Nature Literature discussion

Against Willa Cather's wishes, selected letters of hers will be published on April 16 this year. I'm torn as to whether or not I'll pick this one up. I adore her writing and would love this glimpse into her personal life, but at the same time...when it's expressly mentioned that she doesn't want them published, should we not respect her memory?

See the Willa Cather Foundation for more details on the book here: http://www.willacather.org/cather-blo...

Hi! I'm a new member to this group, but I hope you don't mind if I jump in since I just read a review of the above collection in Harper's Magazine.

I fear that reading her personal correspondence might spoil my view of Cather. I'm sure that her letters would reveal her to be a flawed individual, just like the rest of us. Perhaps that would humanize her, and appropriately so, but Cather's memory is quite lofty in many of our minds. She painted the landscape with words so effectively, I'm not sure I care to know about her petty moments with friends and family. We all have those. I certainly don't want to be remembered that way. After reading the review in Harper's Magazine, I feel like I have heard enough and will not pursue more personal details.

Excellent points, Zebulun. The more reviews I read, the more it appears there are a lot of Cather fans out there who are feeling rather squeamish about this decision.