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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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Youth and the Bright Medusa is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Willa Sibert Cather is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Willa Sibert Cather then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

SHORT STORIES WITH A PLOT AND RESOLUTION
I AM NOT A FAN OF WILLA CATHER - HAVING CONSIDERED HER WRITING TOO SIMPLISTIC, COMPARED TO SAY, THOMAS HARDY OR BALZAC. HOWEVER, THESE SHORT STORIES WERE QUITE BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN. ALL DEALT WITH THE ARTS AND ARTISTS. WHAT I ESPECIALLY LIKED WAS THE FACT THAT, UNLIKE SOME SHORT STORIES WHICH SEEM ONLY TO BE A SLICE OF LIFE, HAVE NO PLOT OR RESOLUTION, THESE STORIES ALL HAD AN INTERESTING STORY LINE AND A CLEVER OR INTERESTING RESOLUTION. I FOUND ALL OF THE STORIES TO BE ENTERTAINING... AND THEY HELD MY ATTENTION TO THE END. I WANTED TO KNOW HOW EACH STORY WOULD BE RESOLVED. DO HAVE A LOOK! ... Read more

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The classic by Willa Cather. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

strong first novel by Cather
Alexanders Bridge is the first novel by Willa Cather and it is surprisingly strong for a first novel. The bridge metaphor obviousily playsa major role in the novel and is used for good effect and the dynamics of Alexanders relationships between his wife and withhis first love who on reuniting becomes his mistress. His turmoil is well described and his final decision no surprise. At times the symbolism is too much and Cather uses it todominate the story instead of supplementing it .This is still quite good and shows her genius which became moreapparent in later works

Alexander's Bridges
This is an amazing story about a successful engineer and his simultaneous romantic relationships with two brilliant and capable women.Originally published in 1912, it must have been scandalous, creating sympathetic portrayals of each of the three main characters:Bartley Alexander, a leading bridge building engineer;Winifried Alexander, his intelligent, enabling, supportive, and capable wife;and Hilda Burgoyne, Alexander's mistress, a talented and spirited British stage actress.

This is not a perfect book.And in the preface written by Willa Cather in 1922, ten years after it's original publication, it seems Cather almost apologizes for some of the choices she made in telling her original story - conceding it was not truly a story she understood from personal history, but rather a young writer's attempt to tell a story similar to the stories told by authors she admired.

It is not a long novel, so I was able to read it for the first time over the last few weeks.I enjoyed it very much.

The title "Alexander's Bridge" refers to several primary metaphors, including:

a)The story is about Alexander's attempt to bridge his life between two great loves, the two amazing and unique women in his life.

b)"Alexander's Bridge" is also a metaphor for the institution of marriage, a "singular span" that is capable of bearing conventional loads, but that may not be the safest or most facilitative structure to handle the demands of some modern expanses, loads, and conditions.

c)And "Alexander's Bridge" refers to the Alexander's repeated and unavoidable attempts to bridge his current life and responsibilities with the passions, memories, and goals of his youth.

Alexander, for many good reasons, not only loves Hilda (his current mistress and first love), but maybe as importantly he also loves the person he was in his youth when he was around her chemistry and environments.And he regularly struggles with his present life, where his marriage, career, and all the related societal and work obligations have taken over almost all his time and concerns.Throughout the story, he is consciously, and unconsciously in his sleeping dreams, struggling with the relentless memories of the past.

While I love the insight and universal perspectives in this book, unfortunately, my two least favorite sentences are the last sentence of Chapter X, and the last sentence of the Epilogue.It appears Cather was torn with what summarily should be said about Alexander's choices, because the Epilogue is in notorious conflict with the last sentence of Chapter X.

The whole book is an intelligent exploration of morality, ethics, and dualities - it seems unnecessarily disarmed with such an overriding negative spin as is suggested in the final sentence of Chapter X.I understand Cather must have been under a great deal of social pressure in 1912 to identify Alexander's behaviors as destructive, but almost the entire rest of the book is one big long wink to savvy readers that she was under pressure to put such a pat moral perspective on the totality of his actions.

In later books, like My Ántonia, Cather created a male narrator that does not identify his undying loves as destructive.My Ántonia, as a book, is one man taking the time to recollect and share his fond memories of one of his first love's (Ántonia).A beautiful aspect of My Ántonia is a concession by the narrator that his love for Ántonia never died, even though she married and lived a life separate from him.

Alexander's Bridge, in almost every other part of the book, suggests that Alexander was not intent on being self-destructive;but rather, he had excellent reasons for loving both women and for pursuing so many hard to achieve simultaneous business goals.Both women are drawn lovingly (as Cather is so capable of doing).

Cather was brilliant.Notice that Alexander does not die because his bridge crushes him, or because its weight and undertow drown him.He does not die of hubris.He does not die because he is arrogant and ignores the engineering data.As soon as he receives data suggesting the one bridge cannot meet all the demands placed on it, he immediately changes directions and makes best efforts to get everyone off the bridge.He does not die because he is not self-sufficient or because he is unable to swim.He dies because fearful people around him panic, and they pull him under the water as they drown.

The book is an exploration of this important question:Is it possible for good and moral people to have a healthy extra-marital affair?And in 1912, seriously and carefully examining that question in a mainstream and literate novel had to be controversial.The book suggests that when people are faced with more than one great love, whether or not they choose to pursue only one of those loves (and therefore exclude the other), the conflicts inherent in those decisions continue the rest of their life, regardless of whether they choose to love only one or both.

I recommend people read this book to read the internal dialogues of all the main characters.The book challenges common presumptions, and it questions its own presumptions.Buy a version that includes Cather's 1922 preface.

When Alexander sees that one bridge (one relationship) will not safely support the load, he is not a fool.He doesn't stand idly and sink with the ship (the bridge).He makes best efforts to save himself and as many others as possible by letting them know that his one bridge will no longer keep them safe.And he personally goes back out onto the unsafe bridge and tries to save as many of the other men as possible.

The book is not simply a critique of the traditional love relationship formula.Rather, it is more intent on being illustrative of circumstances that might merit something other than simple Victorian guilt as a response to non-singular love relationships.It compassionately shows how one man had separate and distinctly beautiful relationships with two unbelievably good women.It shows how the social constructs of that era led good men and women to live with self-inflicted and sometimes crushing guilt.Each character loves deeply and genuinely.But in that era, they were forced to choose only one. The book considerately examines the inherent negative consequences that often arise out of the traditional marital contract.

Cather's first novel

Willa Cather's first novel, it concerns the life of engineer Bartley Alexander, the bridge he's building across the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, and the triangular relationship he has with his wife and mistress. The bridge becomes a symbol for his failures: the great bridge he's building collapses (causing his death) at the same time his affair with Hilda collapses. Cather had only published short stories before this, and was reluctant (though resigned) to writing a novel. It's a short work, and Cather herself thought it was shallow and trite (she almost disowned it). Her next work, O PIONEERS, would be much better.

An ersatz Edith Wharton masquerading as Willa Cather
Light on plot, heavy on symbolism, and a little predictable, Cather's first novel (a novella, actually) still contains moments of brilliance, especially in its strong characterizations and occasional flashes of wit. The story concerns a Boston architect who is contendedly married but suddenly embarks on an affair in London with an old flame from his youth. He soon becomes tormented over his double life but finds himself unable to resolve his conflicted feelings. Heavily indebted to the Gilded Age novelists, "Alexander's Bridge" reads like a typical first novel from a writer who shows a lot of promise.

Later in life, Cather wrote an essay entitled "My First Novels (There Were Two)," as close to an apology for a first novel as most writers ever make. She admitted that most of the "younger writers" in her peer group followed the manner of Henry James and Edith Wharton, "without having their qualifications"; she "thought a book should be made out of 'interesting material.'" Only while writing her next novel, "O Pioneers!," did she realize that "taking a ride through a familiar country"--the rural Nebraska of her youth--was "a much more absorbing process." Nevertheless, "Alexander's Bridge" hints at the virtuoso novelist she was later to become, and it's certainly better than many writers achieve in an entire lifetime.

A Bridge to Her Better Work
This was Willa Cather's first novel, and, while showing glimpses of her later talent, is mostly disappointing.The metaphor of the bridge--the conduit to both the past and the future--figures prominently in this story of a Boston architect torn between his ongoing "mid-life" crisis and his energetic, passion-filled past.

The story contains some heavy-handed symbolism (e.g., the bridge), melodramatic action ("With one [hand] he threw down the window and with the other--still standing behind her--he drew her back against him), and awkward phrasing: "'He was simply the most tremendous response to stimuli I have ever known.'"

Still, the story moves along well, and there is an interesting Henry James-like contrast of Europe and America.The beginning nicely portrays the Boston upper class, and the dramatic conclusion includes passages of great strength and imagination.It is in this last chapter, especially, that her skills are most evident.Willa Cather is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of "O Pioneers!" "My Antonia," and other great works.Definitely recommended for those with an interest in her work. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection contains the most celebrated works of Willa Cather:

My Antonia
O Pioneers
One of Ours
Alexander's Bridge
Song of the Lark
Youth and the Bright Medusa
The Troll Garden and Selected Stories

Includes and active table of contents. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Cather Collection
Great collection of Cather classics !I have read "My Antonia" three times and get something new out of it each time I read it.Recently traveled in Nebraska, visiting areas known and familiar to Cather and found her descriptions so accurate. Classic American literature !

Not "the Collected Works", just some of them, but does include "My Antonia" ...
"The Song of the Lark" and "O Pioneers", the three members of the Prarie Trilogy. It also includes her first novel "Alexander's Bridge", her Pulitzer Prize "One of Ours", and two collections of short stories ("Youth and the Bright Medusa" and "The Troll Garden"). It does not include several other of her works, especially "Death Comes for the Archbishop".

Despite the misleading title, Halcyon has done its usual excellent job in presenting these novels with careful proofreading and an excellent interactive table of contents that was a joy to use. I read "my Antonia" to my wife, and we both enjoyed this plainly written and lyrical story of the lives of several settlers on the Nebraska prairies. Cather's own childhood certainly gave her the ability to portray their experiences in a realistic style.

"My Antonia" is very quotable. Some of our favorite passages included:

There seemed to be nothing to see; no fences, no creeks or trees, no hills or fields. If there was a road, I could not make it out in the faint starlight. There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made.

"I never know you was so brave, Jim," she went on comfortingly. "You is just like big mans; you wait for him lift his head and then you go for him. Ain't you feel scared a bit? Now we take that snake home and show everybody. Nobody ain't seen in this kawn-tree so big snake like you kill."

Why aren't you always nice like this, Tony?"
"How nice?"
"Why, just like this; like yourself. Why do you all the time try to be like Ambrosch?"
She put her arms under her head and lay back, looking up at the sky. "If I live here, like you, that is different. Things will be easy for you. But they will be hard for us."

She was a battered woman now, not a lovely girl; but she still had that something which fires the imagination, could still stop one's breath for a moment by a look or gesture that somehow revealed the meaning in common things. She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last. All the strong things of her heart came out in her body, that had been so tireless in serving generous emotions.
It was no wonder that her sons stood tall and straight. She was a rich mine of life, like the founders of early races.

I ain't got time to learn. I can work like mans now.

She remembered home as a place where there were always too many children, a cross man and work piling up around a sick woman.

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 is novelyou 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.

Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen. On the farm the weather was the great fact, and men's affairs went on underneath it, as the streams creep under the ice. But in Black Hawk the scene of human life was spread out shrunken and pinched, frozen down to the bare stalk.

Whatever we had missed, we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past.

****

This novel celebrates strong characters, particularly strong women. Antonia is certainly one of the strongest, and in an interesting way she and Jim exchange their genders. Antonia works extraordiarily hard, with great endurance and in harsh conditions. Jim lives a sheltered life, lives for books and study, and cries during operas.

Both reader and listener enjoyed this book immensely.

Robert C. Ross2010 ... Read more

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Fervently pursuing the life of an artist, a young music student leaves behind her small midwestern town existence and comes to know the elation and heartache of a life in the creative world. Reprint. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

My favorite Cather novel
Lucy Gayheart is one of Cather's more obscure novels and undeservedly so for as a person who has read all of hernovels, I consider this one to be her masterpiece.Cathers main concerns in her fiction are the fact that innocence is never permanent the clash betweenprarie towns and large citiesthe clash between American provincialism and the great art music and literature of Europe and also the struggle ofpeople to maximize their lives. This novel has all of these issues presented at a very high level and Lucy is tremendousily compelling even when she errors in rejecting her longtime boyfriends offer of marriage which turns her life around . The novel is tragicbut it is thought provoking especially for those who care about the pursuit of excellence. Lucys teacher in Chicago tells her it is meaningful human relationships that give life its value and the pursuit of excellence in ones carrer though vital is second to that which is a major theme of the novel I cant recommend this novel too strongly. It is a masterpiece of American literature and should be betterknown than it is

Lucy Gayheart, a wonderful hero, worth your time.
This little novellla about a fascinating young woman reminded me of what a great writer Willa Cather was and is.It's a beautifully written American fable with a marvelous and human heroine, wonderful supporting characters, all of whom I loved and understood albeit none were near my own experience. Try it.You will not be sorry.

A minor classic deserving of attention
A hundred years after the novel is set, the contrast between Chicago and Nebraska still rings true.Having lived in both places, I admire Cather's abiltiy to show the readers the strengths and weak points of each setting.Lucy is so in tune with her surroundings that the settings act almost as characters.
My book discussion group is reading "Lucy Gayheart" because we've all read the "major" Cather works.We chose this one because none of us knew anything about it.It will never be considered one of her great works, but it certainly can stand against the works of many other writers.Cather delicately touches on the subjects of change as a part of leaving home and growing up, the yearning for what is ethereal and lovely, and the difficulty & loneliness of creating a life as an artist.

a haunting story of hope and remorse
I don't know what to make of this story, though I loved it.I love Willa Cather's imagery, characterizations, and descriptions.I couldn't put it down, and I've been haunted by it since I read it.Lucy has so much hope and optimism in the first section of the book.She is in the depths of despair in the second section of the book, but then her hope rises again at the plans she forms to rise above her situation.But at that pinnacle of hope, she is again struck by tragedy.Why???Why did Cather create such a scenario???In section 3, Harry has to live with the remorse of his role in the tragedy. He's an example of how a moment of pettiness can lead to a lifetime of remorse.I guess what is so haunting to me is the juxtaposition of hope and tragedy/remorse that carries throughout the book.

not her best
I have am working my way through the Cather collection (I have read O Pioneers, Song of the Lark, and My Antonia) and I have to say that of the works I have read, this is my least favorite. I agree with the other reviewers that this book gives a brief glimpse into a beautiful tragedy. The problem with this book is that the story, and the emotions feel too contrived for Cather, like she was trying too hard.She carries it off well with her superb writing, rallying my score from three stars to four. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (124)

Unreadable edition
I ordered Death Comes for the Archbishop for my mother from Amazon.The edition she received was virtually unreadable--on every page many words on every line were run together, and this continued through the entire book.This edition had no orignial copyright date, no original date, no information from the Library of Congress.

poor printing job
I recently purchased the Cassia Press 2009 printing of Death Comes for the Archbishop. Many sentences have words strung together. Very careless typesetting. I bought the book to give as a gift, but I am going to throw it away. Willa Cather would be horrified to see what happened to her work in this particular edition. Amazon.com ought to be more careful in who does their printing.The problem is, though, that customerscannot know in advance if the printing of the work has been carelessly done.

Let's hope for higher quality next time....

Joseph R Ornig
Waukegan, Illinois

Death comes for the archbishop
One word in 4 is wrongly attached to another which makes the reading painful. A book like that should never have been out of the printshop. It is a shame because the story is good. It is also sadly evidence that Amazon do not check the books

poor printing
Purchased this book for a book study. Had been unable to find any copies locally.The book was very poorly printed.Each page had multiple words that were run together making it agravating to read.Lucked out by finding a copy locally.Did not send this one back because had thrown away all the paperwork and did not want to mess with it.Very disappointed that Amaazon would carry a product of such low quality.

Death Comesto/The Arshbishop
This story is a classic Willa Cather work.Vibrant account of pioneer New Mexico.This printing is inferior with words running together making it difficult to read.This edition should be withdrawn. ... Read more

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Product Description
Best known for the distinctive portraits of the people and land of the American West in her prairie novels, Willa Cather is one of the greatest American writers of this century. The fourteen short stories in this richly diverse collection, along with an exemplary introduction by author Cynthia Griffin Wolff, allow for a more complex view of Cather. As a writer she was intrigued by nature's ruthlessness and mankind's limitless potential for brutality and had a passion for the beauty of art. Ranging from the simplicity of Cather's first published story, "Peter" (1892), to the extraordinary eroticism of "Coming, Aphrodite!" (1920), this Twentieth-Century Classics collection is an engaging and triumphant testament to the genius of an American literary icon. ... Read more

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A guide to reading "My âAntonia" with a critical and appreciative mind encouraging analysis of plot, style, form, and structure. Also includes background on the author's life and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions, and a reading list. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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The Troll Garden and Selected Stories is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Willa Sibert Cather is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Willa Sibert Cather then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Read More Willa Cather
At the price you can retrieve this on Kindle, you should read all the Willa Cather you can.She has an amazingly modern voice for someone writing a century ago, and her stories still hold up over time.My favourites in this collection are: The Bohemian Girl; A Wagner Matinee; and Paul's Case.I prefer the short story and essay to long overwrought novel-writing (which Cather does not do--I'm thinking of Joyce Carol Oates and that sisterhood) but what amazes me in these stories is how much 1) I don't want them to end, or 2) I want to know even more about these characters (unlike recent works like "One Day" where I can't wait to get away from anyone described in the book).However, Cather was a skilled artist and knew when to end a story, and knew just how much to give us (in the manner of, say, a great poet).

Cather's First Collection And Additional Early Work
"The Troll Garden and Selected Stories" by Willa Cather contains some of her earliest writing.This collection includes the entirety of her 1905 collection "The Troll Garden", along with her earliest nationally published story "On the Divide", "Eric Hermannson's Soul", another very early story, "The Enchanted Bluff", and "The Bohemian Girl", two other early Cather stories that were published after "The Troll Garden".The four additional stories all fall into her frontier life stories for which she is best known.

"On the Divide" - A story which was first published in January of 1896, and was her first story published in a national magazine, "Overland Monthly".In this story, Canute, a man who spent the majority of his life in Sweden before coming to America to farm, is in a position where he drinks to avoid the boredom.He has his eyes set on Lena, a young woman who is more interested in having some fun than marrying Canute, though she seems to believe that eventually she will get around to getting married to him.Canute gets tired of her teasing, and takes her by force to his home, and then goes to get a priest there as well.He then forces a marriage, but then he stays outside.His refusal to enter makes her lonely, so she decides to consent, and after refusing his offers of bringing others to her, she finds him laying in the snow sobbing when she opens the door for him to enter after telling him that she would prefer him to any other.

"Eric Hermannson's Soul" - Published originally in "Cosmopolitan" in April of 1900.In this story, Eric Hermannson enjoys his music and the attentions of women, but he starts to feel that it is going to catch up to him, thanks to the prayers of his mother who warns him of the loss of his soul.Eric then gives up on music and women when he takes seeing a rattlesnake while on a date as an ill omen.Two years later, when he meets Margaret, she is able to convince him to go to a dance, and he agrees, believing that it damns his soul.After, she tells him that she is soon to leave (which she knew all along), and that she will not return.He is then asked by his pastor whether he danced, and Eric readily admits it, though he believes it will set his soul "back a thousand years from God".

"The Enchanted Bluff" - Published originally in "Harper's" in April of 1909, in this story, six boys talk about adventures they would like to have, and when the story of the Enchanted Bluffis told, they agree to a pact to try to go there, and that the first one will tell the others of what they find.Much later, when they are all adults and all have taken different paths with their lives, none of them has made it, though one has passed on the spirit of the adventure to his son.One of my favorite stories in this book, it captures the childhood innocence of a bygone era beautifully.

"The Bohemian Girl" - This is the longest story in the collection and was originally published in "McClure's" in August of 1912.In this story, Nils Ericson returns to the home of his youth.Nils is the son who went away, while his brothers have received land from their father.They fear Nils, because they are worried that he may have the second will, which his father made but has been missing.But Nils has returned to see Clara, a woman he fell in love with years before, and who his brother Olaf has married.Nils has come to realize that he loves Clara, and he wants her to run away with him.

"Flavia and Her Artists" - This story was originally published in this collection. Flavia likes to put herself at the center of society by inviting noteworthy people to her house parties, though her husband, Arthur, doesn't fit in with them.In this case, it is a group which consists of several noteworthy people, including M. Roux, a novelist.It also includesImogen Willard, the narrator of the story, who remembers Flavia's husband from her childhood.M. Roux leaves much earlier than the other guests, and when an article he writes satirizes Flavia mercilessly, Imogen tries to keep it from Arthur, but he reads it and then destroys it so that Flavia will not read it.The other guests are aware of it though, and when the subject of M. Roux comes up, Imogen believes that she notices a general agreement with what he had done.Arthur does not put up with their falseness though, and does to M. Roux in front of the guests what M. Roux had done to Flavia.When many of the guests decide to leave, Flavia mistakenly believes that it is her husband who has acted improperly.

"The Sculptor's Funeral" - This story was originally published in McClure's Magazine in January of 1905.When Harvey Merrick's body returns for burial to the small town in Kansas where he grew up, the locals make fun of him, even though he was a famed sculptor.Only two people appear to truly grieve the loss, his student Henry Steavens, and his old friend, Jim Laird, who finally hears enough of the other's attacks on Harvey, and he lets them know exactly how much better Harvey was than any of them.

"'A Death in the Desert'" - This story was originally published in "Scribner's" in January of 1903.This story centers on Everett Hilgarde, a man who is often mistaken for his brother Adriance, who is a famous composer.On a trip to Wyoming, he is surprised to see Katharine Gaylord, a singer who used to work with his brother, and who he knew and admired when he was much younger.They start to meet regularly, and he learns that she is fatally ill.He lets Adriance know of her situation, and his brother sends her a letter and his most recent composition.

"The Garden Lodge" - Caronline Noble used to be a musician, and recently entertained a famous tenor, Raymond d'Esquerre.His visit has reminded her of her days when she was a musician, and less practical.She at first is opposed to her husband wanting to tear down the garden lodge where she spent time with Raymond d'Esquerre, but after reflection and a night's sleep, she returns to the more practical world which has become her life after music.

"The Marriage of Phaedra" - The narrator, MacMaster, sets out to write the biography of Hugh Treffinger, a painter who has just passed away.He becomes involved in the dealing with his unfinished work, "The Marriage of Phaedra".Hugh Treffinger's valet and assistant, James, believes that Hugh did not want it to be sold, as it was unfinished, but an art dealer from Melbourne has offered Hugh's wife a lot of money for it.

"A Wagner Matinee" - First published in "Everybody's Magazine" in February of 1904, this story is a wonderful story about a young man in Boston (Clark) who learns that his aunt from Nebraska is coming to visit.His aunt Georgiana lived in Boston a long time ago, and she loved music, so he arranges to take her to a concert.When she arrives, she is much changed and he is worried about how she will react to the event, as she seems to have lost all of what she once was.As the concert goes on, he notices more and more how it seems to be reaching her.A very touching story, and one of my favourites in this collection.

"Paul's Case" - This story was first published in McClure's Magazine in May of 1905.This story starts in Pittsburgh, and opens with Paul meeting with the Principal of his school and the teachers that had him suspended.Paul's troubles don't end there, as he is drawn to the performing arts, ushering at Carnegie Hall, but his father isn't pleased with Paul's attitude, so he puts him to work at his company, while forcing him to give up his job at Carnegie Hall.Paul steals and runs away to New York to escape the life he hates.He watches the papers for signs that they know where he is, and when he sees them he is afraid of what they will do.He is resolved in what to do, and carries out his plan.This is an interesting story, and the comparison between flowers in winter and Paul's life is a good one.

One could argue that the first four stories in this collection don't fit with those in "The Troll Garden", and that is certainly true.However, at the same time, "The Troll Garden" was a short collection, and it is nice to see Willa Cather's other early work included in a collection, and they are a better representation of the fiction for which Cather is most well known, i.e. the stories from the plains and farms of middle America.While some of the stories from "The Troll Garden" are set in those areas, the common theme which runs through those stories is artists.I would take this collection over one which just includes "The Troll Garden", but both are very good.
... Read more

Product Description
Death Comes for the Archbishop is a 1927 novel by Willa Cather. It concerns the attempts of a Catholic bishop and a priest to establish a diocese in New Mexico Territory.

The novel was included on Time's 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005[1] and Modern Library's list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

Death Comes for the Archbishop is a 1927 novel by Willa Cather. It concerns the attempts of a Catholic bishop and a priest to establish a diocese in New Mexico Territory.

The novel was included on Time's 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005[1] and Modern Library's list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

Excerpt:
One summer evening in the year 1848, three Cardinals and a missionary Bishop from America were dining together in the gardens of a villa in the Sabine hills, overlooking Rome.The villa was famous for the fine view from its terrace.The hidden garden in which the four men sat at table lay some twenty feet below the south end of this terrace, and was a mere shelf of rock, overhanging a steep declivity planted with vineyards.A flight of stone steps connected it with the promenade above.The table stood in a sanded square, among potted orange and oleander trees, shaded by spreading ilex oaks that grew out of the rocks overhead.Beyond the balustrade was the drop into the air, and far below the landscape stretched soft and undulating; there was nothing to arrest the eye until it reached Rome itself.

It was early when the Spanish Cardinal and his guests sat down to dinner.The sun was still good for an hour of supreme splendour, and across the shining folds of country the low profile of the city barely fretted the skyline--indistinct except for the dome of St.
Peter’s, bluish grey like the flattened top of a great balloon, just a flash of copper light on its soft metallic surface.The Cardinal had an eccentric preference for beginning his dinner at this time in the late afternoon, when the vehemence of the sun suggested motion.The light was full of action and had a peculiar quality of climax--of splendid finish.It was both intense and soft, with a ruddiness as of much-multiplied candlelight, an aura of red in its flames.It bored into the ilex trees, illuminating their mahogany trunks and blurring their dark foliage; it warmed the bright green of the orange trees and the rose of the oleander blooms to gold; sent congested spiral patterns quivering over the damask and plate and crystal.The churchmen kept their rectangular clerical caps on their heads to protect them from the sun.The three Cardinals wore black cassocks with crimson pipings and crimson buttons, the Bishop a long black coat over his violet vest.

They were talking business; had met, indeed, to discuss an anticipated appeal from the Provincial Council at Baltimore for the founding of an Apostolic Vicarate in New Mexico--a part of North America recently annexed to the United States.This new territory was vague to all of them, even to the missionary Bishop.The Italian and French Cardinals spoke of it as Le Mexique, and the Spanish host referred to it as “New Spain.”Their interest in the projected Vicarate was tepid, and had to be continually revived by the missionary, Father Ferrand; Irish by birth, French by ancestry-- a man of wide wanderings and notable achievement in the New World, an Odysseus of the Church.The language spoken was French--the time had already gone by when Cardinals could conveniently discuss contemporary matters in Latin.

Further Reading:
Written by Willa Cather and available from ADB Publishing
Sapphira and the Slave
A Lost Lady (1923)
Lucy Gayheart (1935)
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) – This Book
Shadows on the Rock (1931)
The Professor's House (1925)
Obscure Destinies
My Mortal Enemy
Not Under Forty

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Product Description
A luminous collection--with an introduction, notes, chronology, and bibliography--of ten of Willa Cather's short works written from 1900 to 1920. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The greatest gift was in making her characters knowable
The greatest gift Ms. Cather had was in making her characters knowable.When reading a story, you felt that you know the people she wrote about.You could sit down for a cup of coffee with them, like you have known them forever.
'Eric Hermannson's Soul' is about the religion and love of life out on the prairie.Eric 'gets religion' then meets a woman who shows him that life could be enjoyed.
'The Sculptor's Funeral' is set in his parent's home.He had left home to get his education out East and became successful and happy.One of his students is in attendance.The local community pillars are also there.The talk turns to how the sculptor treated his folks, embarrassingly bad.Another fellow from the town, a lawyer, is there as well and sets them all straight.
'A Wagner Matinee' has his aunt coming to Boston for a few days to settle an inheritance.He shows her around and she ends up crying for joy.You sort of wonder if she regrets her choices made many years ago.
'Paul's Case - A Study in Temperament' is a high school kid suffering from angst.He just can not get past that he can not have an exciting, fun filled life.
'The Enchanted Bluff'' is in New Mexico.A group of high school boys hanging out on a sand bar during the summer regale each other with stories and plans for the future.One of them tells of this place in New Mexico.
'The Bohemian Girl' is the daughter of the local barkeeper.She has married well and her brother-in-law, the prodigal son, sort of, has come to visit.
'Uncle Valentine (Adagio non troppo)' lived next door to the narrator when she was growing up.He was a composer who married badly, lived in France, etc and got away from all that.He has come home and he and the little girl's family are close.The time he is there is wonderful, in fact, later on, you learn that it is referred to as 'the golden year.'
'Neighbour Rosicky' is a gentle farmer who has grown old.His family is one of the few that are truly happy.His wife and children are the joy of his life.He has known city life and never thinks it is worthy of a second thought if there is a choice.He is proud that he has given his children that choice.
'Old Mrs. Harris' is the mother who takes care of her daughter's family like a maid or cook or nanny.There are trials and tribulations to be dealt with and she does.She is from an old Southern well-to-do family, with certain social standards and ways.
'The Novel Démeublé' is not a story.It is an exposition of writing and what makes a better writer.

Solid
In reading through the Great Short Works Of Willa Cather I was taken not by any of the individuated works, but by the cadences of the writings, and their themes and mileux. That's not to say that any of the individual tales had no traits to booster, but the truth of it is, as I am writing this review about three to four weeks after I read the book, not a single narrative sticks in my mind, save for a tale about some Midwestern folk, in a small town, waiting for the corpse of a citizen, killed in World War I, to arrive home. At least I recall its premise. I do not recall its denouement. And that is precisely Cather's weakness as a short story writer. There is sort of a Midwestern sepia to all she writes. No characters embed themselves the way characters of a Herman Melville, or Raymond Carver, do.

I see waves of grain blowing tidally in the winds. Perhaps the most interesting thing that I recall about Cather's short tales were their dialogues- the conversations. And perhaps it's because she was a writer of her time, but I just get a sense that she had no real ear for dialogue. By this I do not mean that there were not people who spoke in the stiff tones her characters did, but the conversations seem as if they were specifically written for the page, not gleaned from a real overheard colloquy. Carver is probably the best writer to do this, although some might claim that his characters are too foul mouthed. But, that is not what I mean by realistic conversation. Real people hem and haw when they speak- this being the reason that punctuation was initially developed- to allow writers to denote what is said- a pause being a comma, a longer pause being a period, etc. Only later did these diacritical signages get transformed into rationalized things, such as a period not just being a long pause, but the end of a coherent thought, or sentence.

This is where Raymond Carver excels. His conversations often meander and stumble about the subject matter, and the conversants often skip off into other topics before moseying back to the original one. Not so with Cather's dialoguers. There never seems to be an out of place (read- real) moment in their interactions, whether verbalized or not. The conversation is merely a tool to propel the plot, rather than also develop the characters. Simply plot-driven stories always risk falling over due to their weightedness in one direction. This is what happens to too many Cather tales. Granted, she does not fall into the caricaturization trap of a Flannery O'Connor nor a William Faulkner, yet her tales are not ripping good yarns, nor are they particularly insightful probes into a person, an event, or a psyche amidst a crisis. They do read as a document of a time and place, though, and as such, perhaps, the best way to describe a Cather tale is to call it travelogue writing. Her endings also are tinged with a Horatio Algerian quality that, to me, at least, does not welcome re-reading. Her tales tell me, `We're safe and tucked in now, thanks for stopping by.'

This may seem to some like I am suggesting Cather was a pre-PC PC Elitist. No, she's not. Perhaps the nearest analogue I can think of, of those writers I've read, is she is to the Midwest what Eudora Welty was to the South. Both are more concerned with the neatness and aura of their tales' settings, than in anything that occurs within those bounds. In looking about for some others' analysis of Cather's writing I see that most critics tend to see Cather in her tales, mostly her novels, for her short stories are considered a minor part of her oeuvre, yet I think that is a mistake, unless one is to believe Cather, a newspaper reporter, was a very introverted, unobtrusive sort. Her characters are pallid, and I know, as perhaps a third of my fictive characters have aspects of myself, that it's nearly impossible to not `inhabit' a character that resembles you. This is not a criticism, just a statement. I could be wring, but then I would have to ponder Cather's psychology from a Freudian point of view, and that basically is an abnegation of the text, therefore fairly worthless in speaking of the strengths and weaknesses of Cather's tales....Interestingly, Cather seemed to acknowledge her lack of skill in the form by actively downplaying her short fiction and proclaiming herself a `novelist' first- to the point of actually refusing to allow many of her short stories, some collected in this book, to be anthologized or republished in her lifetime. Notice that I've not selected a single selection to portray her prose. This is because not a single piece of it moved me greatly, one way or the other, and that there is sort of a uniformity to her prose, which allows a reader to read any reasonably sized paragraph of hers, and be able to extrapolate her whole world from it. This is an observation, and could be both a good and bad thing. I think it just is, for Cather is a remarkably static writer, and in reading through the Great Short Works Of Willa Cather I was taken not by any of the individuated works, but by the cadences of the writings, and their themes and mileux....Hmm? Where did I read that before?

Re-introduce yourself to an American Storyteller
Willa Cather wrote that book that many of us were forced to read in high school, My Antonia, but she did much more that that.Her novels from the plains and prairies deal with the clash of Eastern and Western culture (as in Eastern and Western United states) as well as the values of art and the simple life.

At the center of Cather's message is the search for meaning in the midst of relationships that sometimes offer limited choices.This collection of her great short stories is a wonderful way to re-introduce yourself to an American Storyteller in smaller does than a full-length novel.

Herein you will fined what is perhaps Cather's most-reproduced short story, "Paul's Case", a tale of a young high schooler who goes off to the big city because of the lure of its culture, music and art.This was the only short story of Cather's I had read before buying this book.The other stories took me to the Lone Star schoolhouse for a revival sweeping a rural Western community (in "Eric Hermannson's Soul"), a Kansas train station ("The Sculptor's Funeral"), a Manhattan concert hall ("The Wagner Matinee"), a Nebraska riverbank ("The Enchanted Bluff") and more.Cather's vivid descriptions conjure up whole worlds in these diverse settings.

My favorite story, however, was "Uncle Valentine" which tellsthe story of "a golden summer" before abrilliant young musical composer's life is sidetracked by a series of unfortunate events.The story is poignant whether one understands that the main character is based on a real American composer or not.

Although this anthology was published sixteen years ago, it is still in print.Perhaps due not onlly to the wonderful stories but also the maginficant introduction by Robert K. Brown.Brown allows those of us who are not scholars of American letters to feel as if we do in fact have an understanding of Miss Cather and her remarkable career as newspaper reporter, literary magazine editor and Pulitzer Prize winning author.
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Product Description
This Kindle book includes the novels Alexander's Bridge, O Pioneers! The Song of the Lark, My Antonia, and One of Ours.It also includes the collections Youth and the Bright Medusa and A Collection of Stories, Reviews, and Essays. According to Wikipedia: "Willa Sibert Cather (December 7, 1873[1] – April 24, 1947) was an American author who grew up in Nebraska. She is best known for her depictions of frontier life on the Great Plains in novels such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark." ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Finding Her Voice
Western writers have a peculiar and under-appreciated voice: it is at once the measured tone of individualistic self-reliance and, simultaneously, the sound of a choir.Willa Cather's masterpiece is truly "western" in its stunning portrait of tension between the kind of "individualism" that our nation seems to take such pride in and our underlying connectedness -- our sense of community; a choir of individual voices singing as one.The book is as stunning and fresh with old wisdom as it must have been to its first readers when its middle-aged author finally found her distinctly "western" voice.

My Antonia is at once Cather's masterpiece, the premier American novel of the 20th C., and a wonderful reminder to 21st C. America of values that are timeless.

In our current era of media conglomerates' increasingly "individualistic" sales pitches (talking heads telling us that we'll "stand out from the crowd" if we buy their toothpaste or shampoo or sports car), the delight in discovering a community that will not dishonor a sensitive man's grave by building a cross-road over it is palpable.

At our time in history, when movie moguls pitch Iron-Man cult-worship of "rugged individualists" to pre and early-teen boys -- showing them everything that they're not -- watching Ms. Cather's narrator look into the mirror of "his" Antonia's eyes for affirmation of him as a "big man" is like prairie rain settling the dust on a dry summer road.

In an epoch obsessed with superficial beauty -- where women's bodies are sculpted like designer-SoCal hot rods then washed and waxed in "spas" that closely resemble automated 1970s car washes -- Antonia's strong shoulders, broken fingernails, and weather-creased face remind us that beauty is not the way a woman looks but, rather, a reflection of what she is.

At a time when third-wave immigrants object to the "strange languages" their neighbors speak -- the Indian Spanish dialects and Tex-Mex of todays immigrants -- Ms. Cather speaks across the open fields of time to issues of immigration.The Swedish and Czech and Dutch and Italian and Celtic idioms of Antonia and her fellow working girls in an insular Nebraska town are physically strong, fun, and objectively superior as people to theindolent, stay-indoors (we can almost imagine TV-watching) daughters of the town's elite class. Can we see that old truth in hard lives of our "illegal" neighbors and their families?Truth that remains unspoken in the immigration demagogueryof our times?

My Antonia is perhaps an old book: it speaks Old Wisdom that is seldom (if ever) heard in modern America's crop and consumer monoculture.The foregoing quick examples suggest the rich, deep truth that inhabits the novel. But does "modern" America have ears for the old Wisdom Ms. Cather's characters speak into life?

Are there still ears to hear Willa Cather's voice? ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Short Stories of Willa Cather
'The Neighbor Rosicky' is a beautiful story of a real person of family life.The
descriptive detail is beautiful yet simple.

'Old Mrs. Smith' is a story of what it is to be an old lady - - her grace, her role
and pride as seen from many angles.

'Two Friends' deals with a strange friendship, strong in its being and strong in
its destruction.

Neighbour Rosicky
This collection of three stories--each over fifty pages--contains what I believe is the most emotionally beautiful "short story" ever written: "Neighbour Rosicky".

Here is a story of love, and despair; beauty and tragedy.All life entails suffering, but it is up to us how we handle suffering: we either handle it with dignity or despair; this volume bespeaks of the former.When the crop fails, Rosicky takes his family on a picknick, so they can appreciate what they have, not what they don't.Rosicky--with a bad heart--rakes the Russian thistle from his son's neighboring farm because "he was afraid their seed would root and 'take the alfalfa'".Some call this "silly sentimentalism", but it is not: it is the beauty of appreciating life in the simple things.

Willa Cather, like Shakespeare, is a word-smith for all ages, and will be read--in a thousand years--alongside Homer and his ilk.

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Product Description
Although it has been proven posthumously by scholars that Willa Cather had lesbian relationships, she did not openly celebrate lesbian desire, and even today is sometimes described as homophobic and misogynistic. What, then, can a reassessment of this contentious first lady of American letters add to an understanding of the gay identities that have emerged in America over the past century? As Marilee Lindemann shows in this study of the novelist's life and work, Cather's sexual coming-of-age occurred at a time when a cultural transition was recasting love between women as sexual deviance rather than romantic friendship. At the same time, the very identity of "America" was characterized by great instability as the United States emerged as a modern industrial nation and imperial power. Indeed, both terms, "queer" and "America," achieved fresh ideological potency at the turn of the century. Willa Cather: Queering America is an enlightening unpacking of Cather's writings, from her controversial love letters of the 1890s--in which "queer" is employed to denote sexual deviance--to her epic novels, short stories, and critical writings. Lindemann points to the "queer" qualities of Cather's fiction--rebellion against traditional fictional form, with sometimes unlikable characters, lack of emphasis on heroic action, and lack of engagement in the drama of heterosexual desire. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not for the uninitiated
I am currently taking an undergraduate course on Cather, and I hoped that this book would provide some insight into a side of her not covered in the course. However, I found the book full of jargon which rendered itincomprehensible to me. Perhaps if you are already initiated into the worldof "queer studies" you will find it interesting, but I don'trecommend it for a casual reader.

Daring and Provocative
Lindemann's deft analysis of Cather and her "queer" sensibilities is a refreshing change of pace from the boring, disconnected aesthetic-based criticism that has dominated Cather studies for some timenow. Written in a delightfully engaging prose style, _Willa Cather:Queering America_ provides us with insight into the next phase of Catherscholarship that dares to situate the author within the sexual-politicalenvironment of the early twentieth century. A must for queer and gay andlesbian Americanists, as well as anyone interested in American literaryhistory and the traditions that frame such a field. ... Read more

Product Description
Willa Cather drew deeply on her childhood days in frontier Nebraska for her fourth novel, the classic MY ANTONIA, first published in 1918. Old immigrant neighbors inspired her characters, particularly the heroine Antonia. This Willa Cather Scholarly Edition is faithful to Cather's original intentions and includes W.T. Benda's illustrations. Photographs help illuminate the fiction of a writer who drew extensively on actual experience . ... Read more