The Old Beauty and Others

by Willa Cather

Three stories are the last that Willa Cather wrote. The whole story of a womans life with nothing that matters left out.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, The United States Of America, Short Story Collection

166 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 1948

About the author

Wilella Sibert Cather was born in Back Creek Valley (Gore), Virginia, in December 7, 1873.

She grew up in Virginia and Nebraska. She then attended the University of Nebraska, initially planning to become a physician, but after writing an article for the Nebraska State Journal, she became a regular contributor to this journal. Because of this, she changed her major and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.

After graduation in 1894, she worked in Pittsburgh as writer for various publications and as a school teacher for approximately 13 years, thereafter moving to New York City for the remainder of her life.

Her novels on frontier life brought her to national recognition. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), set during World War I. She travelled widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada. In later life, she experienced much negative criticism for her conservative politics and became reclusive, burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript.

She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943. In 1944, Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments.

She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 73 in New York City.

Reviews

[Nicolás Tauriani · Rating 3 out of 5]

En la obra de Cather está la idea del viajante, de la toma de tierras, de la conquista de nuevos espacios, la frontera como un lugar inhóspito. Las valijas de su portada no hacen referencia al concepto de viaje, sino de migración (aún más interesante): buscar nuevos espacios para crear nuevos espacios.

Un encuentro de personajes díscolos que no saben bien qué quieren de ellos mismos. En cada uno de sus relatos los personajes tienen frente a sí un gran desierto, una gran frontera, una gran responsabilidad frente a lo que está por venir y son esas decisiones existenciales las que hacen que cada uno de los relatos sea un pequeño espacio de reflexión acerca del lugar que ocupamos.

Recomiendo leer el texto que Truman capote le dedicó, donde relata como la conoció. Es maravilloso.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 excelente recopilación de cuentos. Parejos, armónicos, sutiles, refinados. Literatura de gran nivel

[Luciana · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Qué hermoso libro! Me devolvió esa necesidad de regresar a casa para sentarme a leer. Cada cuento estuvo lleno de sentimiento, cargado de fuerza y emotividad. Algunos muy originales en cuanto a las historias; otros con un gran desarrollo de sus personajes.
La temática que podría reunirlos es la soledad desde distintas perspectivas, el extrañar a un ser querido o una forma de vida, la nostalgia respirándose constantemente.
Una linda sorpresa ❤️

[Nora Llano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creo que, de este libro, los dos mejores cuentos son "El caso de Paul" y "El vecino Rosicky"
Ambos títulos son espantosos, como los de casi todos los cuentos de esta antología.
El primero que menciono es brutal en ambos sentidos de este término, y tiene una profundidad filosófica muy interesante.
El segundo que nombro, quizá más una nouvelle, es de una belleza que últimamente no he encontrado en otras lecturas.
Todos estos cuentos son un poco el color dorado desde el que se mira el tiempo pasado, ese tiempo que sólo se puede añorar.
No me animo todavía a elegir una novela suya.

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Old Beauty - 5* character study about trying to reclaim the Victorian and Edwardian era in the 1920s. Spoiler: it never works.

The Best Years - 3* very good story about teachers in early 20th century Nebraska.

Before Breakfast - 1* not great story about a Boston businessman and his dyspeptic rambling thoughts.

[Karen Hogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars... You probably think I dont like Willa Cather's work, but I do. Just look at my reviews on "My Antonia", "My Mortal Enemy" and "Lost Lady", to know how much I think of this author. Having said this, however, I admit I dont like all of her pieces. Of the three short stories in this collection, I preferred "The Best Years", and didnt really care for "Before Breakfast". I'm still glad I finally read these short stories, published after her death. She is still one of my favorite female author's of the 20th century. Keeping good company with Edith Wharton.

[Jessica Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is this the Willa Cather I traveled to New Mexico for? The woman who wrote of Antonia falling in love with a prairie that literally grows arms to embrace her?

The Old Beauty is so bitter. The Best Years end in death. Before Breakfast, at least, has trees.

It's been about seven years since I last read Cather. Seven is much fewer than the number of years between her early novels and these stories. Did she change, or did I?

I can't help but read The Old Beauty and scream at the male gaze. Or read The Best Years and see a young girl die for the sake of a story. Or sigh through Before Breakfast as a rich white man bemoans his mortality on his private island.

Time to get to the bottom of this. Next reading: Willa Cather's Letters, My Antonia, and then back to The Old Beauty and Others.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This paperback collects three relatively short stories, the last three that Cather wrote before her death in 1947. The title story, The Old Beauty, is set in 1922, and tells of older people yearning for the past of their youth. The second story, The Best Years, was Cather's last work, and it conveys the 1899 prairie small town life she knew so well. Finally, Before Breakfast is a much shorter story about a man who takes comfort on a small nearly deserted island from his unhappy city life. As always with Cather, she tells just enough to show us all the things in life that go unmentioned. She remains one of my favorite writers, and I'm glad to have found some stuff by her I hadn't read before.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love getting lost in Willa Cather's books - the ebb and flow of the character's lives always draw me in. The first short story, The Old Beauty, did just that and I was captivated with the characters through the entire story. There are two other short stories in this book, and they were just ok. "The Best Years" felt disjointed - the story had central characters, but the story wandered around them and it never really came together for me. "Before Breakfast" seemed like it was trying to make a point which wasn't well thought out. I'm glad I read the book, but it's not something I would pick up and read again like many of her other stories.

[Diego Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

Relatos que transcurren en la época de la autora, los inicios del siglo XX. Esto es relevante no para darle contexto a las escenas, que son delicadamente atemporales, sino para tener perspectiva de la potencia que la escritora le imprime al texto, dándole sutiles destellos de erotismo, libertad y feminismo a textos escritos hace 100 años.

La autora juega en la liga de Antón Chéjov, Horacio Quiroga y John Cheever. No hay motivo para no leer a esta mujer.

[Lainie · Rating 4 out of 5]

How did I wait until age 70 to read any Willa Cather?? I finally pulled "The Old Beauty & and Others" from my bookshelf a couple of days ago. Reading it was like savoring a fine wine: no edges, smooth flow, deep feelings. She never tells, always shows ... and makes it look easy.

Love love love this writer and plan to read more of her works.

Recommended!

[JamiG4 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it's the time passed or maybe the vagueness that was confusing, but I wasn't super impressed. It may be the hype of a friend who raves about this author. I will definitely try another longer novel of hers sometime in the future before I have a final determination on this author.

[Flor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tiene formas de decir e imágenes que me parecen hermosas, incluso marqué bastantes frases y partes. Pero definitivamente son cuentos que, a mí en lo particular, no me interpelaron demasiado, lo cual hizo que en algunos momentos se me vuelva un poco pesada la lectura.

[AFlamme · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 short stories with vastly different scenery, all of early 1900s era:
Old Beauty - Southern France
The Best Years - Rural Nebraska
Before Breakfast - North Atlantic Island

All stories gently mix seeing the good of relationships through the less good.

[Jorge Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una serie de relatos llenos de nostalgia. Me costó entrar en las historias al principio pero página a página la vida de estos personajes se fueron volviendo tan atractivos y entrañables que no lo pude dejar hasta el final. Creo que la que más me ha gustado fue “El caso de Paul”

[Amy Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never read anything by Willa Cather, and these stories were a good introduction.

[Sydney E · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 nice stories - i think i liked The Best Years the most, then Before Breakfast, and then the title story. I’ll always like Cather’s stories about the Nebraska plains the best

[Marlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book of stories by Willa Cather. The first story was pretty good but the other two were kind of pointless. I love the way she writes though.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three short stories, all with Cather's beautiful ability to capture to time and the people of Kansas in the early 20th century.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three stories. The third was very short and felt like a section from perhaps a future novel. My favorite was The Best Years, the middle story.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cather’s stories are beautiful and eloquent with a sharp dash of the unexpected to jostle the reader’s complacency.

[Fernando Angeleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

📙 La Belleza de Aquellos Años: Es un libro de Cuentos/Relatos de 7 historias: ¡Próximamente, Afrodita!, La posada del jardín, Un zapato dorado, El vecino Rosicky, El peñasco embrujado, El caso de Paul y La belleza de aquellos años. Todas historias que nos transportan a otro tiempo, no muy lejano, en distintas locaciones de EEUU, con personajes muy variados pero con la característica de lograr empatizar con ellos, con sus historias, sus virtudes y miserias. Los temas de los cuentos son muy diferentes, a veces parecen guardar cierta transversalidad con visitas al teatro, pero no son lo suficientemente significativas para interpretar que ocurren de manera paralela; aunque al tratarse de realismo, puede ser un juego de la autora.

🗣Opinión Personal: Se nota cuando la autora es de otro siglo, son otros los temas, son otras las preocupaciones que abordan los cuentos, pero no por eso dejan de ser atrapantes.
Los cuentos que más me gustaron son ¡Próximamente, Afrodita!, El vecino Rosicky, El caso de Paul y La Belleza de aquellos años. Creo que tiene personajes llenos de humanidad, algunos con la preocupación de vivir, amar o de perdurar en la memoria, de sentir que su paso en la vida no fue solo un accidente sino que tenía un sentido. Y con eso juega la autora con una prosa que parece despreocupada, pero no cae en lugares comunes y sorprende la frescura de sus historias. Me ha gustado conocerla.

🔊Recomendado para lectores que amen los clásicos y los cuentos. Son relatos que tienen cerca de cien años pero que han envejecido bien y no pierden su esencia.
¿Les gustan los cuentos de Ficción Realista? ¿Conocían a la autora? Yo no la conocía y no se que otres me estoy perdiendo. Escucho recomendaciones.

[Dusty · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a while now, Willa Cather has been on my list of literary need-to-get-to-knows. So when I found this volume on the shelves at a friend's house I couldn't help but ask if she'd lend it to me. The Old Beauty and Others is probably not the ideal place to first dip one's feet into Cather's pool of plains families and hard-wired women -- the dust jacket reveals it is her final three works, published posthumously in 1948 -- but nonetheless it reveals a writer with a talent for clear but profound sentences and a sharp eye into the joys and sorrows of human nature.

Of the three stories, I'd say my favorite was "The Best Years," about a woman who is the superintendent over several rural Nebraska schools, her favorite young schoolhouse teacher, and a brutal winter snowstorm. I'd agree with the other reviewers who say there isn't much plot or irony in "Before Breakfast," the third and final story in the collection; that said, I do think a tale about a man who looks back on a life full of hard work and difficult choices and would like just to enjoy his retirement but can't because the world has changed so much in so many bothersome ways is probably a suitable conclusion to Cather's own body of work. I'm excited to jump into her earlier, more acclaimed stories.

[Violely · Rating 5 out of 5]

Siempre se dice que hay que contextualizar autor y obra. Hoy, después de haber terminado este libro debo decir: Contextualizame a Willa por favor!!
Cather nació en EEUU en 1873 y murió en 1947 y en esta recopilación habitan mujeres de una personalidad y una fuerza tremenda. Mujeres que se construyeron solas una y otra vez, que elijen su destino y van detrás de él, que no tienen miedo de sus deseos y ambiciones, que son capaces de dejar amores de lado y hombres callados con sus argumentos. Seguramente habrá sido una excepción en su tiempo pero que tremenda excepción y que alegría haber dado con este libro porque muestra lo maravillosa que es la escritura de mujeres, lo lucida incluso en una época totalmente contraria a lo que se "debería escribir".
De las historias que hablo son las tres primeras del libro, pero aquí conviven también otros personajes e historias, algunas más algunas un poco menos pero todas me parecieron muy bien logradas. Lo que más me gustó de Willa fue su tono, como una tarde soleada de otoño, así lo puse en una de las historias, ahora lo releo y creo que sí, es acertado. Entre cálido y fresco, nada opresivo. Las historias fluyen, fluyen y fluyen. Solo hay que dejarse llevar.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even Willa Cather's final stories, written in the mid-1940s, seem really old-fashioned. That's not a criticism; I think her conventionality is absolutely charming. Perhaps "conventionality" is the wrong word, but I also don't think she was particularly experimental or anything.

"The Old Beauty" and "The Best Years" are both excellent, while "Before Breakfast" is merely okay. I just didn't care about the character, and the story had no twists. I couldn't possibly toss either of those criticisms at "The Old Beauty" or "The Best Years," both of which seemed like compressed Cather novels, with all the strengths I've come to expect from her best work. "The Best Years," in particular, was up to Cather's usual prairie-story standards.

Having never previously read any of Cather's short fiction (although My Mortal Enemy was certainly brief), I was pleased to find that these stories were just as good as her novels. And I never really expected to like Willa Cather as much as I do.

[Beverlee Jobrack · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Willa Cather's writing. She describes the context of each story with simple realism relating the kinds of details that you observe yourself but don't realize how significant they will be to you. This is three short stories, the last she wrote, published after she died. "The Old Beauty" has that simple but powerful turn of events that haunts you. "The Best Years" relates the story of a young schoolteacher in a one-room school in such a way that the reader gets a lesson in history as well as insights into the lives of the characters. From "Before Breakfast" this excerpt struck home: "Last night had been one of those nights of revelation revaluation, when everything seems to come clear... only to fade out again in the morning. In a low cabin on a high red cliff overhanging the sea, everything that was shut up in him, under lock and bolt and pressure, simply broke jail, spread out into the spaciousness of the night, undraped, unashamed." Powerful imagery and emotion.

[Dianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was thrilled to pick this slim volume off the used-book shelves in "Slightly Foxed", a sweet book shop on Gloucester Rd in Kensington, London. Slightly Foxed had purchased the book at an estate sale near Kew Gardens just the day before. Though I'm a prolific Willa Cather reader, I had never seen these stories; I sat up late (with wine) my final night at the London hotel to enjoy "The Old Beauty", and finished the other stories on the long plane trip back to the US. This book is a treasure, printed in London in 1956; mine forever.....

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a treasure found in a used bookstore. Willa Cather's last three short stories; written with Cather's incredible skill and directness. Admittedly, I am of a certain age that her wisdom resonates more deeply than a younger, less experienced reader could appreciate. Like all of Cather's works the women are strong and independent. The mood is reflective in all three stories, but not pessimistic or depressing. I would highly recommend. This volume now has a new home next to my Jane Austins; it is THAT worthy.

[Hernán Connell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Willa Cather una autora estadounidense de principios del siglo XX, autora que desconocía, tiene una forma de escritura que me recuerda a algunos cuentos de scott fitgerald en su brillo pero que tienen ya la melancolía y la soledad de Carver. Me pareció un interesante libro. Para indagar mas sobre la autora. Sus cuentos hablan del paso del tiempo, del campo y la ciudad, de qué es el éxito, cual es su verdadera cara.

[Alexia Martiarena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro tiene narraciones que son algo planas, a mi parecer. No se presentan grandes aventuras, pero si te hace reflexionar sobre muchas cuestiones más bien triviales que han tenido un impacto memorable y que afectaron sobremanera a cada personaje, allí está su encanto. Es interesante lograr entender a cada personaje y sus formas de encarar la vida, mi historia preferida fue la del "El vecino Rosicky".