Wilella Sibert Cather (December 7, 1873^[1] – April 24, 1947) is an eminent author from the United States. She is known for her depictions of U.S. life in novels such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and Death Comes for the Archbishop. Willa Cather photographed by Carl Van Vechten, January 22, 1936 From the collection of the Library of Congress and in the public domain: http://memory. ... is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1873 (MDCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia Coordinates: Country United States State Virginia County Independent City Founded 1802 Mayor Elizabeth Minor Area    - City 24. ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... “NY” redirects here. ... For the album by the Kaiser Chiefs see Employment (album) Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1873 (MDCCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... is the 114th day of the year (115th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Authorship redirects here. ... O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel by American author Willa Cather. ... My Ántonia (first published 1918) is considered the greatest novel by American writer Willa Cather. ... Death Comes for the Archbishop is a 1927 novel by Willa Cather. ...

Early life

Willa Cather was born on a small farm in Back Creek Valley (near Winchester, Virginia). Her father was Charles Fectigue Cather (d. 1928), whose family had lived on land in the valley for six generations. Her mother was born Mary Virginia Boak (d. 1931), and she had six younger children: Roscoe, Douglass, Jessica, James, John, and Elsie.^[2] In 1883, Cather moved with her family to Catherton in Webster County, Nebraska. The following year the family relocated to Red Cloud, the county seat. There, she spent the rest of her childhood in the same town that has been made famous by her writing. She insisted on attending college^{[citation needed]}, so her family borrowed money so she could enroll at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While there, she became a regular contributor to the Nebraska State Journal. Back Creek is a tributary of the Potomac River that flows north from Frederick County, Virginia to Berkeley County in West Virginias Eastern Panhandle. ... Location in the Commonwealth of Virginia Coordinates: Country United States State Virginia County Independent City Founded 1802 Mayor Elizabeth Minor Area    - City 24. ... Webster County is a county located in the state of Nebraska. ... Red Cloud is a city located in Webster County, Nebraska. ... The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is a state-supported institution of higher learning located in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. Often referred to as simply Nebraska or UNL, it is the flagship and largest campus of the University of Nebraska system. ... The Lincoln Journal Star is Lincoln, Nebraskas major daily newspaper. ...

She then moved to Pittsburgh, where she taught high school English and worked for Home Monthly, and eventually got a job offer from McClure's Magazine in New York City. The latter publication serialized her first novel, Alexander's Bridge, which was heavily influenced by Henry James. “Pittsburgh” redirects here. ... McClures or McClures Magazine was a popular United States illustrated monthly magazine at the turn of the 20th century, often compared to the longer-running The Atlantic Monthly. ... Alexanders Bridge is the first novel by American author Willa Cather. ... For other uses of this name, see Henry James (disambiguation). ...

Cather was born into the Baptist faith but converted to Episcopalianism in 1922, having begun to attend Sunday services in the church as early as 1906.^[3] Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Coptic Orthodox Pope · Roman Catholic Pope Archbishop of Canterbury · Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Baptist... This article is about the Episcopal Church in the United States. ...

Writing career

Cather moved to New York City in 1906 in order to join the editorial staff of McClure's and later became the managing editor (1908). As a muckraking journalist, she coauthored a powerful and highly critical biography of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. It was serialized in McClure's in 1907-8 and published as a book the next year. Christian Scientists were outraged and tried to buy every copy; it was reprinted by the University of Nebraska Press in 1993. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Mary Baker Eddy (born Mary Morse Baker July 16, 1821–December 3, 1910) founded the Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879 and was the author of its fundamental doctrinal textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. ... Christian Science is a religious teaching regarding the efficacy of spiritual healing according to the interpretation of the Bible by Mary Baker Eddy, in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (first published in 1875). ...

She met author Sarah Orne Jewett, who advised Cather to rely less on the influence of James and more on her native Nebraska. For her novels she returned to the prairie for inspiration, and these works became popular and critical successes. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for One of Ours (1922). Sarah Orne Jewett Sarah Orne Jewett (September 3, 1849 – June 24, 1909) was an American author whose works were set in her native New England. ... The Pulitzer Prize is an American award regarded as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements, and musical composition. ... Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Plot Summary Willa Cathers novel One of Ours, winner of the 1923 Pulitzer Prize, tells the story of the life of Claude Wheeler, a native of Nebraska around the turn of the 20th century. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

She was celebrated by critics like H.L. Mencken for writing about ordinary people in plainspoken language. When he won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Sinclair Lewis said Cather should have won it instead. However, later critics tended to favor more experimental authors and attacked Cather, a political conservative, for ignoring the actual plight of ordinary people. H. L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (September 12, 1880 - January 29, 1956) was a twentieth century journalist and social critic, a cynic and a freethinker, known as the Sage of Baltimore and the American Nietzsche. He is often regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the early 20th... Nobel Prize in Literature medal. ... Sinclair Lewis Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 — January 10, 1951) was an American novelist and playwright. ...

In 1973, Willa Cather was honored by the United States Postal Service with her image on a postage stamp. Cather is a member of the Nebraska Hall of Fame. In 1986, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. She was a close companion to opera singer Olive Fremstad. USPS and Usps redirect here. ... This article lists people who have been featured on United States postage stamps. ... Nebraska Hall of Fame is an official list of prominent Nebraskans compiled in accordance to state law. ... The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is located in Forth Worth, Texas. ... Olive Fremstad holding the head of John the Baptist in the Metropolitan Operas 1907 production of Salome by Richard Strauss Olive Fremstad (14 March 1871 - 21 April 1951) was the stage name of Anna Olivia Rundquist, a celebrated Swedish-American mezzo-soprano and soprano opera singer. ...

Personal life

As a student at the University of Nebraska in the early 1890s, Cather sometimes used the masculine nickname "William" and wore masculine clothes. ^[4] A photograph in the University of Nebraska archives depicts Cather, "her hair shingled, at a time when long hair was fashionable, and dressed boyishly." ^[5]

Throughout Cather's adult life, her most significant relationships were with women, such as her college friend Louise Pound, the Pittsburgh socialite Isabelle McClung, with whom Cather traveled to Europe, and most notably the editor Edith Lewis. Cather's friendship with Lewis began in the early 1900s; the two women lived together in a series of apartments in New York City from 1912 until the writer's death in 1947, Lewis afterwards serving as the literary trustee for the Cather estate.^[6] Louise Pound (1872-1958) was a distinguished American folklorist and educator. ...

Cather is buried in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Jaffrey is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, USA. The population was 5,476 at the 2000 census. ...

A resolutely private person, Cather destroyed many old drafts, personal papers, and letters. Her will restricted the ability of scholars to quote from those personal papers that remain. Since the 1980s, feminist and other academic writers have written about Cather's sexual orientation and the influence of her female friendships on her work. ^[7]

Trivia

• From 1913 to 1927, she lived at No. 5 Bank Street in Greenwich Village, until the apartment was torn down during the construction of the Seventh Avenue subway line.^[8]

• After reading her cousin G.P. Cather's wartime letters home to his mother, wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning "One of Ours". He was Nebraska's first officer killed in World War I. Those same letters are now held in the George Cather Ray Collection at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries.

• Cather and Pound residence halls at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln) are named after Willa Cather and Louise Pound. [1]

The Washington Square Arch Greenwich Village (IPA pronunciation: ), also called simply the Village, is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern) Manhattan in New York City named after Greenwich, London. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ...

Quotes

• "Youth is the source of power and creativity."
• "That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great."
• "'There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years.'" - Carl Linstrum in O Pioneers!
• "'I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.'" Marie, O Pioneers!
• "The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman." - O Pioneers!
• "The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one's own."
• "Even the wicked get worse than they deserve."
• "Blame keeps the wound open, but only forgiveness can heal."

Bibliography

Nonfiction

• Willa Cather and Georgine Milmine The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science (1909) (reprinted U of Nebraska Press, 1993)
• Willa Cather On Writing (1949) (reprint U Nebraska Press, 1988)
• Not Under Forty (essays) 1936

Novels

• Alexander's Bridge (1912)
• O Pioneers! (1913)
• The Song of the Lark (1915)
• My Ántonia (1918)
• One of Ours (1922)
• A Lost Lady (1923)
• The Professor's House (1925)
• My Mortal Enemy (1926)
• Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927)
• Shadows on the Rock (1931)
• Lucy Gayheart (1935)
• Sapphira and the Slave Girl (1940)

Alexanders Bridge is the first novel by American author Willa Cather. ... O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel by American author Willa Cather. ... The Song of the Lark is the third book by American author Willa Cather. ... My Ántonia (first published 1918) is considered the greatest novel by American writer Willa Cather. ... Plot Summary Willa Cathers novel One of Ours, winner of the 1923 Pulitzer Prize, tells the story of the life of Claude Wheeler, a native of Nebraska around the turn of the 20th century. ... Willa Cathers A Lost Lady was first published in 1923. ... The Professors House is a novel by American author Willa Cather. ... Death Comes for the Archbishop is a 1927 novel by Willa Cather. ... Shadows on the Rock is a novel by the American writer Willa Cather. ...

Collections

• April Twilights (poetry) 1903
• The Troll Garden (short stories) 1905
• Youth and the Bright Medusa (short stories) 1920
• Obscure Destinies (three stories) 1932
• The Old Beauty (three stories) 1948

This was Cather's last (posthumous) published work.

This does not include recent collections of early stories which were originall published in periodicals.^{[9] [10]}

References

McClures or McClures Magazine was a popular United States illustrated monthly magazine at the turn of the 20th century, often compared to the longer-running The Atlantic Monthly. ... Jaffrey is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, USA. The population was 5,476 at the 2000 census. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 225th day of the year (226th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 225th day of the year (226th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Willa Cather

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Willa Cather

• Willa Cather Archive at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Prairie to Paris An Interactive Exploration of Willa's and Antonia's Prairie
• Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation in Red Cloud, Nebraska
• Willa Cather Quotes
• American Masters - Willa Cather
• Works by Willa Cather at Project Gutenberg
• glbtq article on Willa Cather with special focus on her possible lesbianism
• Willa Cather birthplace
• LitWeb.net: Willa Cather Biography
• Willa Cather papers at Nebraska State Historical Society