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The novels O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My Ãntonia made
Willa Cather's reputation and, though published separately, are
now studied together as Willa Cather’s Great Plains
Trilogy. These three novels, set in Nebraska and Colorado, cemented
Cather’s reputation in the early 1920s as a writer who exalted
the lives of ordinary people. Together, these novels portray the
magnificent prairie landscape and the indomitable spirit of the men
and women who inhabited, and adapted, to its harsh beauty: My
Ã​ntonia: The intertwined stories of Jim Burden, an orphan from
Virginia, and the elder daughter in a family of Czech immigrants,
Ãntonia Shimerda, who are each brought to Nebraska as children. O
Pioneers!: The Bergsons move from Sweden and struggle to carve out
a living on their Nebraska homestead. The eldest daughter,
Alexandra, inherits the farm when her father dies, and devotes her
life to its success even as other immigrant families leave the
prairie, defeated. The Song of the Lark: Thea Kronborg grows up in
a small Colorado town, next to the railroad that connects her to a
wider world, a world she will conquer with her glorious voice
and strength of will.
In 1851 Father Jean Marie Latour comes to serve as the Apostolic
Vicar to New Mexico. What he finds is a vast territory of red hills
and tortuous arroyos, American by law but Mexican and Indian in
custom and belief. In the almost forty years that follow, Latour
spreads his faith in the only way he knows—gently, all the while
contending with an unforgiving landscape, derelict and sometimes
openly rebellious priests, and his own loneliness. Out of these
events, Cather gives us an indelible vision of life unfolding in a
place where time itself seems suspended. Â
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My Ãntonia (Paperback)
Willa Cather
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R254
R206
Discovery Miles 2 060
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The spirited daughter of Bohemian immigrants, Ãntonia must adapt
to a hard existence on the desolate prairies of the Midwest.
Enduring childhood poverty, teenage seduction, and family tragedy,
she eventually becomes a wife and mother on a Nebraska farm. A
fictional record of how women helped forge the communities that
formed a nation, My Ãntonia is also a hauntingly eloquent
celebration of the strength, courage, and spirit of America’s
early pioneers.Â
The Burglar's Christmas was originally published near the beginning
of Willa Cather's writing career in 1896 under the pseudonym of
Elizabeth L. Seymour. The story follows William Crawford on the
cold streets of Chicago as he contemplates the multiple failures
plaguing his life, including his time at college and careers in
journalism, real estate, and performing. Distraught, he tries one
more role: thief. Attempting to burgle a residence and caught in
the act by the lady of the house, William must come to terms with
the choices that led him to that moment. Cather provides a
heartwarming short story of redemption and love at Christmas, a
timely reminder that kindness is in everyone, just waiting to be
uncovered.
'He drew a long sigh of rich content. The old life, with all its
bitterness and useless antagonism and flimsy sophistries, its brief
delights that were always tinged with fear and distrust and
unfaith, that whole miserable, futile, swindled world of Bohemia
seemed immeasurably distant and far away, like a dream that is over
and done.' First published in 1896, The Burglar's Christmas is a
short story by the great American writer Willa Cather. Set in
Chicago on a cold Christmas Eve, the down-and-out Crawford learns
the value of forgiveness. (Part of Renard's Christmas Card Classics
series, 25% of the RRP of each book sold goes to Three Peas, a
small refugee charity. This year, instead of a Christmas card, why
not send a book?)
This Norton Critical Edition brings to life-through Cather's words,
and through the words and images of others-the uniquely American
frontier experience. In inscribing a copy of O Pioneers! for a
childhood friend, Cather wrote, "In this one I hit the home
pasture..." "Contexts and Backgrounds" includes a rich selection of
autobiographical and biographical remembrances (including three
interviews with Cather), literary contexts (by Cather and her
contemporaries, Henry James and Sarah Orne Jewett), and writings on
the American West (including selected letters that paint a picture
of one family's life on the Nebraska prairie). "Criticism" provides
seven contemporary reviews and eight modern critical
interpretations by David Stouck, John J. Murphy, C. Susan
Wiesenthal, Marilee Lindemann, Melissa Ryan, Guy Reynolds, and
Sharon O'Brien.
"The time will come when she will be ranked above Hemingway." --Leon Edel
In this powerful portrait of the self-making of an artist, Willa Cather created one of her most extraordinary heroines. Thea Kronborg, a minister's daughter in a provincial Colorado town, seems destined from childhood for a place in the wider world. But as her path to the world stage leads her ever farther from the humble town she can't forget and from the man she can't afford to love, Thea learns that her exceptional musical talent and fierce ambition are not enough.
It is in the solitude of a tiny rock chamber high in the side of an Arizona cliff--"a cleft in the heart of the world"--that Thea comes face to face with her own dreams and desires, stripped clean by the haunting purity of the ruined cliff dwellings and inspired by the whisperings of their ancient dust. Here she finds the courage to seize her future and to use her gifts to catch "the shining, elusive element that is life itself--life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose." In prose as shimmering and piercingly true as the light in a desert canyon, Cather takes us into the heart of a woman coming to know her deepest self.
Includes the unabridged text of Cather's classic novel plus a
complete study guide that helps readers gain a thorough
understanding of the work's content and context. The comprehensive
guide includes chapter-by-chapter summaries, explanations and
discussions of the plot, question-and-answer sections, author
biography, analytical paper topics, list of characters,
bibliography, and more.
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My Antonia (Paperback)
Willa Cather; Edited by Janet Sharistanian
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R279
R227
Discovery Miles 2 270
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'As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the
water is the sea. The red of the grass made all the great prairie
the colour of wine-stains...And there was so much motion in it; the
whole country seemed, somehow, to be running.' My Antonia (1918)
depicts the pioneering period of European settlement on the
tall-grass prairie of the American midwest, with its beautiful yet
terrifying landscape, rich ethnic mix of immigrants and native-born
Americans, and communities who share life's joys and sorrows. Jim
Burden recounts his memories of Antonia Shimerda, whose family
settle in Nebraska from Bohemia. Together they share childhoods
spent in a new world. Jim leaves the prairie for college and a
career in the east, while Antonia devotes herself to her large
family and productive farm. Her story is that of the land itself, a
moving portrait of endurance and strength. Described on publication
as 'one of the best [novels] that any American has ever done', My
Antonia paradoxically took Cather out of the rank of provincial
novelists as the same time that it celebrated the provinces, and
mythologized a period of American history that had to be lost
before its value could be understood. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over
100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest
range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume
reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most
accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including
expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to
clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and
much more.
Set in the Nebraska landscape in a community evocative of Cather's
own (Red Cloud), My Antonia tells the story of Antonia Shimerda, a
Bohemian immigrant, and Jim Burden, who like Cather was uprooted
from Virginia to the Nebraska prairie. Antonia and Jim, like many
of the other characters in this 1918 novel, are based on Cather's
childhood friends. This Norton Critical Edition is based on the
first published edition of the novel. It is accompanied by
explanatory footnotes, key illustrations, an introduction that
gives readers a historical overview of both author and novel, and a
note on the text. "Contexts and Backgrounds" is a rich collection
of materials organized around the novel's central themes:
"Autobiographical and Biographical Writings," "Letters," and
"Americanization and Immigration." Willa Cather, Edith Lewis,
Latrobe Carroll, Rose C. Feld, Guy Reynolds, Woodrow Wilson, Peter
Roberts, Horace M. Kallen, Sarka B. Hrbkova, and Rose Rosicky,
among others, are included. "Criticism" spans a century of
scholarship on Willa Cather and My Antonia, from contemporary
reviews by Henry Walcott Boynton, H. L. Mencken, and Elia W.
Peattie, among others, to recent critical assessments by Terence
Martin, Blanche Gelfant, Jean Schwind, Richard H. Millington, Susan
Rosowski, Mike Fischer, Janis Stout, Marilee Lindemann, and Linda
Joyce Brown. A Chronology of Cather's life and work and a Selected
Bibliography are also included.
Hailed by reviewers and readers for its originality, vitality, and
truth, "My Antonia" secured Willa Cather's place in the first rank
of American writers. Cather drew deeply on her childhood days in
frontier Nebraska for her fourth novel, published in 1918. Antonia
Shimerda is memorable as the warm-hearted daughter of Bohemians who
must adapt to a hard life on the desolate prairie. She survives and
matures, a pioneer woman made radiant by spirit.
This Willa Cather Scholarly Edition of "My Antonia" is edited
according to standards set by the Committee for Scholarly Editions
of the Modern Language Association and it presents the full range
of biographical, historical, and textual information on the novel.
The selection of W. T. Benda's illustrations and the historical
photography and maps also illuminate the fiction of a writer who
drew so extensively on actual experience.
Willa Cather said that "O Pioneers " was her first authentic novel,
"the first time I walked off on my own feet--everything before was
half real and half an imitation of writers whom I admired."
Cather's novel of life on the Nebraska frontier established her
reputation as a writer of great note and marked a significant
turning point in her artistic development. No longer would she let
literary convention guide the form of her writing; the materials
themselves would dictate the structure.
The paperback edition contains all the text and scholarly
apparatus found in the original Willa Cather Scholarly Edition.
Edited according to standards set by the Committee for Scholarly
Editions of the Modern Language Association, this volume presents
the full range of biographical, historical, and textual information
on the novel.
Willa Cather's best known novel; a narrative that recounts a life lived simply in the silence of the southwestern desert.
The characteristic themes of Cather's mature work are already
present in her debut novella, an evocation of a tragic love
triangle.
Bartley Alexander, renowned engineer of bridges, is a man with a
past who "looked as a tamer of rivers ought to look." Discovered by
his mentor "sowing wild oats in London," he returned to America and
the commission that made his name. Now, married to his wife of ten
years, a chance encounter with actress Hilda Burgoyne, an almost
forgotten love from his past, prompts a doomed attempt to recapture
the boundlessness of his youth.
***
This is a Hybrid Book.
Melville House HybridBooks combine print and digital media into an
enhanced reading experience by including with each title additional
curated material called Illuminations -- maps, photographs,
illustrations, and further writing about the author and the book.
The Melville House Illuminations are free with the purchase of any
title in the HybridBook series, no matter the format.
Purchasers of the print version can obtain the Illuminations for a
given title simply by scanning the QR code found in the back of
each book, or by following the url also given in the back of the
print book, then downloading the Illumination in whatever format
works best for you.
Purchasers of the digital version receive the appropriate
Illuminations automatically as part of the ebook edition.
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My Antonia (Paperback)
Willa Cather
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R380
R257
Discovery Miles 2 570
Save R123 (32%)
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'Quite simply a masterpiece ... I am completely bowled over by it;
by the power of its writing, by the vividness of its scene painting
and by the stories it tells' A. N. Wilson 'Where there is great
love there are always miracles' Two French priests have been sent
to New Mexico to reawaken the faith. There, they must contend with
unforgiving landscapes, danger, rebellion and loneliness. But
through their many years together they are sustained by faith,
friendship and the awe-inspiring majesty that surrounds them. A
work of great simplicity and sublime beauty, Willa Cather's
acclaimed novel asks, what is a life well lived? Death Comes for
the Archbishop is a masterpiece by the author of O Pioneers! and
the great novelist of American frontier life. 'Its whole effect
works slowly and mysteriously ... a major, and rare, artistic
achievement' A. S. Byatt
Hailed by reviewers and readers for its originality, vitality, and
truth, this novel secured Willa Cather a place in the first rank of
American writers. Cather called My Antonia "the best thing I've
done." For Oliver Wendell Holmes, My Antonia had "unfailing charm,
perhaps not to be defined; a beautiful tenderness, a vivifying
imagination that transforms but does not distort or exaggerate." H.
L. Mencken declared it "one of the best [novels] any American has
ever done." Cather drew deeply on her childhood days in frontier
Nebraska for this, her fourth novel, published in 1918. Old
immigrant neighbors inspired many of the characters, particularly
the heroine. Antonia Shimerda is memorable as the warmhearted
daughter of Bohemians who must adapt to a hard life on the desolate
prairie. She survives and matures, a pioneer woman made radiant by
spirit. W. T. Benda's illustrations further illuminate the fiction
of a writer who drew so extensively on actual experience.
In Willa Cather's own estimation, My Antonia, first published in 1918, was "the best thing I've ever done." An enduring paperback bestseller on Houghton Mifflin's literary list, this hauntingly eloquent classic now boasts a new foreword by Kathleen Norris, Cather's soulmate of the plains. Infused with a gracious passion for the land, My Antonia embraces its uncommon subject - the hardscrabble life of the pioneer woman on the prairie - with poetic certitude, rendering a deeply moving portrait of an entire community. Through Jim Burden's endearing, smitten voice, we revisit the remarkable vicissitudes of immigrant life in the Nebraska heartland with all its insistent bonds. Guiding the way are some of literature's most beguiling characters: the Russian brothers plagued by memories of a fateful sleigh ride, Antonia's desperately homesick father and self-indulgent mother, and the coy Lena Lingard. Holding the pastoral society's heart, of course, is the bewitching, free-spirited Antonia Shimerda.
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My Antonia (Paperback)
Willa Cather; Contributions by Mint Editions
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R283
R257
Discovery Miles 2 570
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After the death of his parents, Jim Burden is sent to live with his
grandparents in Nebraska, where he meets his first and most
prominent love, Antonia Shimera. As pioneers in Nebraska, the
Shimera family expected hardships, but none as devastating as a
death in the family. Narrated by Jim Burden, an orphan living with
his grandparents next door to the Shimera's, My Antonia follows the
coming of age and life of Jim and Antonia, the eldest daughter in
the Shimera family. Starting when Jim and Antonia were young kids,
the Burdens and the Shimera's live as neighbors in the plains of
19th century Nebraska. While the weather was often harsh and the
untamed land made it difficult to yield crops, the Shimera family
worked hard to maintain a content life. However, when a tragic
death strikes the Shimera family, they fall into poverty despite
the aid Jim's grandparents try to offer. As her family's farm
fails, Antonia has to quit school to help out with manual labor.
Antonia gets a job as a town girl, helping care for children and
households in order to support her family. Meanwhile, Jim moves
into town as well for higher education, and is able to reconnect
with Antonia, though she does not have as much leisure time as he
does. As they both grow into adulthood, Jim witnesses the Shimera's
and Antonia to make difficult choices and somber sacrifices,
contrasting their hardships to his own comfortable life. My Antonia
earned commercial and critical acclaim soon after its publication,
and has inspired film and stage adaptations since. With themes of
feminism, insight on lower class Americans, and the use of deep
metaphors, Willa Cather's My Antonia is a classic gem worthy of
even more recognition. Now redesigned with an eye-catching cover
and printed in an easy-to-read font, this edition of Willa Cather's
My Antonia restores the classic novel to create an engaging
experience for modern audiences.
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O Pioneers! (Paperback)
Willa Cather
1
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R274
R229
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The first of Cather’s renowned prairie novels, O Pioneers! established a new voice in American literature—turning the stories of ordinary Midwesterners and immigrants into authentic literary characters.
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One Of Ours
Willa Cather
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R605
Discovery Miles 6 050
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The first novel in the Great Plains trilogy, this is an ode to the
American Midwest and the immigrants who transformed it To the anger
of her brothers, it is Alexandra who is entrusted to manage their
family farm in the tough, hostile prairie of Hanover, Nebraska
following the death of their father. As the years pass, Alexandra
rises heroically to the challenge, finding strength in the savage
beauty of the land even as loneliness and personal tragedies crowd
in. A rapturous work of understated lyricism, Willa Cather's 1913
tale of a pioneer woman who tames the wild, hostile lands of the
Nebraskan prairie is also the story of what it means to be
American.
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