Description
Book SynopsisExamines Willa Cather's position in time, in aesthetics, and in the world. Born a Victorian in 1873, Cather made herself a modernist through the poems, stories, and novels she wrote and published into the twentieth century. Beginning with a prologue locating Cather's position, this volume of Cather Studies offers three sets of related essays.
Trade Review"The essays that comprise
Willa Cather at the Modernist Crux are a welcome addition to the ongoing assessment of the author's career and her contributions to modern US literature."—Susan Naramore Maher,
American Literary History“The essays selected for the volume—in all cases substantial and thoughtful, in some cases exhilarating in their intellectual richness and scope—valuably deepen, complicate, and extend the account of the precise nature of Cather’s modernism.”—Richard Millington, coeditor of
The Cambridge Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne “Essential reading in the field. . . . These essays point the way toward a new generation of Cather scholarship.”—Daryl Palmer, author of
Writing Russia in the Age of ShakespeareTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Introduction: Willa Cather at the Modernist CruxAnn Moseley, John J. Murphy, and Robert ThackerPrologue: Gifts from the Museum: Catherian Epiphanies in Context John J. MurphyPart 1. Beginnings
1. The Compatibility of Art and Religion for Willa Cather: From the BeginningSteven B. Shively2. Thea in Wonderland: Willa Cather’s Revision of the
Alice Novels and the Gender Codes of the Western Frontier Michelle E. Moore3. Ántonia and Hiawatha: Spectacles of the Nation Joseph C. MurphyPart 2. Presences
4. Willa Cather, Howard Pyle, and “The Precious Message of Romance”Richard C. Harris5. “Then a Great Man in American Art”: Willa Cather’s Frederic Remington Robert Thacker6. Willa Cather, Ernest L. Blumenschein, and "The Painting of Tomorrow" James A. Jaap7. From
The Song of the Lark to
Lucy Gayheart, and
Die Walküre to
Die WinterreiseDavid Porter8. The Trafficking of Mrs. Forrester: Prostitution and Willa Cather's
A Lost LadyCharmion Gustke9. The Outlandish Hands of Fred Demmler: Pittsburgh Prototypes in
The Professor’s HouseTimothy W. Bintrim10. Translating the Southwest: The 1940 French Edition of
Death Comes for the ArchbishopMark J. MadiganPart 3. Articulation:
The Song of the Lark 11. Elements of Modernism in
The Song of the LarkAnn Moseley12. “The Earliest Sources of Gladness”: Reading the Deep Map of Cather’s Southwest Diane Prenatt13. Re(con)ceiving Experience: Cognitive Science and Creativity in
The Song of the Lark Joshua Doležal14. Women and Vessels in
The Song of the Lark and
Shadows on the RockAngela ConradEpilogue: The Difference That Letters Make: A Meditation on
The Selected Letters of Willa CatherAndrew Jewell and Janis StoutContributors
Index
