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Obscure Destinies
The protagonists of these stories, set in the American West, struggle to overcome life's vicissitudes with humor and patience
229 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
33 people are currently reading
316 people want to read
About the author
Willa Cather
914 books2,788 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 51 reviews
July 22, 2022
Cather is one of my very favorite authors, and so I have paced myself through her body of work, saving some for the middle portion of my life, and probably I will reserve some for the latter. I approached this volume thinking it would be a minor one, but it isn’t. The first two stories are very good; the third, “Two Friends,” is one of the most perfect things I have ever read. As a stylist she has few peers, as a person with insight into the relations between people, she may have none. This morning am very glad to have taken up this book before getting on with my day.
May 2, 2016
This group contains three rather long short stories that are vintage Willa Cather. They are set in the Great American Plains which produced, I think, some of her best stories. Similar themes thread through this group and of course they offer us the pleasure of reading one of the best American writers of the 20th century.
December 12, 2015
Interesting nuggets from a time when the gold standard was changing. Cather nails the personalities of those in the family, business, or are comrades from a single town. These succinct tales nail the late middle age adults and those in old age (around 65 as detailed)while they are saying their own forms of goodbye to life.
The interactions between the people- those myriad of bonds and unspoken answers to needs (physical, mental, and emotional)are sublimely told here. Rural and small town life on the prairie of her girlhood and younger life!
These may have been exercises for further development into books or novella length? They all center upon a death. Lovely read. 3.5 star but you always want more here.
The interactions between the people- those myriad of bonds and unspoken answers to needs (physical, mental, and emotional)are sublimely told here. Rural and small town life on the prairie of her girlhood and younger life!
These may have been exercises for further development into books or novella length? They all center upon a death. Lovely read. 3.5 star but you always want more here.
January 12, 2020
The wisest, most humane book I've ever read.
I'm not sure how Cather did this, or how she knows what she knows. In the first two of these three stories, she goes straight to the heart of human decency. Not heroism, not dramatic courage, just goodness, just decency, just the simple human virtue of Human Virtue.
The third story is uncanny in its relevance. Her construction of an involved, yet transparent narrator allows her to convey the needlessness of the loss suffered, and should rouse in us - as it does in the narrator,
A book for our times. A book to cherish.
I'm not sure how Cather did this, or how she knows what she knows. In the first two of these three stories, she goes straight to the heart of human decency. Not heroism, not dramatic courage, just goodness, just decency, just the simple human virtue of Human Virtue.
The third story is uncanny in its relevance. Her construction of an involved, yet transparent narrator allows her to convey the needlessness of the loss suffered, and should rouse in us - as it does in the narrator,
the old uneasiness; the feeling of something broken that could so easily have been mended; of something delightful that was senselessly wasted, of a truth that was accidentally distorted--one of the truths we want to keep.
A book for our times. A book to cherish.
June 9, 2025
LOVE Cather’s writing. This book included three short stories/novellas, which in spite of their short breadth had a great deal of depth and, of course, beautiful prose. Three cameos of the varied relationships in Cather’s western America. Good endings as well:
“The breaking-up of that friendship between two men who scarcely noticed my existence was a real loss to me, and has ever since been a regret. More than once, in Southern countries where there is a smell of dust and dryness in the air and the nights are intense, I have come upon a stretch of dusty white road drinking up the moonlight beside a blind wall, and have felt a sudden sadness. Perhaps it was not until the next morning that I knew why,-and then only because I had dreamed of Mr. Dillon or Mr. Trueman in my sleep.
When that old scar is occasionally touched by chance, it rouses the old uneasiness; the feeling of something broken that could so easily have been mended; of something delightful that was senselessly wasted, of a truth that was accidentally distorted-one of the truths we want to keep.”
“When they are old, they will come closer and closer to Grandma Harris. They will think a great deal about her, and remember things they never noticed; and their lot will be more or less like hers. They will regret that they heeded her so little; but they, too, will look into the eager, unseeing eyes of young people and feel themselves alone. They will say to themselves: "I was heartless, because I was young and strong and wanted things so much. But now I know."”
“The breaking-up of that friendship between two men who scarcely noticed my existence was a real loss to me, and has ever since been a regret. More than once, in Southern countries where there is a smell of dust and dryness in the air and the nights are intense, I have come upon a stretch of dusty white road drinking up the moonlight beside a blind wall, and have felt a sudden sadness. Perhaps it was not until the next morning that I knew why,-and then only because I had dreamed of Mr. Dillon or Mr. Trueman in my sleep.
When that old scar is occasionally touched by chance, it rouses the old uneasiness; the feeling of something broken that could so easily have been mended; of something delightful that was senselessly wasted, of a truth that was accidentally distorted-one of the truths we want to keep.”
“When they are old, they will come closer and closer to Grandma Harris. They will think a great deal about her, and remember things they never noticed; and their lot will be more or less like hers. They will regret that they heeded her so little; but they, too, will look into the eager, unseeing eyes of young people and feel themselves alone. They will say to themselves: "I was heartless, because I was young and strong and wanted things so much. But now I know."”
October 22, 2016
I have stated before that I adore stories that are character driven and I am here to tell you that this short story freak is so satiated right now! These stories are lyrical and filled with incredible characters.
Here are quotes I must remember:
"Maybe, Doctor Burleigh reflected, people as generous and warm-hearted and affectionate as the Rosickys never got ahead much; maybe you couldn't enjoy your life and put it in the bank, too."
"In the country, if you had a mean neighbour, you could keep off his land and make him keep off yours. But in the city, all the foulness and misery and brutality of your neighbors was part of your life."
"To be pitied was the deepest hurt anybody could know."
"Invested; that was a word men always held over women, Mrs. Harris thought, and it always meant they could have none of their own money. She sighed deeply."
Here are quotes I must remember:
"Maybe, Doctor Burleigh reflected, people as generous and warm-hearted and affectionate as the Rosickys never got ahead much; maybe you couldn't enjoy your life and put it in the bank, too."
"In the country, if you had a mean neighbour, you could keep off his land and make him keep off yours. But in the city, all the foulness and misery and brutality of your neighbors was part of your life."
"To be pitied was the deepest hurt anybody could know."
"Invested; that was a word men always held over women, Mrs. Harris thought, and it always meant they could have none of their own money. She sighed deeply."
April 25, 2020
Three short stories about people whose lives and deaths seem not to matter that much. Excellently written as always with characters that are poignant and nostalgic.
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April 4, 2013This is a use case scenario test to see if an apparently infamous pop up screen exhorting purchase in a Jungle Environment occurs. (The title should explain the choice of book for this experiment). Thus far nothing unToward a River has occurred. Comments will contain further results after the initial saving.
December 11, 2020
Three character driven short stories that are written in classic Willa Cather style. My favorite was “Neighbor Rosicky.” He reminded me of a dear coach from high school who “was as if he had a special gift for loving people, something that was like an ear for music or an eye for colour. It was quiet; it was unobtrusive. It was merely there. You saw it in his eyes- perhaps that was why they were so merry.”
Read
June 9, 20241. Neighbor Rosicky
2. Two Friends
3. Old Mrs Harris
2. Two Friends
3. Old Mrs Harris
July 19, 2024
I have read Willa Cather's novels before and loved them, but this is first time I have read her short stories. She is a quiet, subtle powerhouse and I adored these three stories :)
June 10, 2020
I can enjoy a short story, but it wouldn't be my first choice. When a story is well-done and the characters come alive, the shortness of the story is frustrating. I want more. Of course I had to read this book by Willa Cather, and the stories do not disappoint ... but they were too short!
Neighbor Rosicky: Rosicky, a 65 yo Czech farmer, experiences shortness of breath when doing heavy labor on his farm. The trusted Doctor tells him to leave the hard physical work to his five sons and help his wife around the house instead. The characters are all good people.
Old Mrs. Harris: Here Cather introduces three generations of females -- the grandmother (Mrs Harris), the mother (Victoria), and the daughter (Vickie). They represent three eras and the changing role of women. Three other female figures (two neighbors and a servant) contribute to the reader's understanding of the three central figures. This story is said to be semi-autobiographical.
Two Friends: A child describes the personalities and conversations of two men who inadvertently taught her a lot about adults, local politics, life in and around town, and dignity. Children used to sit quietly while adults talked (my sister and I spent many hours overhearing our parents converse with friends and neighbors), and in so doing we learned. I suspect that doesn't happen much anymore.
Cather describes her reason for choosing these two men:
I liked to listen to those two because theirs was the only 'conversation' one could hear about the streets. The older men talked of nothing but politics and their business, and the very young men's talk was entirely what they called 'josh'; very personal, supposed to be funny, and really not funny at all. ... To be sure my two aristocrats sometimes discussed politics, ... [but] in the spring their talk was usually about weather and planting and pasture and cattle. ...
I imagine that few kids in today's world are exposed to thoughtful conversation, where motives are considered, and points of view are discussed. It's the tone of the conversation that was so valued by Cather. She wrote that the two men were composites of the people who inhabited her world.
And, during these evening talks where she was a silent third party, she studied the sky, was aware of the weather, and sometimes played jacks. (More signs of the times.)
Neighbor Rosicky: Rosicky, a 65 yo Czech farmer, experiences shortness of breath when doing heavy labor on his farm. The trusted Doctor tells him to leave the hard physical work to his five sons and help his wife around the house instead. The characters are all good people.
Old Mrs. Harris: Here Cather introduces three generations of females -- the grandmother (Mrs Harris), the mother (Victoria), and the daughter (Vickie). They represent three eras and the changing role of women. Three other female figures (two neighbors and a servant) contribute to the reader's understanding of the three central figures. This story is said to be semi-autobiographical.
Two Friends: A child describes the personalities and conversations of two men who inadvertently taught her a lot about adults, local politics, life in and around town, and dignity. Children used to sit quietly while adults talked (my sister and I spent many hours overhearing our parents converse with friends and neighbors), and in so doing we learned. I suspect that doesn't happen much anymore.
Cather describes her reason for choosing these two men:
I liked to listen to those two because theirs was the only 'conversation' one could hear about the streets. The older men talked of nothing but politics and their business, and the very young men's talk was entirely what they called 'josh'; very personal, supposed to be funny, and really not funny at all. ... To be sure my two aristocrats sometimes discussed politics, ... [but] in the spring their talk was usually about weather and planting and pasture and cattle. ...
I imagine that few kids in today's world are exposed to thoughtful conversation, where motives are considered, and points of view are discussed. It's the tone of the conversation that was so valued by Cather. She wrote that the two men were composites of the people who inhabited her world.
And, during these evening talks where she was a silent third party, she studied the sky, was aware of the weather, and sometimes played jacks. (More signs of the times.)
March 12, 2020
I adore Willa Cather! Her writing always gives me that nostalgic reminiscence of home.
This book's three stories make me more homesick than most. "Old Mrs. Harris" hurts in so many places. (Mothers are important!)
I think what I like the most is that the setting becomes a character of its own; that's how I feel about the family farm in northern Kansas. "Wonderful things do happen even in the dullest places -- in the cornfields and the wheat fields, sitting there on the edge of the sidewalk on a summer night..." (from "Two Friends")
I also value Cather's simple life advice. In "Two Friends", she writes, "Life is what it always has been, always will be. No use to make a fuss." In "Neighbor Rosicky": "Maybe you couldn't enjoy your life and put it in the bank too." Maybe it's a little oversimplified, but I still believe the simple life is the best life. And maybe that's what I'm most homesick for.
So, here's the last sentence of the book. For me, and for everyone who longs for a better day.
"When that old scar is occasionally touched by chance, it rouses the old uneasiness; the feeling of something broken that could so easily have been mended; of something delightful that was senselessly wasted, of a truth that was accidentally distorted -- one of the truths we want to keep."
This book's three stories make me more homesick than most. "Old Mrs. Harris" hurts in so many places. (Mothers are important!)
I think what I like the most is that the setting becomes a character of its own; that's how I feel about the family farm in northern Kansas. "Wonderful things do happen even in the dullest places -- in the cornfields and the wheat fields, sitting there on the edge of the sidewalk on a summer night..." (from "Two Friends")
I also value Cather's simple life advice. In "Two Friends", she writes, "Life is what it always has been, always will be. No use to make a fuss." In "Neighbor Rosicky": "Maybe you couldn't enjoy your life and put it in the bank too." Maybe it's a little oversimplified, but I still believe the simple life is the best life. And maybe that's what I'm most homesick for.
So, here's the last sentence of the book. For me, and for everyone who longs for a better day.
"When that old scar is occasionally touched by chance, it rouses the old uneasiness; the feeling of something broken that could so easily have been mended; of something delightful that was senselessly wasted, of a truth that was accidentally distorted -- one of the truths we want to keep."
September 7, 2018
Obscure Destinies is a collection of three novellas written late in Willa Cather's career that return to her writing roots, the Plains in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Each novella includes the twilights of the main character's lives, reflecting Cather's own stage of her life as she wrote them.
"Neighbor Rosicky" starts with Rosicky's doctor telling him that he has a bad heart, that he needs to slow down and let his grown sons take over the more demanding duties of the family farm. The story continues with observations and memories of Rosicky from others that paint a man who may not have achieved the prosperity of some other families over the years but had a warm, generous, loving family that enjoyed the bad times as well as the good. This impression is cemented by ending's telling of Rosicky's kindness to his daughter in the law who had just moved from town to live on the isolated farm with her young child and husband
"Old Mrs, Harris" alternates between narratives from Mrs. Harris's neighbor, her grandaughter, Mrs. Harris herself and a third person description of life in the small farm town, most notably a summer's church social. Mrs. Harris lives with her daughter and daughter's family and has accepted a selfless role of helping the rest of her family, hiding her own needs. The neighbor sees this and tries to do things just for Mrs . Harris. The neighbor's observations of Mrs. Harris's reaction and Mrs. Harris's internal monologue confirm the family's selfishness , Mrs. Harris's acceptance of it, and how her inner strength and generosity gave her a full life in spite of it
"Two Friends" is told by someone reminiscing about his time as a young boy in a small Kansan farm town observing the friendship of town's two leading citizens, a banker/storeowner and a rancher. The descriptions of their daily lives and interactions are Cather at her best in painting the Plains lives of the times. The narrative jolts during the 1896 Presidential campaign when their political differences end the friendship. The novella continues until both friends have died telling of the sadness of both lives after the estrangement.
These novellas constitute a great read which I highly recommend
"Neighbor Rosicky" starts with Rosicky's doctor telling him that he has a bad heart, that he needs to slow down and let his grown sons take over the more demanding duties of the family farm. The story continues with observations and memories of Rosicky from others that paint a man who may not have achieved the prosperity of some other families over the years but had a warm, generous, loving family that enjoyed the bad times as well as the good. This impression is cemented by ending's telling of Rosicky's kindness to his daughter in the law who had just moved from town to live on the isolated farm with her young child and husband
"Old Mrs, Harris" alternates between narratives from Mrs. Harris's neighbor, her grandaughter, Mrs. Harris herself and a third person description of life in the small farm town, most notably a summer's church social. Mrs. Harris lives with her daughter and daughter's family and has accepted a selfless role of helping the rest of her family, hiding her own needs. The neighbor sees this and tries to do things just for Mrs . Harris. The neighbor's observations of Mrs. Harris's reaction and Mrs. Harris's internal monologue confirm the family's selfishness , Mrs. Harris's acceptance of it, and how her inner strength and generosity gave her a full life in spite of it
"Two Friends" is told by someone reminiscing about his time as a young boy in a small Kansan farm town observing the friendship of town's two leading citizens, a banker/storeowner and a rancher. The descriptions of their daily lives and interactions are Cather at her best in painting the Plains lives of the times. The narrative jolts during the 1896 Presidential campaign when their political differences end the friendship. The novella continues until both friends have died telling of the sadness of both lives after the estrangement.
These novellas constitute a great read which I highly recommend
March 12, 2021
These are three short stories in one work. Neighbor Rosicky which we did in school and Old Mrs. Harris were my favorites. They all capture the west, the farmers, the merchants and the women there. Neighbor Rosicky is about a farmer in Nebraska, Old Mrs. Harris is about three women in Colorado, a daughter, a mother and grandmother and Two Friends is about two different business men in Colorado and the boy, I’m guessing who befriends them. I figured I would read this one as I had about the house and I love Cather. I read My Antonia and O Pioneers before. What I love about Cather is her setting and characterization are supreme.
She does a great job of capturing in small novellas diverse people. Old Mrs. Harris deals a lot with three different women and their lot in life. I loved the friendships that developed between the neighbors, the Rosens and Vickie, Victoria and Old Mrs. Harris. The Two Friends I liked a little less than the other two. It also followed Old Mrs. Harris which is so strong.
I very much enjoyed it and I enjoy Cather. However, sometimes some of what she's celebrated as ideal gets complicated in terms of the Midwest Nice and otherwise. I will read more of her. I love My Antonia. I loved and wrote on Paul's Case in college. The setting. Though, while I love short stories sometimes, after I’ve finished one, I’m good on them for quite a while.
She does a great job of capturing in small novellas diverse people. Old Mrs. Harris deals a lot with three different women and their lot in life. I loved the friendships that developed between the neighbors, the Rosens and Vickie, Victoria and Old Mrs. Harris. The Two Friends I liked a little less than the other two. It also followed Old Mrs. Harris which is so strong.
I very much enjoyed it and I enjoy Cather. However, sometimes some of what she's celebrated as ideal gets complicated in terms of the Midwest Nice and otherwise. I will read more of her. I love My Antonia. I loved and wrote on Paul's Case in college. The setting. Though, while I love short stories sometimes, after I’ve finished one, I’m good on them for quite a while.
January 13, 2026
I found this in a charity shop on a day that I had a bit of a book buying spree. I started reading a different book, but for some reason out of the 7 books I bought that day, this one kept popping into my head because I was ever so curious! It’s not usually the sort of book that I would be drawn to, but I’m glad I was. Neighbour Rosicky was my favourite, I give that 5/5 stars! Then Old Mrs Harris gets a 4.5/5 and Two Friends gets 3.5. I had never heard of Willa Cather before buying this book but now I want to read more of her work!!
January 16, 2021
My version was half the length of what this version indicates (without the interpretive essays). The three short long stories were a quick, 1 and 1/2 day read. Willa Cather writes with grounded respect for the beautiful “West” but pairs this admiration with the inevitability of “escape” to greener pastures elsewhere. I love her observations of relationships and morality without saying which is right or wrong. I look forward to reading more of her stunning works.
February 27, 2018
I'm a big fan of Willa Cather, but this one is pretty average. It has three short stories and isn't very long and, while I appreciate the thematic connections between the stories, I didn't really feel like the characters really came alive. Neighbor Rosicky, the first story, is the best one, I'd say. Probably the only one really worth reading.
March 30, 2018
"Nothing in the world, not snow mountains or blue seas, is so beautiful in moonlight as the soft, dry summer roads in a farming country, roads where the white dust falls back from the slow wagon-wheel."
From the dust jacket of this edition: "In the three stories that make up this volume Willa Cather returned with fresh enthusiasm to the Western scene of her earlier novels."
From the dust jacket of this edition: "In the three stories that make up this volume Willa Cather returned with fresh enthusiasm to the Western scene of her earlier novels."
November 2, 2022
For some reason, I tend to avoid short stories, and now I have no idea why because these were great. The format is well-suited to Cather's intricate character studies.
It's also refreshing to read non-modern tales where the "moral of the story" can be that the characters need to get over themselves instead of "finding themselves."
Definitely going to seek out Cather's other short stories.
It's also refreshing to read non-modern tales where the "moral of the story" can be that the characters need to get over themselves instead of "finding themselves."
Definitely going to seek out Cather's other short stories.
September 1, 2017
This is a volume best read in print.
I own a copy of Obscured Destinies in iBooks.
I read portions of the book electronically and in a library print copy.
While reading using the iPhone was convenient, reading Obscured Destinies in print created an experience.
I own a copy of Obscured Destinies in iBooks.
I read portions of the book electronically and in a library print copy.
While reading using the iPhone was convenient, reading Obscured Destinies in print created an experience.
February 7, 2018
Clear, straightforward writing, but increasingly complex human relationships.
August 10, 2018
I love this book. It reminds me of what growing up in a small, country town is like.
December 16, 2018
Always such sad, but real stories of people and their lives. Even in the 1930's Willa Cather understood the lives and needs of women, and the roadblocks to becoming who they were meant to be.
August 12, 2019
I love every single book by Willa Cather, and this one did not disappoint.
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August 12, 2019Contains one of the greatest and wisest short stories ever written: "Neighbor Rosicky."
July 7, 2021
3 delightful stories.
July 7, 2021
Neighbor Rosicky was lovely, full of Willa Cather’s gentle, observant humanity. The other two had occasional moments of beauty, but the stories didn’t stick for me the way her other novels have.
Want to read
September 12, 2021001 Neighbour Rosicky (37p)
038 Old Mrs. Harris (65p)
103 Two Friends (27p)
038 Old Mrs. Harris (65p)
103 Two Friends (27p)
Read
July 7, 2023These stories are fairly bleak slices of life (especially "Two Friends"), but there was also something quiet and comforting about them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews