On the Divide

David Porter

Description

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.

Sujets

• Idioma inglés
• USA
• United States of America
• English
• États-Unis
• Anglais

Informations

• Publié par: Nebraska
• Date de parution: 01 novembre 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780803219083
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

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W illa Cater on railroad andcar. Courtesy of te W illa Cater Pioneer Museum, Red Cloud, Nebraska.

On te Divide

he Many Lives of Willa Cater : 7 L ? : F E H J ; H

University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London

Acknowledgments for previously publised materials

appear on p. xvii, an extension of te copyrigt page.

©by te Board of Regents of te University of

Nebraska. All rigts reserved. Manufactured in te

United States of America ∞

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Porter, David H.,–

On te divide : te many lives of Willa Cater /

David Porter. p. cm. Includes bibliograpical references and index.

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. Cater, Willa,– . Novelists, American—

t century—Biograpy. I. Title.

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Set in Adobe Caslon.

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Designed by Asley Muelbauer.

In memory of Laudie,  witout wom I would never ave written tis book,

and for Helen,  witout wom I could never ave completed it.

Contents

  ix       xi                xvii           xix                  xxvii

  Cater on Cater    hree Autobiograpies and  an (Auto)interview    Dust-Jacket Copy 

 te Kingdom of Art Entering   he Quest to Excel    Cater Caugt in te Eddy    Two Alter Egos 



 Home on te Divide  At  O Pioneers!andMy Autobiograpy   he Song of te Lark   My Ántonia 

 Medusa  Confronting   “Hard and Dry”    Yout and te Brigt Medusa    One of Ours 

  “he Seeming Original Injustice”   A Lost Lady    he Best Stories of Sara Orne Jewett    he Professor’s House    My Mortal Enemy 

  Recapitulation     Cater Talks wit Cater 

  “In te End Is My Beginning”   Deat Comes for te Arcbisop     Fiction of te s     Cater, Jewett, andNot Under Forty    Sappira and te Slave Girl 

                  



Illustrations

Frontispiece. Willa Cater on railroad andcar

Following p. 

he Garden of te Heart. Ricard Badger,. Publicity flyer forApril Twiligts “Literary Note” Publicity brocure forhe Song of te Lark Typescript of“A Biograpical Sketc” Typescript of“Interview at Grand Central” Typescript draft ofSappira and te Slave Girldust-jacket copy Cater’s corrections toSappira and te Slave Girldust-jacket copy Alexander’s Bridge, dust jacket. Hougton Mifflin,. My Ántonia, dust jacket. Hougton Mifflin,. Yout and te Brigt Medusa, dust jacket. A. A. Knopf,. One of Ours, dust jacket. A. A. Knopf,. Sadows on te Rock, dust jacket. A. A. Knopf,. Sadows on te Rock, dust jacket, fift printing. A. A. Knopf,.