This is a simply written but thematically complex, metaphoric story, replete with subtle nuances. The events that transpire are seen primarily through the eyes of a boy who comes of age, a contrivance that the author successfully employed in her best selling classic, "My Antonia". Here, it is no less successful. Through the eyes of Neil Herbert, who lives in Sweet Water, a prospective railroad hub on the Western plains in...
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This is a simply written but thematically complex, metaphoric story, replete with subtle nuances. The events that transpire are seen primarily through the eyes of a boy who comes of age, a contrivance that the author successfully employed in her best selling classic, "My Antonia". Here, it is no less successful. Through the eyes of Neil Herbert, who lives in Sweet Water, a prospective railroad hub on the Western plains in...
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In the opening sentence of this short novel, Cather describes Sweet Water, the Nebraska town in which it takes place, as "so much grayer today" than it was a generation or so before, when the story takes place. When she wrote those words in 1923, she couldn't possibly have known how prophetic or poignant they would be today, as that part of the country has continued to lose population and become dotted with ghost towns in...
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This book is from Willa Cather's middle period of writing -- between My Antonia and Death Comes to the Archbishop. This may be the least known but best portion of her output.As does My Antonia, The Lost Lady pictures the American frontier in the middle west and its closing due to urbanization, the demise of the pioneer spirit, and commercialization.Together with its picture of the changing of the West, the book is a coming...
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Like the majority of Cather's works, "A Lost Lady" immediately draws readers into its straight-forward narrative, and brings otherwise unremarkable characters to life with very concisely-worded descriptions. This novel tells the story of Marian Forrester, the wife of a much-older former railroad construction manager living in a small town in the Great Plains. Her beauty, polite reserve and the fact that she is from California...
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It's interesting to look back at pop culture that withstands the test of time. In the past weeks, we've reflected on some of the notable books and movies that came out five decades ago. Now we turn our attention to the books turning 100 this year. Here are ten memorable books from 1923.