Willa Cather Living: A Personal Record

by Edith Lewis, John J. Murphy (Introduction)

Edith Lewis met Willa Cather in 1903 and remained her close friend and traveling companion until Cather's death in 1947. In this straightforward and affectionate biography Lewis illuminates the human side of the great American novelist.

Genres: Biography

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

Reviews

[Annie]

I found this at used bookstore not long after returning home from a trip to Willa Cather Memorial Prairie. It's writing style is a bit dated. There is no big tell all moments; just a straight forward account of Willa Cather's life and writing. The absolute best part was inside the book was newspaper clipping dated September 15th 1973 from the National Observer. It was article about the life if Willa Cather. Also a small notice of the death of Edna Lewis. Wonderful to find this treasure trove. It's made me want to read the complete works of Willa Cather in order of publication.

[Ted]

Who better to write a biography about Willa Cather than the woman who spent decades as her companion and confidant. This is a straight forward, no nonsense biography of the author. Lewis offers incredible insight into the Cather's life, oftentimes from their shared experiences. If you are a fan of Willa Cather this is a must read.

[Priscilla King]

What today's readers may want to know about this memoir of novelist Willa Cather, written by her housemate, may be "Were they a lesbian couple?" The answer is that they don't seem to have been.

It's easy to forget how Victorian culture restricted the lives of women. Willa Cather did sometimes sign her name, and present herself so far as she easily could, as "Will," but always for reasons of convenience, not sex. She lived with another woman because women who weren't living with husbands, parents, or children were expected to live and travel with at least one other woman for security. Cather's relationship with Lewis seems to have been based on their ability to leave each other alone. According to Lewis, far from ever having been "in love," they didn't like each other much.

What Lewis had to tell us about Willa Cather was the secret of her success: She really listened to people. She wrote stories based on their stories. At least one of her acquaintances, some years after talking to her at a dinner party, told his story to other people and was told, "You got that out of Willa Cather's novel!" Most of the stories that went into Cather's novel, Lewis says, came from her early life.

And she selected those stories carefully. Lewis drops only a few of the names she could have dropped, in this book, and gives only hints of the celebrity gossip she kept to herself. My favorite tidbit of long-dead-celebrity gossip is “Nijinski...was...extremely courteous; but after he had been introduced and had kissed her hand, he went, after a little, and stood in a corner of the studio with his face to the wall. He believed himself to be a horse.” At least one would like to know how Lewis arrived at this explanation; but she doesn’t tell.

[Jenny]

When I picked up this biography, I didn't realize it was written by Cather's long-term companion and editor. It's affectionate and straightforward, sometimes focusing in on little details that feel unimportant and (I would imagine) leaving out significant pieces that would give us a deeper insight into Cather's life and character. Lewis's focus is Cather-as-author, and while I think it's incredibly valuable to hear from someone who lived with Cather for decades, I am looking forward to reading a contemporary biography to help fill in the gaps.

[Kay]

This is a very personal account of her life and her writing from her long time companion. If you are a Willa Cather fan, you will enjoy the accounts of the writing of each book, where it took place, how the characters were sourced, how the book was accepted and Cather’s reaction to the acceptance. Also many personal details about her living situations, her friends and her role in early 20th century literary life. I really enjoyed it.

[Lisa Guidarini]

Her partner for decades, Edith Lewis's memoir of Cather is a loving and empathetic portrait of the artist throughout her life. Certainly biased, it's nevertheless a fascinating at Cather the writer as well as a study of her character. Beautifully written, highly recommended.

[Macy Davis]

An interesting biographical sketch of Cather. I was interested in the ways Lewis did and didn't include herself in the narrative, and am looking forward to reading a more comprehensive bio of Cather next.

[Heidi]

Edith Lewis` (Willa Cather`s lifelong editor and companion) memories of Willa`s life. Stylistic of an earlier time, when tell-all was not a part of the culture. I enjoyed reading between the lines.

[Lynn]

I really enjoyed learning more about Willa Cather.

[Leon Sun]

虽然可以明显感觉出这本书写的比较"Positive"，关于Willa Cather，我还是获得了很多希望了解的有关Willa Cather个人生活的内容，以及作品的一些知识和出版社相关的内容。尤其最后几页关于Willa Cather对Sir Walter Scott作品的重新认识，也让我产生了阅读Walter Scott的想法，这已经值了。

[Bob Peterson]

I love her writing but it turns out a book about where she lived and who she associated with didn't seem interesting to me. Meh.

[Mark]

& xxxiv pp. of introductory matter. Fascinating life of Cather as recalled by long time companion. Reading memoirs of any artist by friends, et al give so much of a greater picture of a life than a biography written years after.

[eve]

extremely frustrating how little this is actually a personal record. why won’t you tell me how she reacted to winning a pulitzer????

[Chris]

I avoided reading this book for the longest time because of its reputation as a simplistic and not very revealing portrait of Willa Cather. It is probably a good thing that I waited to read it because my younger self would have been disappointed by the lack of "juicy bits" as so many before me seem to have been. I plan on working on a longer review/reflection, but for now want to say that I think this is a wonderful book. I read it slowly and took time to reflect and imagine. I learned a lot about Cather and it makes me want to learn more about Lewis, Cather's partner of over 40 years.

The book was published in 1953, six years after Cather’s death at the age of 74. Lewis was 65 when Cather died and 71 when this book was published.

They met in Nebraska in 1903 when Cather was 30 and Lewis 21. Six years later they moved into an apartment together in New York. Lewis writes, "I believe it was in 1909, after she returned from her first London trip, that Willa Cather and I took a small and not very comfortable apartment together on Washington Place, just off Washington Square" (74).

Lewis refers to Cather as Willa Cather, never Willa, never Cather. Always Willa Cather. It is at times charming and at other times annoying, but one thing was obvious: the number of times you read the name Willa Cather starts to feel like an incantation. The spell certainly ensnared me.

And there is something about the way Lewis phrased that sentence about the two of them moving in together that made my heart flutter. I think had they been "just friends" that Lewis would have offered more about why they moved in together or why they hit it off in the first place.

The thing not named indeed.

[Carol]

This "197 page biography" was written in 1952 by Edith Lewis who met Willa Cather in 1903 and became close friends as well as traveling companions. I think that Lewis was either a terrible writer or she wrote for grade school students (although the spine indicates adult section biography). Each chapter is very brief and barely touches the topics brought up when the reader is onto the next chapter. I think the second half of the book is just slightly better. It seems that these is a better biography on Willa Cather entitled-- "Willa Cather: A Literary Life" by James Woodress (625 pp.).

[Lynn Mally]

This is a beautifully written account of Willa Cather's life by her old time companion and probably lover, Edith Lewis. I learned a lot about Cather's writing life, but it was strange to have Lewis completely absent from the account. We don't learn what she did or how she negotiated Cather's growing fame.

[Rosemary Willis]

illuminating and interesting