a frontier wilder and more violent than the one tamed by his pioneer ancestors. Newly designed and typeset in a modern 6-by-9-inch format by Waking Lion Press.

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Book SynopsisIn this powerful portrait of the self-making of an artist, Willa Cather created one of her most extraordinary heroines. Thea Kronborg, a minister''s daughter in a provincial Colorado town, seems destined from childhood for a place in the wider world. But as her path to the world stage leads her ever farther from the humble town she can''t forget and from the man she can''t afford to love, Thea learns that her exceptional musical talent and fierce ambition are not enough.  It is in the solitude of a tiny rock chamber high in the side of an Arizona cliff--a cleft in the heart of the world--that Thea comes face to face with her own dreams and desires, stripped clean by the haunting purity of the ruined cliff dwellings and inspired by the whisperings of their ancient dust. Here she finds the courage to seize her future and to use her gifts to catch the shining, elusive element that is life itself--life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop,

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Book SynopsisIn 1851 Bishop Latour and his friend Father Valliant are despatched to New Mexico to reawaken its slumbering Catholicism. Moving along the endless prairies, Latour spreads his faith the only way he knows - gently, although he must contend with the unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Over nearly forty years, they leave converts and enemies, crosses and occasionally ecstasy in their wake. But it takes a death for them to make their mark on the landscape forever ...Trade ReviewA powerful piece of writing, rich with the essence of a poor but beautiful country and a simple yet dignified people * Sunday Times *A tremendous, ranging story, economical and distilled as poetry -- Jane GardamQuite simply a masterpiece . . . I am completely bowled over by it; by the power of its writing, by the vividness of its scene painting and by the stories it tells . . . This is a book which I go on rereading -- A. N. Wilson * Daily Telegraph *Its whole effect works slowly and mysteriously . . . a major, and rare, artistic achievement -- A. S. Byatt

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Book SynopsisIn this symphonically powerful novel, Willa Cather created one of the most winning heroines in American fiction, a woman whose robust high spirits and calm, undemonstrative strength are emblematic of the virtues Cather most admired in her country. • This 100th Anniversary Edition of Willa Cather’s masterpiece features a new introduction by Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Jane Smiley.Antonia Shimerda is the daughter of Bohemian immigrants struggling with the oceanic loneliness of life on the Nebraska prairie. Through the eyes of Jim Burden, her tutor and disappointed admirer, we follow Antonia from farm to town and through hardships both natural and human, surviving everything from poverty to a failed romance--and not only surviving, but triumphing. In the end, Antonia is exactly what Burden says she is: a woman who had that something which fires the imagination, [a woman who] could stop . . . one's breath for a moment by a l

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Book SynopsisFor the 150th anniversary of Willa Cather's birth, and for the first time in Penguin Classics, her quietly beautiful novel of one man's life as he encounters the harsh landscape of the New Mexico desert and the people who inhabit it, with an introduction by National Book Award finalist Kali Fajardo-AnstineA Penguin Vitae Edition • One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 YearsIn 1848, following the US's recent acquisition of the American Southwest from Mexico, the young bishop Father Jean Marie Latour receives instruction from the Vatican to oversee a newly created diocese in New Mexico. With his good friend Father Joseph Vaillant in tow, the pair travel through the unforgiving and seemingly-endless desert on mules in attempt to reclaim the region from corrupt priests who have taken mistresses, exhibited greed, and inflicted abuse and genocide on the Mexican and Indigenous residents. But as Father Latour spends mor

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Book SynopsisFrom one of the most highly acclaimed novelists of the twentieth century: a truly remarkable book (The New York Times), an epic story of a life lived simply in the silence of the southwestern desert. With a new introduction by Claire Messud.In 1851 Father Jean Marie Latour comes to serve as the Apostolic Vicar to New Mexico. What he finds is a vast territory of red hills and tortuous arroyos, American by law but Mexican and Indian in custom and belief. In the almost forty years that follow, Latour spreads his faith in the only way he knows—gently, all the while contending with an unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Out of these events, Cather gives us an indelible vision of life unfolding in a place where time itself seems suspended.

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Book Synopsis Hailed by reviewers and readers for its originality, vitality, and truth, this novel secured Willa Cather a place in the first rank of American writers. Cather called My Ántonia “the best thing I’ve done.” For Oliver Wendell Holmes, My Ántonia had “unfailing charm, perhaps not to be defined; a beautiful tenderness, a vivifying imagination that transforms but does not distort or exaggerate.” H. L. Mencken declared it “one of the best [novels] any American has ever done.” Cather drew deeply on her childhood days in frontier Nebraska for this, her fourth novel, published in 1918. Old immigrant neighbors inspired many of the characters, particularly the heroine. Ántonia Shimerda is memorable as the warmhearted daughter of Bohemians who must adapt to a hard life on the desolate prairie. She survives and matures, a pioneer woman made radiant by spirit. W. T. Benda’s illustrationsfurther illTable of ContentsBook I - The ShimerdasBook II - The Hired GirlsBook III - Lena LingardBook IV - The Pioneer Woman's StoryBook V - Cuzak's Boys

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Book SynopsisIn The Burglar's Christmas, William, caught mid-burglary, must come to terms with the choices that led him to that moment. Willa Cather provides a heartwarming short story of redemption and love at Christmas, a timely reminder that kindness is in everyone, just waiting to be uncovered.

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Book SynopsisWilla Cather's third novel, The Song of the Lark, depicts the growth of an artist, singer Thea Kronborg, a character inspired by the Swedish-born immigrant and renowned Wagnerian soprano Olive Fremstad. The Song of the Lark presents Cather's vision of a true artist.Trade Review"This authoritative edition of Cather's perhaps least understood novel is a welcome addition to the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition, begun under the general editorship of Susan Rosowski and now under that of Guy Reynolds. The Song of the Lark is important for taking the portraits of European immigrants in the US in O Pioneers! and adding the element of art as it traces the evolution of Thea Kronborg from small-town girl to opera singer acclaimed in Chicago, New York, and Europe. . . . Embellished with handsome photographs and presented in an easy-to-read format, this is a necessary edition for any scholar of Cather."—N. Birns, ChoiceTable of ContentsPart I - Friends of ChildhoodPart II - The Song of the LarkPart III - Stupid FacesPart IV - The Ancient PeoplePart V - Dr. Archie's VenturePart VI - KronborgEpilogue

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Book SynopsisDescribes the origin, writing, and reception of the novel, "The Lost Lady". This essay features photographs that illuminate the connection between the novel and the people and places from the author's formative years in Nebraska.Trade Review"This 1923 novel is among the best examples of Cather's experiment with minimalism and one of her finest works overall. As such, it deserves an edition produced to the highest standards of textual scholarship. It has found one here."-Choice Choice

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The Willa Cather Scholarly Edition of Lucy Gayheart provides readers with a fresh and insightful look at Cather’s penultimate, and often undervalued, novel."—Emily J. Rau, Great Plains QuarterlyTable of ContentsPreface Lucy Gayheart Acknowledgments Historical Apparatus: Historical Essay Illustrations Explanatory Notes Textual Apparatus: Textual Essay Emendations Notes on Emendations Table of Rejected Substantives Word Division

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Book SynopsisIn her final novel, Willa Cather departed from her usual Great Plains settings to plumb the turbulent relationships between slaves and their owners in the antebellum South. Sapphira and the Slave Girl is set in Virginia just before the Civil War. Sapphira is a slave owner who feels she has come down in the world and channels her resentments into jealousy of her beautiful mulatto slave, Nancy. Sapphira’s daughter Rachel, an abolitionist, opposes her mother’s increasingly shocking attempts to persecute Nancy. The struggles of these three strong-willed women provide rich material for Cather’s narrative art and psychological insight.

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Book SynopsisPresents a clean, authoritative text of the first edition and charts the subsequent drastic revisionsTrade Review"This authoritative edition of Cather's perhaps least understood novel is a welcome addition to the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition, begun under the general editorship of Susan Rosowski and now under that of Guy Reynolds. The Song of the Lark is important for taking the portraits of European immigrants in the US in O Pioneers! and adding the element of art as it traces the evolution of Thea Kronborg from small-town girl to opera singer acclaimed in Chicago, New York, and Europe. . . . Embellished with handsome photographs and presented in an easy-to-read format, this is a necessary edition for any scholar of Cather."—N. Birns, ChoiceTable of ContentsPart I - Friends of ChildhoodPart II - The Song of the LarkPart III - Stupid FacesPart IV - The Ancient PeoplePart V - Dr. Archie's VenturePart VI - KronborgEpilogue

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Book SynopsisSet in the late seventeenth century, the novel centres on the activities of widowed apothecary Euclide Auclair and his young daughter, Cecile. To Auclair's house and shop come trappers, missionaries, craftsmen and the indigent - those seeking cures, a taste of France, or liberation from corruptions caused there by the excesses of the French court.Table of ContentsShadows on the Rock Acknowledgments Historical Apparatus: Historical Essay; On Shadows on the Rock; Illustrations; Explanatory Notes Textual Apparatus: Textual Commentary; Emendations; Notes on Emendations; Rejected Substantives; Word Division

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Book SynopsisIn 1920 Willa Cather collected eight of the stories she had written over the past twenty years into Youth and the Bright Medusa, stories of the perilous pursuit of the bright medusa of art in a hostile, materialistic world. These include some of her best tales.Trade Review"[Youth and the Bright Medusa is] an invaluable asset to scholars looking for a well-rounded, complete study of Willa Cather's writing. Nothing is left out, nothing is wanting."—Nancee Reeves, Documentary EditingTable of ContentsPrefaceYouth and the Bright MedusaAcknowledgmentsHistorical Apparatus:Historical EssayIllustrationsExplanatory NotesTextual Apparatus:Textual EssayEmendationsNotes on EmendationsTable of Rejected SubstantivesWord Division

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Book SynopsisAn infamous clause in the author's will, forbidding publication of her letters and other papers, has long caused consternation among her scholars. For her, a complex and private person who seldom made revelatory public pronouncements, personal letters provide a valuable key to understanding. This title tells her story.Trade Review"Stout (Texas A & M Univ.) makes a unique contribution to Cather scholarship with this volume. . . . Exemplary in scholarship and design, this volume is an invaluable resource for the study of Willa Cather."—Choice"Stout (English, Texas A&M Univ.), a widely published scholar whose work includes both books and articles on Willa Cather, makes an important contribution to Cather studies with this new title. Cather's heirs have honored a provision in her will that prohibits publication of the letters themselves, which will not fall into the public domain until 2017. . . . This unique book is certainly a very important addition to all literary research collections and to other libraries where Cather studies and scholars are active."—Library Journal"Stout addresses a major need in Cather studies, and she does so with impeccable scholarship and critical acumen."—Susan J. Rosowski, author of Birthing a Nation: Gender, Creativity, and the West in American Literature"Stout's paraphrases effectively convey a sense of Cather's routines and attitudes. Anyone interested in Cather and the West will find this book invaluable and fascinating."—Journal of the WestTable of ContentsAcknowledgments; Introduction; Format of Entries and List of Abbreviations; A Calendar of the Letters of Willa Cather; Biographical Directory; Index of Addressees; Index of Names and Works Mentioned; Index of Repositories

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Book SynopsisEngineer Bartley Alexander appears to have a happy life in Boston with a successful career and a beautiful wife. He has been commissioned to design the Moorlock Bridge in Canada, the most important project of his career.Trade Review“This scholarly edition does justice to Cather’s notoriously particular production requirements. The material and editorial quality of the book meets very high standards, with the paper, the visual presentation of the words on the page, the rigor of the editing and proofreading, the thoroughness of the notes, and the detailed explanation of editorial decisions all illustrating impeccable scholarship. The historical essay and the illustrations provide useful information. . . . This volume stands as a model of scrupulous, indeed loving, scholarship. It offers a fully elaborated, beautiful text that even Cather, despite her effort to bury the book, might be proud to acknowledge.”—Great Plains Quarterly

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Book SynopsisAs she grew older Willa Cather became ever more private, complaining of favour-seekers and other parasites of fame. But in her long career she granted thirty-four interviews, gave six public speeches, and published ten letters. These fugitive pieces, here gathered for the first time, reveal the author's early thirst for fame and the reasons for her later renunciation of it.Trade Review"A valuable book. Bohlke gives us access to complete texts, and his headnotes establish the context and significance of individual entries."—South Atlantic Review.

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Book SynopsisPresents a collection of essays and letters first published in 1949. This work concludes, "Art is a concrete and personal and rather childish thing after all - no matter what people do to graft it into science and make it sociological and psychological".Trade Review"[Willa Cather] is saying the most interesting, most profound things about the art of writing, and the life of art, that have been said in our time certainly, and she does it with immense grace and dignity."—Katherine Anne Porter, New York Times"Like her novels…her criticism has an impeccable distinction of style—it is a criticism démeublé, uncluttered by jargon or pedantry."—Nation

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Book SynopsisReveals new evidence of Cather's authorship of The Life of Mary Baker G. EddyTrade Review"Willa Cather is indisputably the author of The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science. For readers and students today it presents an important profile of Cather's developing voice and a glimpse of subjects and styles that would be her special stock in trade. As the strange drama of Mrs. Eddy's life unfolds in the narrative we become aware of Willa Cather, the burgeoning novelist with a powerful and sympathetic interest in human psychology."--David Stouck

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Book SynopsisA novel that describes life on the Nebraska frontier. It presents a range of biographical, historical, and textual information.Trade Review"This beautifully produced book is a joy to read and demonstrates the real pleasures to be derived from meticulous attention to detail and the highest standards of scholarship."-American Literary Scholarship American Literary Scholarship "The first of the Cather Scholarly Editions sets a high standard of quality... Text and context reveal the splendor of O Pioneers! and enrich both the experience and study of Cather's extraordinary prose."-Western American Literature Western American Literature

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Book SynopsisBefore Willa Cather turned primarily to the fiction which made her reputation, she produced striking poems that were collected in April Twilights. In her introduction, Cather scholar Bernice Slote notes that April Twilights restores what had been an almost lost, certainly blurred, portion of the creative life of a great novelist.Trade Review“[In these poems] Cather’s . . . tone is elegiac or rueful, but her emotions are real. Her own life goes on; as poet she looks forward toward all the books she will write on her own perilous voyage, but gazing as she was from the nineteenth century into the twentieth, Cather stood at the Modernist crux. She knew poetry and valued it, but she also knew that her books were to take the form of fiction written in a striking, allusive, and poetic prose.”—from Robert Thacker’s introduction "Professor Slote's introduction, which considers events leading to the poems, critically analyzes them and then brilliantly relates them to Willa Cather's fictional themes and techniques."—Books AbroadTable of ContentsIntroduction by Robert Thacker Preface to the Revised Edition Willa Cather and Her First Book Dedicatory "Grandmither, Think Not I Forget" In Rose Time Asphodel Mills of Montmartre Arcadian Winter The Hawthorne Tree Sleep, Minstrel, Sleep Fides, Spes The Tavern In Media Vita Antinous Paradox Provençal Legend Winter at Delphi On Cydnus The Namesake Lament for Marsyas White Birch in Wyoming I Sought the Wood in Winter Evening Song Eurydice The Encore London Roses The Night Express Prairie Dawn Aftermath Thine Advocate Poppies on Ludlow Castle Sonnet Thou Art the Pearl From the Valley I Have No House for Love to Shelter Him The Poor Minstrel Paris Song L'Envoi Notes of the Poems of April Twilights Appendix: Other Versus Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThe novel that first made Willa Cather famous—a powerfully mythic tale of the American frontier told through the life of one extraordinary woman—in a handsome hardcover volume.No other work of fiction so vividly evokes the harsh beauty and epic sweep of the Nebraska prairies that Cather knew and loved. The heroine of O Pioneers!, Alexandra Bergson, is a young Swedish immigrant at the turn of the twentieth century who inherits her father’s windblasted land and, through years of hard work, turns it into a prosperous farm. Fiercely independent, Alexandra sacrifices love and companionship in her passionate devotion to the land, until tragedy strikes and brings with it the chance for a new life.One of our most beloved classics, one of the great heroines of American literature.

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Book SynopsisBefore Willa Cather went on to write the novels that would make her famous, she was known as a poet, the most popular of her poems reprinted many times in national magazines and anthologies. Her first book of poetry, April Twilights, was published in 1903, but Cather significantly revised and expanded it in a 1923 edition entitled April Twilights and Other Poems. This Everyman’s Library edition reproduces for the first time all the poems from both versions of April Twilights, along with a number of uncollected and previously unpublished poems by Cather, as well as an illuminating selection of her newly released letters. In such lyrical poems as “The Hawthorn Tree,” “Winter at Delphi,” “Prairie Spring,” “Poor Marty,” and “Going Home,” Cather exhibits both a finely tuned sensitivity to the beauties of the physical world and a richly symbolic use of the landscapes of myth. The the

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Book SynopsisOne of America’s greatest women writers, Willa Cather established her talent and her reputation with this extraordinary novel—the first of her books set on the Nebraska frontier. A tale of the prairie land encountered by America’s Swedish, Czech, Bohemian, and French immigrants, as well as a story of how the land challenged them, changed them, and, in some cases, defeated them, Cather’s novel is a uniquely American epic. Alexandra Bergson, a young Swedish immigrant girl who inherits her father’s farm and must transform it from raw prairie into a prosperous enterprise, is the first of Cather’s great heroines—all of them women of strong will and an even stronger desire to overcome adversity and succeed. But the wild land itself is an equally important character in Cather’s books, and her descriptions of it are so evocative, lush, and moving that they provoked writer Rebecca West to say of her: “The most sensuous of writers, Wi

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Book SynopsisWilla Cather’s story of the missionary priest Father Jean Marie Latour and his work of faith in the wilderness of the Southwest is told with a spare but sensuous directness and profound artistry—with an Introduction by A. S. Byatt.When Latour arrives in 1851 in the territory of New Mexico, newly acquired by the United States, what he finds is a vast desert region of red hills and tortured arroyos that is American by law but Mexican and Indian in custom and belief. Over the next four decades, Latour works gently and tirelessly to spread his faith and to build a soaring cathedral out of the local golden rock—while contending with unforgiving terrain, derelict and sometimes rebellious priests, and his own loneliness.Death Comes for the Archbishop shares a limitless, craggy beauty with the New Mexico landscape of desert, mountain, and canyon in which its central action takes place, and its evocations of that landscape and those who

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