Bøger af Willa Cather

Death Comes for the Archbishop is a 1927 novel by American author Willa Cather. It concerns the attempts of a Catholic bishop and a priest to establish a diocese in New Mexico Territory. The novel is based on the life of Jean-Baptiste Lamy (1814-1888), and partially chronicles the construction of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The capture of the Southwest by the United States in the Mexican-American War is the catalyst for the plot."The Padre of Isleta", Anton Docher is identified as the character of Padre de Baca.Among the entities mentioned in the novel are Los Penitentes, a flagellant lay confraternity in Southern Colorado and New Mexico that still operates today. The novel was reprinted in the Modern Library series in 1931. It was included in Life Magazine's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924-1944. It was also included on Time's 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 and Modern Library's list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century and was chosen by the Western Writers of America to be the 7th-best "Western Novel" of the 20th century.James Paul Old of Valparaiso University uses Death Comes for the Archbishop as a literary example of the notion that religious faith is able to develop and maintain strong social bonds in nascent democratic political orders. He argues that even though Cather's early novels, such as My Ántonia, typically represent religious characters as closed-minded, her personal religious realignment at the time allowed her to alter her perspective and develop more positive religious characters, in this case Catholic ones. And while some of her contemporary critics found her out of step with the experiences of common people, later critics, such as Old, praised her for a "search for a basis of order and cultural stability beyond the confines of contemporary secular culture."Additionally, scholars note that Latour's character is not strictly placed within the male-female binary, but instead, as Jennifer A. Smith argues, "oscillates between norms of femininity and masculinity." In developing a theory that Cather had questioned her own gender in the 1920s, Patrick W. Shaw suggests that "fundamental double entendres" and "elaborate image clusters" throughout the novel support a reading of sexual disregularity and ambiguity. (wikipedia.org)

Willa Cather established her reputation as a writer of extraordinary talent with the publication of O Pioneers!-the first of her books set in Nebraska. In this stirring romance of the Western prairies, the lives of two very different heroines unfold during a time when the wild lands of the frontier broke the spirit of many of America's hopeful Swedish, Czech, Bohemian, and French immigrant farmers. When Alexandra Bergson inherits the family farm as a young girl, she reveals herself to be as uncommonly determined, enterprising, and capable as she is charismatic. Meanwhile, the relationship between Alexandra's brother Emil and the beautiful Marie Shabata plays out in what many critics view as some of Cather's finest writing. Throughout, the land itself emerges as a character that challenges and changes the lives it supports. Cather's descriptions of the territory and its people evoke a time and place long gone but foundational in forming our national character. This Warbler Classics edition includes key reviews of the first edition and a biographical timeline.

The spirited daughter of Bohemian immigrants, Ántonia must adapt to a hard existence on the desolate prairies of the Midwest. Enduring childhood poverty, teenage seduction, and family tragedy, she eventually becomes a wife and mother on a Nebraska farm. A fictional record of how women helped forge the communities that formed a nation, My Ántonia is also a hauntingly eloquent celebration of the strength, courage, and spirit of America's early pioneers.

In the aftermath of the Mexican-American War, two French Jesuit priests travel to the American Southwest to establish a new Roman Catholic diocese. Upon arrival, Father Jean Marie Latour and Father Joseph Vaillant encounter a diverse population in an unforgiving landscape, the entrenched customs and beliefs of the inhabitants, and corrupt Spanish priests. Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Willa Cather and published in 1927, the novel follows the two priests' adventures, friendship, and spiritual journey as they struggle to fulfill their mission.

My Ántonia tells the stories of an orphaned boy from Virginia, Jim Burden, and the elder daughter in a family of Bohemian immigrants, Ántonia Shimerda, who are brought as children to be pioneers in Nebraska near the end of the 19th century.

First published in 1925, "The Professor's House" is the profound study of a middle-aged man's unhappiness by critically acclaimed American author Willa Cather. The novel tells the story of its central character, Professor Godfrey St. Peter, in three parts. In the first part, the Professor feels that he is losing control over his life and resists the direction it is taking. He is displeased with his family's move to a new house, with his daughters being grown and married, and with the death of Tom Outland in the First World War, who was a beloved student and the fiancé of his oldest daughter. In the second part, the Professor recalls the first-person account of Tom and his explorations in New Mexico. Tom's goodness and love of nature are a sharp contrast to the materialism and superficiality of the Professor's new son-in-law and his death has been a great loss to the family. The third section finds the Professor alone, despondent, and losing his will to live while secluded in his old study as the rest of his family is off on vacation. "The Professor's House" is a moving and affecting study of fear, mortality, and one man's struggle to find meaning in his changing life. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.