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The Selected Letters of Willa Cather
Willa Cather's letters—withheld from publication for more than six decades—are finally available to the public in this fascinating selection. The hundreds collected here range from witty reports of life as a teenager in Red Cloud in the 1880s through her college years at the University of Nebraska, her time as a journalist in Pittsburgh and New York, and her growing eminence as a novelist. They describe her many travels and record her last years, when the loss of loved ones and the disasters of World War II brought her near to despair. Above all, they reveal her passionate interest in people, literature, and the arts. The voice is one we recognize from her fiction: confident, elegant, detailed, openhearted, concerned with profound ideas, but also at times sentimental, sarcastic, and funny. A deep pleasure to read, this volume reveals the intimate joys and sorrows of one of America's most admired writers.
752 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
42 people are currently reading
813 people want to read
About the author
Willa Cather
904 books2,787 followersWilella 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
March 19, 2015
LONG read (almost 800 pages), but for the excessive length, it is intensely readable -- infused with Cather's unique voice: which is, at once, acerbically critical as well as warm and unpretentious.
"As for me, I have cared too much, about people and places -- cared too hard. It made me, as a writer. But it will break me in the end."
"As for me, I have cared too much, about people and places -- cared too hard. It made me, as a writer. But it will break me in the end."
November 2, 2014
Author Willa Cather was born in 1873 and died in 1947. Her family moved from Virginia to Red Cloud, Nebraska, when she was a child. Throughout her life, though she lived and worked in the Northeast, she would travel back to the plains and later to California to visit the family to whom she was devoted. Though she toiled as an editor and for a few years as a public school English teacher, she supported herself primarily through the sales of her own work.
Her letters reveal a powerful person, one in charge of her own life from beginning to end. She and her longtime companion lived in various quarters in the Northeast and in Europe in order for Cather to research and write her considerable oeuvre. Among her best selling works are My Ántonia, O Pioneers, and Song of the Lark. In 1922 she won the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours.
I believe the perusal of such letters can give the reader yet another look at an author’s life. In this case, Cather is addressing her publishers, editors, her parents (who live long lives), siblings, and dear friends. Much of what she writes is travelogue—as she spends much time on ships between the US and Europe, trains spanning the country from coast to coast—yet her letters are serious works of art themselves. The impression one walks away with is that she was an intelligent, business-savvy, and caring person. Yet she is no one’s fool. In letters to Alfred Knopf, she gingerly weaves her way through all the issues as to why she should have more money for a certain book or why she needs an extension, and because she is such a fine communicator and person, she often wins the battle. However, if she doesn’t, she gives in gracefully as part of the larger game. She moves on without holding a grudge.
One of many nuggets:
“You can never get it through peoples heads that a story is made out of an emotion or an excitement, and is not made out of the legs and arms and faces of one’s friends or acquaintances. Two Friends, for instance, was not really made out of your father [James L. Miner] and Mr. [William Newman] Richardson; it was made out of an effect they produced on a little girl who used to hang about them. The story, as I told you, is a picture; it is not the picture of two men, but of a memory” (492).
Well worth the time if you love Cather, and if you don't now, you might after you savor each letter in this collection.
Her letters reveal a powerful person, one in charge of her own life from beginning to end. She and her longtime companion lived in various quarters in the Northeast and in Europe in order for Cather to research and write her considerable oeuvre. Among her best selling works are My Ántonia, O Pioneers, and Song of the Lark. In 1922 she won the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours.
I believe the perusal of such letters can give the reader yet another look at an author’s life. In this case, Cather is addressing her publishers, editors, her parents (who live long lives), siblings, and dear friends. Much of what she writes is travelogue—as she spends much time on ships between the US and Europe, trains spanning the country from coast to coast—yet her letters are serious works of art themselves. The impression one walks away with is that she was an intelligent, business-savvy, and caring person. Yet she is no one’s fool. In letters to Alfred Knopf, she gingerly weaves her way through all the issues as to why she should have more money for a certain book or why she needs an extension, and because she is such a fine communicator and person, she often wins the battle. However, if she doesn’t, she gives in gracefully as part of the larger game. She moves on without holding a grudge.
One of many nuggets:
“You can never get it through peoples heads that a story is made out of an emotion or an excitement, and is not made out of the legs and arms and faces of one’s friends or acquaintances. Two Friends, for instance, was not really made out of your father [James L. Miner] and Mr. [William Newman] Richardson; it was made out of an effect they produced on a little girl who used to hang about them. The story, as I told you, is a picture; it is not the picture of two men, but of a memory” (492).
Well worth the time if you love Cather, and if you don't now, you might after you savor each letter in this collection.
February 21, 2018
This is such a remarkable time capsule covering decades of life including publishers, published authors, important and unknown friends from America's West, Southwest, East Coast to London, Paris and beyond. This woman moved around a great deal.
While it is true that Willa Cather forbid publication of her letters in her will and much of her correspondence was destroyed to comply with her wishes, enough of those letters were protected to give us a rare look into her feelings about family, publishers, the world and how she was portrayed, both fairly and unfairly. Her insistence to write longhand was a challenge in the 40's especially as she struggled with injury yet wrote with a metal cast.
While it is true that Willa Cather forbid publication of her letters in her will and much of her correspondence was destroyed to comply with her wishes, enough of those letters were protected to give us a rare look into her feelings about family, publishers, the world and how she was portrayed, both fairly and unfairly. Her insistence to write longhand was a challenge in the 40's especially as she struggled with injury yet wrote with a metal cast.
July 9, 2013
As Willa Cather is my favorite writer, period, I knew I had to read this book. On that note, this is probably the slowest book I have ever read. In order to grasp every nook and cranny of the book, I read approximately 10 pages per day. This woman's insight is extensive and made me love her even more. Although, I must admit that there was something pretty skeezy about this book being released after the author clearly stated IN A WILL that she didn't want the letters reproduced, it was such a pleasure to have further insight into what made Willa Cather...Willa Cather. I have to admit that I was really torn on the rating I was going to give this book due to the ethical concerns this placed, but in the end, I focused on the content and knowledge I gained to deeper understand this dynamic author.
I wouldn't be shocked if this is a book that I would read numerous times and actually plan on purchasing it for my personal library so I can make notes in it. Hopefully next time it won't take me 2.5 months!
I wouldn't be shocked if this is a book that I would read numerous times and actually plan on purchasing it for my personal library so I can make notes in it. Hopefully next time it won't take me 2.5 months!
May 27, 2019
Here’s the thing. This book... is kinda boring. Because it’s a bunch of letters. So it’s basically like “the weather is atrocious” or “I visited so-and-so” or “sorry I haven’t written, I’ve been super busy.”
BUT... that’s why it’s brilliant, because that’s what life is made up of.
After patiently moseying through this book, I actually feel kind of like I know Willa Cather a little bit. And that’s pretty darn cool.
BUT... that’s why it’s brilliant, because that’s what life is made up of.
After patiently moseying through this book, I actually feel kind of like I know Willa Cather a little bit. And that’s pretty darn cool.
January 23, 2016
This was an epic book, which I expected (and not just because of the size). It started when Willa was a teen in the late 1800's and ended with her death in 1947. Her letters provided much insight into all aspects of her life, except maybe her relationship with Edith Lewis. I was inspired to read One of Ours and Song of the Lark in conjunction with this book after being intrigued by all the letters she wrote discussing them, and I have several more on my Kindle waiting their turn. The family dynamics she wrote about to other family members were fairly fascinating to me, as were all her various and sundry medical "issues". Makes me feel like medicine has come a long way since her later years for sure...and also that she was maybe a bit of a hypochondriac...just a bit! Enjoyed this very much, two thumbs up :o)
October 25, 2015
Yes, it took me almost exactly a year to read, but I savored it, reading just a letter or two a day. I had 2 sets of great-grandparents living in Red Cloud when Willa Cather grew up there and I hoped to see a mention of them, but alas it never happened. I now feel like Willa is a personal friend and I look forward to re-reading this book and all of her novels in the order she wrote them. What an amazing talent and interesting woman she was. So glad so much of her life treasures are available to share with the world in Webster County. Despite what she says in the last few pages, her hometown really is very, very proud of her!!!!
January 24, 2014
I attended the Cather conference in Red Cloud last June and purchased the just-released Selected Letters. This is a first -rate view of her life from childhood in Nebraska to Pittsburgh, Manhattan, the Southwest, Maine and NH, and elsewhere. Her descriptions of her major novels and her self-confidence are the best features of the letters.
July 21, 2015
LONG read (almost 800 pages), but for the excessive length, it is intensely readable -- infused with Cather's unique voice: which is, at once, acerbically critical as well as warm and unpretentious.
"As for me, I have cared too much, about people and places -- cared too hard. It made me, as a writer. But it will break me in the end."
"As for me, I have cared too much, about people and places -- cared too hard. It made me, as a writer. But it will break me in the end."
February 23, 2015
I am biased because the editor, Andrew Jewell, was a mentor of mine at UNL and I did some work at the Willa Cather archive. I thought the book was beautifully put together, and I love reading Cather's uncensored thoughts.
December 17, 2024
I will miss reading these letters - just a few at a time on most evenings. It was like hearing from a distant friend who is by turns cranky (especially about movie productions of her books), staunch in protecting her time and energy for what matters most to her, warm with those she loves, able to admit her mistakes and scold others for theirs, delighted by her successes and remarkably impervious to negative press. Cather's wonderfully human voice comes across in letter after letter as does her deep pleasure in writing. "The actual development of a story that has been carefully planned is the pleasantest occupation I know," she wrote in 1941. Throughout, Cather is delightfully herself, despite the fact her deepest emotional life - presumably her love for Isabelle McClung and then her lifelong companion Edith Lewis - is never on display.
In a 1947 letter, Cather writes, “We learn a great deal from great people. The mere information doesn’t matter much - but they somehow strike out the foolish platitudes that we have been taught to respect devoutly, and give us courage to be honest and free. Free to rely on what we really feel and really love - and that only.”
Willa Cather’s letters offer a similar gift.
In a 1947 letter, Cather writes, “We learn a great deal from great people. The mere information doesn’t matter much - but they somehow strike out the foolish platitudes that we have been taught to respect devoutly, and give us courage to be honest and free. Free to rely on what we really feel and really love - and that only.”
Willa Cather’s letters offer a similar gift.
October 7, 2021
This is on my did-not-finish shelf strictly because of it’s length of over 700 pages. I borrowed it from the library and can’t keep it long enough to complete, since it’s a book that’s best dipped into rather than read cover to cover. Cather was as honest and good a letter writer as she was a novelist, and while it’s occasionally repetitive, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about her life as an independent single woman around the turn of the twentieth century. A wonderful historical document as well as a portrait of a remarkable woman.
August 29, 2020
Purchase The Selected Letters here for just $4!
This first publication of the letters of one of America’s most consistently admired writers comes more than half a century after her death. Although detailing her life, these letters have all the character and shine of her now classic fiction. A great compilation.
Olly, The Book Grocer
This first publication of the letters of one of America’s most consistently admired writers comes more than half a century after her death. Although detailing her life, these letters have all the character and shine of her now classic fiction. A great compilation.
Olly, The Book Grocer
December 6, 2023
The reason I read this book is I live in Nebraska and I have been to many of the places in the book. I lived in NY moved to Omaha and I got to see My Antonia here when I arrived. The library has so many of her books and I became a fan. Lovely to see all the letters she has written. You will recognize lots of famous people she had written too. Favorite letters are to her family. She traveled many times to her home town Red Cloud, NE.
July 14, 2020
An engrossing peak into an important author.
January 24, 2016
I'm sure, if you're familiar with the works of Willa Cather, this is an excellent collection. But I'm not, so it isn't. Some parts are nice, but a lot of this delves into personal feelings of people Miss Cather knew, and to read a complete stranger's personal correspondence is surprisingly not voyeuristic, but uninteresting.
Miss Cather does have quite a few thoughts of greatness:
- How can I "do anything" here? I have'nt seen enough of the world or anything else.
- The physical person of you, the almost family tie between us, the old wish for well-being, hold perfectly staunch. The spirit of you eludes me. Perhaps it is because our lives are so different.
- Such a ravishing world and such a short life to see it in.
- "your vivid, exciting companionship in the office must not be your audience, you must find your own quiet center of life, and write from that to the world that holds offices, in all society, all Bohemia, the city, the country—in short, you must write to the human heart, the great consciousness that all humanity goes to makeup. Otherwise what might be strength in a writer, and what might be insight is only observation; sentiment falls into sentimentality—you can write about life, but never write life itself. And to write and work on this level, we must live on it–we must at least recognize it and defer to it every step. We must be ourselves, but our best selves."
- "....I want to go right back into that canyon and be mauled about my its big brutality, though all my bruises are not gone yet. It's a country that drives you crazy with delight, and that's all there is to it. I can't say anything more intelligent about it.
- I suppose the test of one's decency is how much of a fight one can put up after one has stopped caring, and after one has found that one can never please the people they wanted to please.
- my first impulse is to think that my own way of seeing things is the right way. But my second thought is always to admit that this is wrong and that I have been often mistaken.
- Some of me was buried with him in France, and some of him was left alive in me.
- We are like that about the people we love best sometimes, we have a kind of loving jealousy about them.
- There is no God in California, no real life.
- It seems to me that the pleasure one feels in a work art is just one thing that one does not have to explain.
- Our great enlightenments always come in flashes.
- What can money buy that is so worth while as every as beautiful country and the pleasant things of every-day life which so often go with beautiful country?
- There are few things in one's life so precious as to have been given that magical kind of perception and sympathy towards someone we love.
Miss Cather does have quite a few thoughts of greatness:
- How can I "do anything" here? I have'nt seen enough of the world or anything else.
- The physical person of you, the almost family tie between us, the old wish for well-being, hold perfectly staunch. The spirit of you eludes me. Perhaps it is because our lives are so different.
- Such a ravishing world and such a short life to see it in.
- "your vivid, exciting companionship in the office must not be your audience, you must find your own quiet center of life, and write from that to the world that holds offices, in all society, all Bohemia, the city, the country—in short, you must write to the human heart, the great consciousness that all humanity goes to makeup. Otherwise what might be strength in a writer, and what might be insight is only observation; sentiment falls into sentimentality—you can write about life, but never write life itself. And to write and work on this level, we must live on it–we must at least recognize it and defer to it every step. We must be ourselves, but our best selves."
- "....I want to go right back into that canyon and be mauled about my its big brutality, though all my bruises are not gone yet. It's a country that drives you crazy with delight, and that's all there is to it. I can't say anything more intelligent about it.
- I suppose the test of one's decency is how much of a fight one can put up after one has stopped caring, and after one has found that one can never please the people they wanted to please.
- my first impulse is to think that my own way of seeing things is the right way. But my second thought is always to admit that this is wrong and that I have been often mistaken.
- Some of me was buried with him in France, and some of him was left alive in me.
- We are like that about the people we love best sometimes, we have a kind of loving jealousy about them.
- There is no God in California, no real life.
- It seems to me that the pleasure one feels in a work art is just one thing that one does not have to explain.
- Our great enlightenments always come in flashes.
- What can money buy that is so worth while as every as beautiful country and the pleasant things of every-day life which so often go with beautiful country?
- There are few things in one's life so precious as to have been given that magical kind of perception and sympathy towards someone we love.
July 31, 2013
For the life of me, I can not figure out what the hype surrounding this collection is about. Never have I been so happy to complete a read, and one which, I might add, took an inordinately long time to complete. I look upon writing good literature as an art, and for that, I truly appreciate Willa Cather as an author. I just find it hard to accept that by reading a collection of letters by this author that I am anywhere closer to understanding her as a person or as an artist. To believe otherwise, is a pretentious farce by the reader. First and foremost, though letters may give us insight into their author's mindset, even Willa herself admitted when commenting upon some of her own, that there is an inherent bias in letter writing. The writer may frequently write in a style or provide content geared toward their expectations of the recipient's views and needs. Further, though Cather tries to provide insight into the writing process, I offer, what does it matter? Does it affect my appreciation of a Van Gogh or a Klimt to know whether the painter was close with his parents or siblings, or hated them? Artists truly have a gift, but to appreciate their art, is it fair to suppose that by reading their letters I can crawl into their psyche and truly understand from where their gift springs. I think not. Further, I really didn't like the woman whose letters I read, which unfortunately may color my appreciate of her "art." Sure, she doesn't mince any words (and I respect that), but she came across as petty, self-centered and a bit self righteous. Perhaps there was a valid reason why she did not want these printed. Perhaps she realized that by indulging in this supposed "connection" to her work we might minimize the art. For me, I will stick to reading the "art" and not the "how to."
July 4, 2014
This is a book that, as the editors noted in the preface that simply should not have existed. Cather's will strictly forbade the publication of any of her correspondence. The last executor to her will died in 2011, so with the legal road block cleared, the editors prepared this volume--approximately 20 percent of the entire corpus.
Why did Cather wish her letters to remain unpublished? She gave as the reason that she wished her canon to stand by itself, wholly the product of her imagination. Scholars seemed to think that Cather wished to keep her private life, specifically her lesbian relationships with Isabelle McClung and Edith Lewis a secret. Sadly, this volume lacks in letters to either of the two women, and one must conclude that both women respected Cather's insistence on privacy and destroyed their letters. That's unfortunate.
Nonetheless, this volume sheds a great deal of light on deeply cherished life-long friendships with the Miner sisters, Dorothy Canfield Fisher and Zoe Atkins. It clarifies Cather's absence at her mother's funeral and it depicts the author as a proud and doting aunt and great-aunt.
The most enjoyable letters I found to be those that focused on the Cather brand. Edith Lewis was an advertising executive and no doubt, her expertise influenced Cather. Whether it was matters related to type facing or paper quality, she demanded that her products be marketed so that her books sold well. Like it or not, she was a literary celebrity.
Much has been made of Cather's disdain for Hollywood celebrity culture, but one can't help but grin as she writes star-struck about being on the same train with Rin Tin Tin!
All in all a wonderful addition to the world of Cather scholarship.
Why did Cather wish her letters to remain unpublished? She gave as the reason that she wished her canon to stand by itself, wholly the product of her imagination. Scholars seemed to think that Cather wished to keep her private life, specifically her lesbian relationships with Isabelle McClung and Edith Lewis a secret. Sadly, this volume lacks in letters to either of the two women, and one must conclude that both women respected Cather's insistence on privacy and destroyed their letters. That's unfortunate.
Nonetheless, this volume sheds a great deal of light on deeply cherished life-long friendships with the Miner sisters, Dorothy Canfield Fisher and Zoe Atkins. It clarifies Cather's absence at her mother's funeral and it depicts the author as a proud and doting aunt and great-aunt.
The most enjoyable letters I found to be those that focused on the Cather brand. Edith Lewis was an advertising executive and no doubt, her expertise influenced Cather. Whether it was matters related to type facing or paper quality, she demanded that her products be marketed so that her books sold well. Like it or not, she was a literary celebrity.
Much has been made of Cather's disdain for Hollywood celebrity culture, but one can't help but grin as she writes star-struck about being on the same train with Rin Tin Tin!
All in all a wonderful addition to the world of Cather scholarship.
Read
July 19, 2016Read up to the mid twenties. By this time, Cather had published most of her major works. The themes of the letters became repetitive. The letters from her most important relationship have all been destroyed so I stopped reading this because I didn't think I'd learn anything new. However, what I read was extremely interesting showing how a writer thinks, stores ideas and sketches and puts them together. Also the sometimes vexing relationships with publishers, reviewers, friends and other writers. However, she seems to have gotten along very well with her family. Once she said that she worked out the structure of one of her major novels on a half hour train ride, I knew that my own scribbles should be thrown out and that I was correct in making a career in computers instead of trying to make a living from writing.
I tried to read My Antonia many years ago and couldn't get into it so it was strange to be reading these letters without reading any of Cather's works. It was kind of like reading about Winslow Homer without having seen any of his paintings. I was glad I spent as much time as I did on these letters, but was happy to move on to more interesting things once it became repetitive.
I tried to read My Antonia many years ago and couldn't get into it so it was strange to be reading these letters without reading any of Cather's works. It was kind of like reading about Winslow Homer without having seen any of his paintings. I was glad I spent as much time as I did on these letters, but was happy to move on to more interesting things once it became repetitive.
Read
March 24, 2015From "Essential Reading: Seasons" by Literary Mama staff:
Managing Editor Karna Converse adds a tour through the seasons of a life in letters: "I'm only part way through this 700-page tome, but I'm finding The Selected Letters of Willa Cather an intriguing book that emphasizes the art of writing letters, the history they record, and the personal profile they create. Cather's letters are direct, yet full of details that reveal her passion for the arts and her desire to maintain relationships. The editors have arranged the 566 letters in chronological order, so it's easy to travel with Cather from her school years (late 1800s) to the years at the height of her career and then to her final years (late 1940s). I especially appreciate the short introductions the editors have written for each chapter (and nearly every letter), putting the letter(s) in the context of various times and settings. This book will appeal to a wide range of readers and for a variety of reasons."
Literary Mama's full Essential Reading post can be found here: http://www.literarymama.com/litreflec...
Managing Editor Karna Converse adds a tour through the seasons of a life in letters: "I'm only part way through this 700-page tome, but I'm finding The Selected Letters of Willa Cather an intriguing book that emphasizes the art of writing letters, the history they record, and the personal profile they create. Cather's letters are direct, yet full of details that reveal her passion for the arts and her desire to maintain relationships. The editors have arranged the 566 letters in chronological order, so it's easy to travel with Cather from her school years (late 1800s) to the years at the height of her career and then to her final years (late 1940s). I especially appreciate the short introductions the editors have written for each chapter (and nearly every letter), putting the letter(s) in the context of various times and settings. This book will appeal to a wide range of readers and for a variety of reasons."
Literary Mama's full Essential Reading post can be found here: http://www.literarymama.com/litreflec...
June 24, 2013
This huge volume is really too much to get through, so I only skimmed it; the foreword is interesting as we learn that Cather stipulated in her will that her letters were never to be made public. The trust responsible for her writings has since decided that as 65 years or so have passed and everyone mentioned is now gone, it's all right to gather the letters into one volume for publication. Cather is witty and nimble with a phrase. She writes lightly yet intelligently. I was interested in her early letters as a teen, and then again when she writes of her experiences in Santa Fe (while she prepares to write Death Comes For the Archbishop). Good quote, from her earliest surviving letter, as she writes about having to return to school after being happy at home with various projects: "...here, I am "Miss Cather" & govern, there I am a child & am governed. That makes a great difference with frail humanity." A fine look into the fully lived life of one of the foremost women writers of the 20th century.
August 29, 2013
I wrote this review for the paper:
They said she’d burned all her letters, but thank goodness that wasn’t true. She did not want them published, but we can be grateful that the editors of the “Selected Letters of Willa Cather” didn’t let her have the last word.
Andrew Jewell and Janis Stout scoured archives and family collections and stitched hundreds of Willa Cather’s letters to friends and family members into a revealing autobiography of one of this country’s greatest authors. We see her as a sassy schoolgirl in Nebraska in the 1880s. We see her striving to be a writer in Pittsburgh while her boss “does not think I will ever be able to do much at writing stories.” We see her turn the prairie she described as “so bleak and desolate” into the inspiration for much of her life’s work.
Cather fans will love the behind-the-scenes looks at the making of “My Ántonia” and other classics. But no pre-reading is needed for anyone to enjoy the lively letters of a self-made woman who stayed true to herself, her family and her craft.
They said she’d burned all her letters, but thank goodness that wasn’t true. She did not want them published, but we can be grateful that the editors of the “Selected Letters of Willa Cather” didn’t let her have the last word.
Andrew Jewell and Janis Stout scoured archives and family collections and stitched hundreds of Willa Cather’s letters to friends and family members into a revealing autobiography of one of this country’s greatest authors. We see her as a sassy schoolgirl in Nebraska in the 1880s. We see her striving to be a writer in Pittsburgh while her boss “does not think I will ever be able to do much at writing stories.” We see her turn the prairie she described as “so bleak and desolate” into the inspiration for much of her life’s work.
Cather fans will love the behind-the-scenes looks at the making of “My Ántonia” and other classics. But no pre-reading is needed for anyone to enjoy the lively letters of a self-made woman who stayed true to herself, her family and her craft.
September 9, 2013
I read this selection slowly, savoring Willa's letters for her honesty and boldness when addressing or referring to family members, publishers, reviewers, or admirers. Her letters are passionate and sometimes brash.
During my third book borrow from the Hennepin County Library, I never regretted the waiting for it. Re-reading "One of Ours" after finishing Part Six (of the letters) was a rich experience. I also read Pat Barker's "Life Class" during a hiatus, a fitting complement to "One of Ours."
Realizing the editors' challenge in selecting letters, I am pleased with the range from "The School Years" to "The Final Years," showing the reader Willa Cather's evolution as a reader, editor, business woman, and writer always keeping her ties with Red Cloud, her family, and friends while traveling for business and adventure.
During my third book borrow from the Hennepin County Library, I never regretted the waiting for it. Re-reading "One of Ours" after finishing Part Six (of the letters) was a rich experience. I also read Pat Barker's "Life Class" during a hiatus, a fitting complement to "One of Ours."
Realizing the editors' challenge in selecting letters, I am pleased with the range from "The School Years" to "The Final Years," showing the reader Willa Cather's evolution as a reader, editor, business woman, and writer always keeping her ties with Red Cloud, her family, and friends while traveling for business and adventure.
May 15, 2015
I'm only part way through this 700-page tome, but I'm finding this book an intriguing book that emphasizes the art of writing letters, the history they record, and the personal profile they create. Cather's letters are direct, yet full of details that reveal her passion for the arts and her desire to maintain relationships. The editors have arranged the 566 letters in chronological order, so it's easy to travel with Cather from her school years (late 1800's) to the years at the height of her career and then to her final years (late 1940s). I especially appreciate the short introductions the editors have written for each chapter (and nearly every letter) putting the letter(s) in context of the times and the setting. This book will appeal to a wide range of readers and for a variety of reasons.
June 20, 2016
Interesting
I found the selected Willa Cather letters to be very interesting and a glimpse into Willa Cather's personality. I witnessed her joyful times as well as her disappointments and anger over something or someone. The authors introductions to a letter or group of letters was well done and very helpful to me while reading this collection. I would have liked to see some of the letters to her that she was responding to as it would have given me a better understanding of her responsive reply. An interesting side note was when she was referring to a Dr. Whipple removing her gallbladder as I had a Pancreas surgery called the Whipple Procedure where they removed a portion of my Pancreas to avoid Pancreatic Cancer. This book is a historical gem about Willa Cather and one her fans should enjoy.
I found the selected Willa Cather letters to be very interesting and a glimpse into Willa Cather's personality. I witnessed her joyful times as well as her disappointments and anger over something or someone. The authors introductions to a letter or group of letters was well done and very helpful to me while reading this collection. I would have liked to see some of the letters to her that she was responding to as it would have given me a better understanding of her responsive reply. An interesting side note was when she was referring to a Dr. Whipple removing her gallbladder as I had a Pancreas surgery called the Whipple Procedure where they removed a portion of my Pancreas to avoid Pancreatic Cancer. This book is a historical gem about Willa Cather and one her fans should enjoy.
Read
May 14, 2013I'm marking this as read, but tbh I dipped in and out of these letters, skipping many, since I had to return this to NYPL. I don't think my Cather knowledge is thorough enough to really appreciate much of what is included here, nor do I think most books of letters from authors are that interesting--Elizabeth Bishop excluded, since she was hilarious and thoughtful. Cather seems to have been more utilitarian. But then, I often thought I was missing some nuance in her novels by not reading closely enough between the lines, so maybe that carries over into her personal correspondence?
May 31, 2013
Because Willa Cather didn't want her letters published I felt a little guilty reading them. I found them fascinating reading about how she wrote, her thoughts to her friends and publishers. She minced no words at times. Very interesting how when writing a book she described it as having a child, helping it grow and when done there was a loss and grief.
These were certainly different times when writers literally handwrote their work and had long correspondence with people. (Do you think we will read books on e-mail correspondence of writers in this day and age?)
These were certainly different times when writers literally handwrote their work and had long correspondence with people. (Do you think we will read books on e-mail correspondence of writers in this day and age?)
Read
October 3, 2019As much as I wanted to read this, I stopped. Cather expressly stated in her will she did not want her letters released to the public, and yet here they are. I think it lacks professional respect for a literary illuminary to print them under the guise of learning more about the author.
I address this in an upcoming blog dealing with the ethics of snooping under the pretense of academic sleuthing.
I would be interested in your opinion about literary snooping: www.cricketmuse.wordpress.com
I address this in an upcoming blog dealing with the ethics of snooping under the pretense of academic sleuthing.
I would be interested in your opinion about literary snooping: www.cricketmuse.wordpress.com
September 17, 2014
I loved peeking behind the scenes of one of my favorite artists. Cather's so strongly connected to Nebraska, I never would have guessed she spent a good chunk of her early career living and teaching in Pittsburgh! How uninteresting the "Selected Emails and Texts" of our contemporary novelists will be in 75 years. Is this a dying genre?
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