Willa Cather - (1873-1947)
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Chilhowie High School, Virginia
Read another essay on Cather by Nebraska student
Rebecca Fowler .I. Biography
Willa Sibert Cather, the eldest of four children in the Cather family, was born on December 7, 1873. She was born in Back Creek Valley, near Winchester, to Charles F. Cather and Mary Virginia Boak
Cather. Her father gave her the name Willela after his younger sister who died as a child. He had a career as a deputy sheriff and Cather's mother was a homemaker. She had two
brothers, Roscoe and Douglass, and one sister, Jessica. Cather refused to believe that she was named after her father's sister. Instead, she insisted that she was named after her
mother's brother, William Seibert Boak. This led to her nickname, Willie, which stuck with her until her death in 1947. Cather spent most of her early childhood in the Shenandoah Valley, but at the age of nine,
she moved with her family to Nebraska. The Cather Family spent two years on a farm in Catherton, Nebraska, which is in Webster County. Following these two years, they
decided to move to Red Cloud, Nebraska so the children could attend school. Charles Cather opened up a loan and insurance office and provided services for Red Cloud's population of 2,500 people.
Willa Cather was a tomboy right to the core! She had a strong hate for long hair, dresses, and skirts, so she wore trousers and kept her hair very short. Her mother was vain and had
a concern with fashion ("Biography"). Willa's behavior in her apparel upset her mother, so her concerns were now focused on turning her daughter into a lady. Willa was very
stubborn and refused to change in any way. Finally, her mother gave up on her useless attempts ("Biography"). Willa went through school like any other child. She took an interest in both theater and
science. As a high school student, her greatest ambition was to become a doctor, despite the fact that very few women were in this field. In fact, it probably increased her desire.
She became friends with two of the doctors from Red Cloud and was allowed to go with them on some of their calls ("Willa Cather" Life of). She was even allowed to be an
assistant to one of the doctors who was amputating a boy's leg. Being allowed to tag along with the doctors inspired Willa so much that she worked at home, experimenting on animals with a set of medical tools ("Willa Cather"
Life of). Some of the people in Red Cloud were outraged by her experiments, but that wasn't enough to stop her from reaching
her goal for her career in science. Her theater interest wasn't as great as her passion for science, but it did exist. Red Cloud had an Opera House and Willa Cather just adored it.
The actors and actresses inspired her as they performed, so she decided to join the other children in small performances. She always chose to play male roles though ("Willa Cather" Life of).
Willa Cather graduated from Red Cloud High School at the age of sixteen in June of 1890. Her graduating class consisted of only three people. Out of the three graduates, Willa
Cather was the only one with intentions of furthering her education. After graduation, she moved to Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska, and made an attempt to get accepted to the
University of Nebraska. She was accepted and would enter the University in 1891, after one year in its prep school. She had set goals to achieve a degree in science. Her main
interests were botany, astronomy, and chemistry. In March of 1891, one of Willa Cather's assignments changed her interest from science to writing, or journalism ("Biography"). A
teacher was very impressed with her work and, without her awareness of his plan, sent it to the school paper and local newspapers. Once she saw her work in print, she forgot all
about science and spent her time writing. She studied languages such as Greek and Latin, and French and English Literature. She excelled in both subjects.
The stories she submitted to the Hesperian later became a collection called Troll Garden. Cather quickly made a name for herself by being the journal's drama critic. People were surprised at her
maturity level at her very young age ("Willa Cather" Life of). The last two semesters at the University of Nebraska were successful for Willa Cather. She wrote over one hundred pieces for the Hesperian
, something a full time reviewer might not have been able to do. Not only did she write for the journal and have other schoolwork, but she also did some teaching during her senior year. She graduated
from the University of Nebraska in 1895. After graduation, she returned to Red Cloud to work for the Courier. However, she was
offered another job and moved to Pittsburgh to be the editor of a women's magazine called Home Monthly. In 1897, the magazine was sold and Willa Cather went to work for the Pittsburgh Leader,
a local newspaper. By this time, Willa was at the age at which most women of her day planned to marry soon, or were already married. She felt that she had no
need for heterosexual relationships and was much too busy to lose her freedom. She had a relationship with Louise Pound in college, but when that ended, there were a couple of
others including Isabelle McClung, and Edith Lewis. Cather never admitted to being a lesbian and she remained single her whole life. In 1901, work on the Pittsburgh Leader
began to get slow so the career ended. Following her job at the newspaper, she began teaching Latin and English at Central High School in Pittsburgh. She also taught at
Allegheny High School, which was across the river from Central High School, for three years. During her five-year teaching career, Willa Cather continued to write. She published her first book, April Twilights
in 1903, and in 1905, Troll Garden appeared for the first time. In 1906, Willa Cather moved to New York and accepted a position as editor of McClure's Magazine
. At this time, it was considered the most successful reforming magazine in America. She was only involved with this magazine because of its literary content, as she
had no interest in its reputation for muck-raking ("Willa Cather" Life of). Cather's affiliation with McClure's was crucial in her life and career. The work she did there earned her
national recognition, leading to the arrangement for the release of Troll Garden. There were some flaws with her job, as with any, including frequent travels and extended stays in
the Midwest, New England, and Europe! However, she found enjoyment working here and New York remained her home for the rest of her life. New York saw the publication of her first novels Alexander's Bridge
in 1912, and O Pioneers in 1913. In 1908, while on an assignment in Boston, she met Sarah Orne Jewett. Willa Cather greatly
admired her work. It was the encouragement of Ms. Jewett that led Cather to write stories about Nebraska. The conversations between the two ladies led Cather to her decision to
leave the magazine in order to devote her time to her writing ("Cather, Willa Sibert"). After the publication of O Pioneers, Cather began to support herself through magazine
publications of her stories and sales of her books. After the publication of A Lost Lady in 1923, she had a period of despair ("Biography"). However, during that same year, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for
One of Ours, which was published the previous year. She did recover from the despair and managed to write some of her greatest novels including The Professor's House (1925), My Mortal Enemy (1926), and
Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927). She was awarded the Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters for Death Comes for the Archbishop in 1930. II. Regionalism Winchester, Virginia
Winchester, the oldest Virginia city west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, was founded in 1774. The city of 23, 000 people is located at the northern entrance of the Shenandoah
Valley. Winchester occupies 9.3 square miles of the Commonwealth of Virginia and is the medical, industrial, commercial, and agricultural center for its surrounding areas.
Winchester is rich in heritage with a dynamic future. III. List of Works April Twilights (1903)
Cather spent her spare time in college editing the school magazine, the Hesperian. She also published articles and play reviews in the local
papers. She became the editor of the school magazine during her junior year, taking advantage of any chance to publish her own short stories. Whenever she saw the opportunity to earn money
for writing a paper for the journal, she would set aside schoolwork and write instead. Despite the fact that she only wrote for the journal for two years, she managed to produce over three hundred
pieces! Many of these were essay length. In 1892, Willa Cather published a short story called "Peter" in a Boston magazine. This story later became part of her novel My Antonia. 
Her writing career remained active. She published novels and short stories and returned to Virginia to write her last book, Sapphira and the Slave Girl
. She also won several more awards. These things happened up until her death on April 24, 1947. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in her Madison Avenue home in New York
City. Willa Cather was buried in Jaffrey, New Hampshire following her death.
The Troll Garden (1905)
Alexander's Bridge (1912)
O Pioneers (1913)
The Song of the Lark (1915)
My Antonia (1918)
Youth and the Bright Medusa (1920)
One of Ours (1922)
A Lost Lady (1923)
The Professor's House (1925)
My Mortal Enemy (1926)
Death Comes for the Archishop (1927)
Shadows on the Rock (1931)
Obscure Destinies (1932)
Lucy Gayheart (1935)
Not Under Forty (1936)
Sapphira and the Slave Girl (1940)
The Old Beauty and Others (1948)
April Twilights and Other Poems (1923)
The Novels and Stories of Willa Cather (1937-1941)
Writings From Willa Cather's Campus Years (1950)
Five Stories (1956)
Early Stories of Willa Cather (1957)
Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction (1892-1912)
The Kingdom of Art: Willa Cather's First Principles and Critical Statements (1893-1896)
The World and the Parish: Willa Cather's Articles and Reviews (1893-1902)
Uncle Valentine and Other Stories (1973)
Willa Cather in Person: Interviews, Speeches, and Letters (1986)
Willa Cather: 24 Stories (1987)
The Short Stories of Willa Cather (1989)
Willa Cather on Writing (1949)
Willa Cather in Europe: Her Own Story of the First Journey (1956)
IV. Summaries "On The Divide"
When Willa Cather was nine years old, she moved with her family to Catherton, Nebraska.
"On The Divide" gives readers an understanding of what her first house in the new state might have been like. The house was basically a shack that was about to acquire more
people than it actually should. The house was poorly designed and built but as she spent more and more time in it, she began to take a liking to the place. Cather mentions the wide
windowsills and talks about how they looked mangled by a hatchet. All of the torn places, however, began to take shape and she enjoyed making pictures with her imagination.
"On The Divide" is set at the beginning of winter and you can see how harshly the season affects people. Cather tells us that insanity and suicide are common among people on the
Divide. Canute was beginning to suffer from insanity caused by being alone. He thought that he just had to marry Lena and he wouldn't let anyone or anything get in his way.
When he finally got what he wanted, he feared the fact that he was going to have to learn to have someone else around. "A Singer's Romance"
Selma Schumann is an Opera singer and is married to her old music teacher, who enjoys spending all of the money she earns. While she is away for a concert, she drops her
jewelry pouch and a man politely picks it up and gives it to her. I don't know if the lady's smile triggered something in the man's mind, but it was an immediate obsession!
Everywhere she goes, he follows her or is already there waiting for her. She gets very annoyed with the stalking but doesn't know what to do about it, if there were any options.
Her maid is the daughter of an old friend that passed away, and she isn't like your everyday maid. She is more like a good friend who is helping out. Anyway, she tells her
about the man, hoping for advice but is unsuccessful. Selma wasn't as annoyed with the man as she thought, we see in the end. She wakes up, expecting service, but she doesn't
hear from her maid. She walks into the other room to find the stalker man with her maid. She starts to cry and cannot stop. V. Cather Quotations
"Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again."
"Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family; but to a solitary and an exile, his friends are everything."
"A child's attitude toward everything is an artist's attitude." "Give the people a new word and they think they have a new fact." "I tell you there is such a thing as creative hate."
"There are only two or three human stories and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before."
"To note an artist's limitations is but to define his talent." "What was any art but an effort to make a sheath, a mold in which to imprison for a moment
the shining, elusive element which is life itself." "Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen." "Religion and art spring from the same root and are close kin. Economics and art are strangers." The
-Willa Cather My Antonia
-Willa Cather Shadows on the Rock
-Willa Cather The Song of the Lark
-Willa Cather "Four Letters: Escapism"
-Willa Cather The Song of the Lark
-Willa Cather O Pioneers!
-Willa Cather "Not Under Forty"
-Willa Cather The Song of the Lark
-Willa Cather
My Antonia
-Willa Cather "Four Letters: Escapism"
http://www.creativequotations.com
VI. Links The Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial has been awarded a $275, 000 challenge grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The grant, which must be matched
three-to-one, is toward an endowment fund for operation of the soon-to-be-renovated red Cloud Opera House. Click the link below for more information on this scholarship.
Willa "Willela" Sibert Cather was born on December 7, 1873 and died on April 24, 1947. For some brief facts about her life and death, click on the following link to check out her obituary.
http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~cather/catherobit.html
Any High School senior, THIS LINK IS FOR YOU! So you don't know where to apply for college? Well, if you are considering the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, click the link
below for some information that might help you make your decision.
http://www.webcrawler.com/education/universities_and_colleges?adult_and_cont_ed/con tinuing_ed_prog_nebraska
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The Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial (WCPM) was founded by Mildred R. Bennett and a group of interested people in 1955. The Memorial encourages and promotes increased
understanding and appreciation of the life, time, settings, and works of Willa Cather. For more information on this Memorial, click on the link below.
http://www.willacather.org
VII. Bibliography "Biography of Willa Cather." N.D. Cather, Willa. "A Singer's Romance." Willa Cather: 24 Stories. New York: New American Library, 1987. 124-130. Cather, Willa. MyAntonia
. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1949. Cather, Willa. O Pioneers. Boston, Massachusetts and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913. Cather, Willa. "On the Divide." Willa Cather: 24 Stories
. New York: New American Library, 1987. 35-49. "Cather, Willa Sibert." DISCovering Authors. CD-ROM. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Inc., 1993. Cather, Willa. "The Namesake." Willa Cather: 24 Stories
. New York: New American Library, 1987. 167-179. Cather, Willa. "The Profile." Willa Cather: 24 Stories. New York: New American Library, 1987. 180-193. Cather, Willa. "The Willing Muse." Willa Cather: 24Stories
. New York: New American Library, 1987. 194-207. Gerber, Phillip L. Willa Cather. Boston, Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers, 1975. Muir, Jane. Famous Modern American Women Writers. New York: Dodd, Mead &
Company, 1966. O'Brien, Sharon. Introduction. Willa Cather: 24 Stories. By Sharon O'Brien. New York: New American Library, 1987. 12-17. Virginia Center for the Book. 20th Century Virginia Authors
. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Center for the Book, 1994. "Willa Cather." N.D. "Willa Sibert Cather." N.D. "Willa Sibert Cather." Sunday, August 24, 1997. VII. Additional Photographs
(March 13, 2001).
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This is the birthplace of Willa Cather in Back Creek Valley, Virginia. Back Creek Valley is now known as Gore. |
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This is Willa Cather's home in Red Cloud, Nebraska. She spent her adolescence here. |
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This is the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Cather was accepted into the college and had intentions of achieving a degree in science, but changed to journalism. This is where her writing career began. |
