Willa Cather was an early twentieth century American novelist. She was renowned for her works on frontier life of Great Plains. Her key works include The Song of the Lark, O Pioneers! and My Ántonia. She achieved the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 1923.
Willa Sibert Cather was born on December 7, 1873 in Back Creek Valley near close to Winchester, Virginia. She was the eldest child of a deputy Sheriff, Charles Cather and a former school teacher Mary Virginia Boak. Later her family moved to Willow Shade in her paternal family’s Greek Revival-style home. Her time on the remote frontier settlement deeply influenced her and shaped her perspectives. She was inspired by the beautiful landscape and the cultural richness of the western frontier. In 1890, she received her graduation degree from the Red Cloud High School. With the intention of studying medicine from the University of Nebraska and becoming a physician, she moved to state capitol in Lincoln.
However, she steered away from her dream as she discovered her passion for writing. It did not dawn on her until her story got published that she had written for a writing class. While studying at college, she served as an editor for school magazine. She wrote articles and play reviews for a local magazine. One of her stories, “Peter”, got published in a Boston magazine in 1982. This story would later become basis for her acclaimed novel, My Antonia. On completion of her graduation she was hired as an editor for Home Monthly. In fact, she landed a job of a high school English teacher which she served from 1901 to 1906. In the meantime, she penned stories for her first collection, Troll Garden (1905). Her story “Tommy, the Unsentimental”, was about a girl with a boy’s resemblance and name, who saves her father’s business. In this story, the author went against the conventions of the society and the rigid gender roles.
A twist of fate brought Willa Cather to New York as her work was recognized by the famous McClure’s Magazine and she was hired as a staff member. Later she was promoted to the post of managing editor for her fine skills. Subsequently, to focus on her writing career she quit writing for the magazine. The very same year she published Alexander’s Bridge. Afterwards she produced the successful Prairie Trilogy. The first book O Pioneers! was published in 1913. The story is about a family of Swedish immigrants Bergsons. The protagonist Alexandra inherits the farm business in a small town near Nebraska when her father dies. Despite the difficulties she doesn’t give up and move like other families have from the Great Plains. The story has a romantic angle too. It was followed by the sequels The Song of the Lark (1915), and My Ántonia (1918). The trilogy received positive response from the critics.
Cather’s highly acclaimed novel One of Ours published in 1923 is considered to be the milestone in her writing career. The novel narrates the journey of a young man named Claude Wheeler whose quest to find his life’s purpose leaves him disappointed. His romantic idealism is not fulfilled by a marriage but bloodshed on a battlefield. Wheeler represents a lost American whose pursuit of purpose is satisfied by the chaos and mayhem of war. She was awarded the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for the sensitive and realistic subject matter of her novel. Willa Cather suffered a cerebral hemorrhage which resulted in her death in 1947.
Buy Books by Willa Cather
