Willa Cather was an American writer whose prairie novels launched her career in the early 1900s. Thanks in part to her literary masterpieces, such as O Pioneers! and My Ántonia, Cather is often viewed as a representative of pioneer life on the Great Plains. Throughout her career, Cather would write 12 novels, six collections of short fiction, two editions of her book of poetry April Twilights, and numerous works of nonfiction, collected journalism, speeches, and letters.
Cather was originally viewed as a regional writer, but after her passing in 1947, critics have increasingly identified Cather as a canonical American writer, the peer of authors such as Hemingway, Faulkner, and Wharton, and continue to explore her relationship with the West.
In Becoming Willa Cather, author Daryl W. Palmer contends that her time spent in Nebraska during the years leading up to O Pioneers! is more dynamic than critics and scholars thought. Offering insights gained during extensive research and close examination of her early short stories, Palmer presents Cather as a brilliant and ambitious author, who embraced experimentation in life and art, intent on reimagining the American West.
Fans of Willa Cather’s literary works are certain to find this book captivating.
About the Author
Daryl W. Palmer is an author and professor of English at Regis University in Denver, Colorado.
Publisher: University of Nevada Press