Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
On the Divide: The Many Lives of Willa Cather

On the Divide: The Many Lives of Willa Cather

Porter, David

Hardcover

Literary Criticism

ISBN10: 0803237553
ISBN13: 9780803237551
Publisher: Univ Of Nebraska Pr
Published: Nov 1 2008
Pages: 416
Weight: 1.70
Height: 1.40 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.10
Language: English
Willa Cather's fiction frequently plays out on the divide, the high prairie land of Nebraska, where the author herself lived as a child. This book suggests that Cather's own life played out on a divide as well, deliberately measured out between different roles and personae that made their way into her writing. On the Divide analyzes the iconic image that Cather helped develop for herself, in contrast to the anonymous face she adopted for promotional activities and the very different private self she shared only with friends and family. Delving into Cather's correspondence and the little-known promotional material she produced anonymously, David Porter provides new insight into the extent--and direction--of her control. He also considers the contrasting influences of Mary Baker Eddy, whose biography Cather ghostwrote, and Sarah Orne Jewett on the author's emerging artistic persona. The study goes on to explore the many ways in which these divides in Cather's life found expression in her writing. Extending from Cather's early stories to her final novel, Porter's book documents the degree to which Cather's understanding of her own different and often conflicting sides, and of her penchant for playing diverse roles, enabled her as a novelist to create characters so torn, so complex, and so profoundly human.

1 different editions

Also available

Also from

Porter, David

View All

Also in

Literary Criticism

View All