Willa Cather

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Willa Cather around 1925
Portrait of Willa Cather. Photographed by Carl Van Vechten in January 1936

Willa Sibert Cather (born December 7, 1873 in Winchester , Virginia , † April 24, 1947 in New York City ) was an American writer.

Life

Willa Cather was born to Baptist farmers in Virginia; however, the large family moved to Nebraska nine years later , a state that was still considered a western border country at the time. Growing up in rural Nebraska was central to Cather's literary development. She studied English literature at the University of Nebraska , graduated there in 1894, and worked as a freelance journalist and theater critic during her studies.

In 1896 she moved to Pittsburgh , where she taught English and Latin at a high school and wrote for several magazines. In 1906 she went to New York and worked as an editor for McClure's Magazine , where in 1912 her first novel Alexander's Bridge appeared in sequels. In the following years she wrote her famous prairie trilogy O Pioneers (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915) and My Antonia (1918). In 1923 she received the Pulitzer Prize for the novel One of Ours . She enjoyed an enormous reputation with critics and audiences.

Many of Cather's novels are set in rural America and thematize the hard life of European immigrants on the Nebraska prairie, where Swedish, French and Bohemian immigrants acquired land through the Homestead Act of 1862. She owed this subject to the advice of her mentor and friend Sarah Orne Jewett , who, however, died soon after they met in 1909. She herself preferred urban life and lived in New York for decades. Despite her fame, she lived a secluded life. She did not comment on questions of the time. She shielded her lesbian private life (with Edith Lewis). At the time of her death, she ordered her letters to be burned. Though thousands of letters escaped destruction, Cather's will prevents their publication.

Willa Cather is now one of the most important American writers. At the beginning of her career her spelling was based on Henry James , but otherwise preferred writers such as Dickens , Thackeray , Emerson , Hawthorne , Balzac , Flaubert and Tolstoy to their contemporary colleagues. Your contemporaries were z. B. Ellen Glasgow , Djuna Barnes , James Joyce and Gertrude Stein . Willa Cather died of cerebral haemorrhage on April 24, 1947 in her apartment on Madison Avenue, New York City, and was buried in the Old Burying Ground of Jaffrey Center, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, on a hill she had chosen herself. On her tombstone it says:

“THE TRUTH AND CHARITY OF HER GREAT SPIRIT WILL LIVE ON IN THE WORK WHICH IS HER ENDURING GIFT TO HER COUNTRY AND ALL ITS PEOPLE.

"... that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great."
- From My Antonia ”

“The truth and charity of her great spirit will live on in the works as a lasting gift to her country and all its people.

"... that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great."
- From My Antonia "
- Inscription on the headstone : Old Burying Ground Jaffrey Center, Cheshire County, New Hampshire

Works

Novels and short stories

  • 1894 The Fear That Walks by Noonday ( short story)
  • 1905 The Troll Garden (short stories)
  • 1912 Alexander's Bridge (novel)
    • Dream of bygone days, German by Elisabeth Schnack, Einsiedeln, Zurich; Benziger, Cologne 1964
    • also as: Alexander's Bridge, same translation, Knaus Munich 1992. ISBN 3-8135-3548-7
  • 1913 O Pioneers!
  • 1915 The Song of the Lark (novel)
    • The song of the lark, German by Monika Schlitzer and Kyra Stromberg, Knaus Munich 1991. ISBN 3-8135-3826-5
  • 1918 My Ántonia (novel)
    • Antonia, German by Walter Schumann, J. Engelhorns Nachf. Stuttgart 1928
    • also as: My Antonia, same translation, Engelhorn Stuttgart 1948
    • also as: Meine Antonia, same translation, Herder Freiburg 1961 (Herder-Bücherei 99)
    • also as: Meine Antonia, German by Karin Graf, Knaus Munich 1990. ISBN 3-8135-8985-4
    • also as: Meine Antonia, German by Stefanie Kremer, Knaus Munich 2008. ISBN 3-8135-0312-7 ; translation btb Verlag (November 2, 2009) ISBN 978-3-4427-3998-1
  • 1920 Youth and the Bright Medusa (short stories)
  • 1922 One of Ours (novel)
    • One of us, German by Marilies Mauk, Urban Freiburg im Breisgau 1928
    • also as: Be quiet when you go, German by Eva Brückner-Tuckwiller, Knaus Munich 1992. ISBN 3-8135-5140-7
  • 1923 A Lost Lady (novel)
    • Frau im Zwielicht, German by Magda Kahn, Urban Freiburg im Breisgau 1929
    • also as: The woman who lost herself, same translation, Benziger Einsiedeln, Zurich, Cologne 1959
    • also as: The woman who lost herself, German by Eva Brückner-Tuckwiller, Knaus, Munich, Hamburg 1989. ISBN 3-8135-3487-1 ; translation, publisher: btb Verlag (December 8, 2010) ISBN 978-3-4427-4141-0
  • 1925 The Professor's House (novel)
    • The professor's house, German by Elisabeth Schnack, Benziger Einsiedeln, Zurich, Cologne 1961
  • 1926 My Mortal Enemy (novel)
    • An old story, German by Elisabeth Schnack, Benziger Einsiedeln, Zurich, Cologne 1962
    • also as: My worst enemy, German by Stefanie Kremer, Knaus Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-8135-0311-1 ; translation, publisher: btb Verlag (May 9, 2011). ISBN 978-3-4427-4220-2
  • 1927 Death Comes for the Archbishop , (novel) by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1930, the William Dean Howells Medal awarded
  • 1931 Shadows on the Rock (novel)
    • Shadow on the Rock, German by Elisabeth Schnack, Benziger Einsiedeln, Zurich, Cologne 1956; translation, publisher: Manesse Verlag (March 16, 2009) ISBN 978-3-7175-2192-1
  • 1932 Obscure Destinies ( short stories)
  • 1935 Lucy Gayheart (novel)
    • Lucy Gayheart, German by Elisabeth Schnack, Benziger Einsiedeln, Zurich, Cologne 1957; gl. Translation, Publisher: Manesse Verlag; Edition: 1st edition (March 17, 2008) ISBN 978-3-7175-2156-3
    • also as: On a golden cloud, same translation, Goldmann, Munich 1964
  • 1940 Sapphira and the Slave Girl (novel)
    • Saphira, German by Elisabeth Schnack, Benziger Einsiedeln, Zurich, Cologne 1955
    • also as: Sapphira und die Sklavin, same translation, Knaus Munich 1992. ISBN 3-8135-6741-9
    • also as: Sapphira and the slave girl. same translation. Publisher: btb Verlag (October 11, 2011). ISBN 978-3-4427-4304-9
  • 1948 The Old Beauty and Others ( short stories)
  • 1956 Five Stories (short stories, posthumous)
  • Before breakfast and other stories, German by Elisabeth Schnack, Benziger Einsiedeln, Zurich, Cologne 1963

Non fiction

  • 1909 The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science (biography of the founder of Christian Science )
  • 1936 Not Under Forty (essays)
  • 1949 Willa Cather: On Writing (Essays, posthumously)

Poetry

  • 1903 April Twilights (poems)

Literary comments

Honor and distinction

Post fame

Special postage stamp for the 100th birthday
Link to the picture
(Please note copyrights )

Willa Cather was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame , the Hall of Great Westeners in Oklahoma City, and the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca. Her home in Red Cloud, as well as other buildings that play a role in her work, have been preserved as a museum in the Willa Cather Historical Center for posterity. There is also a piece of natural prairie nearby as the Willa Cather Memorial Prairie . For the writer's 100th birthday, the American Post issued a special postage stamp in her honor.

In Red Cloud, the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Foundation was established in 1955 to honor her memory.

Her description of immigrant cultures has also attracted the interest of readers outside of the United States, and her works have been translated into numerous languages ​​including Japanese, German, Russian, French, Czech, Polish, and Swedish.

In 1990 she was the only American woman listed as a writer on the Encyclopedia Britannica list of the "Great Books of the Western World".

Film adaptations

After Cather had seen the film adaptation of her novel, she was so outraged that she forbade further film adaptations of her novels and also stipulated this in her will. Edith Lewis made sure that their orders were adhered to.

  • 1924 A Lost Lady (Director: H. Beaumont)
  • 1934 A Lost Lady (Director: AE Green)
  • 1980 Jack-a-boy (short film based on the story of the same name, director: Carl Colby)
  • 1980 Paul's Case (TV film based on a story by Cather, directed by Lamont Johnson)
  • 1991 O Pioneers! (TV presentation of a stage adaptation by the Huntington Theater Company, Boston)
  • 1992 O Pioneers! (TV film with Jessica Lange , director: Glenn Jordan)
  • 1994 Spring Awakening (TV film based on Cather's story Resurrection , directed by Jack Gold )
  • 1995 My Antonia (German Paths of Love, Director: Joseph Sargent )
  • 2001 The Song of the Lark (TV Movie, Director: Karen Arthur)

literature

  • Nicola Müntefering: The short prose work Willa Cathers: a narrative-theoretical analysis , Konstanz, Univ., Diss., 2009, ISBN 978-3-631-60062-7 .
  • Elke Schmitter : Willa Cather: The hard glory , in: Passions. 99 women authors of world literature , Munich 2009, pp. 89–93, ISBN 978-3-570-01048-8 .
  • David Porter: On the Divide: The Many Lives of Willa Cather , Lincoln [u. a.]: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8032-3755-1 .
  • Lionel Rolfe: The Uncommon Friendship of Yaltha Menuhin and Willa Cather . 2004
  • Sharon Hoover Ed .: Willa Cather Remembered . University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln & London, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8032-2395-0 .
  • Janis P. Stout Ed .: A Calendar of the Letters of Willa Cather . University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln & London, 2002. ISBN 978-0-8032-4293-7 .
  • Edith Lewis: Willa Cather Living. A personal record . Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1953. Again: Nebraska Paperback, 2000 ISBN 978-0-8032-7996-4 .
  • Ann Romines (Ed.): Willa Cather's Southern Connections: New Essays on Cather and the South. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville 2000, ISBN 978-0-8139-1960-7 .
  • Marianne Davidson: Willa Cather and FJ Turner. A contextualization . Winter, Heidelberg 1999
  • Frances W. Kaye: Isolation and masquerade. Willa Cather's women . Lang, New York 1993
  • PC Robinson: Willa, The Life of Willa Cather . New York 1983
  • M. Pers: Willa Cather's Children . Uppsala 1975
  • Clara Thomas: Proud Lineage: Willa Cather and Margaret Laurence . Canadian Review of American Studies , Vol. 2. H. 1, Spring 1971 pp. 3-12 Abstract
  • Ingeborg Reisch: The pioneering ideal in the representation of American society with Willa Cather and Sinclair Lewis . Dissertation Free University of Berlin, 1958.
  • Edward K. BROWN: WILLA CATHER A CRITICAL BIOGRAPHY . (completed by Leon Edel) Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1953
  • Paul Nestbichler: Willa Cather as an actress of North American prairie life . Vienna 1944

Web links

Commons : Willa Cather  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

proof

  1. ↑ Spiegel Online : "Tales from the Land of the Egyptian Plagues" , November 22, 2008
  2. ^ Family donates hundreds of Willa Cather letters to UNL Libraries
  3. ^ Pulitzer Prize Winner 1923 “One of Ours” by Willa Cather
  4. ^ Columbia university honorary degrees awarded in the years 1903-1945
  5. ↑ Award Winner Willa Cather ( Memento of the original from June 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.artsandletters.org
  6. ↑ L. Brent Bohlke: Willa Cather in Person: Interviews, Speeches, and Letters. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln & London 1986 ISBN 978-0-8032-1184-1
  7. ^ Member History: Willa Sibert Cather. American Philosophical Society, accessed June 1, 2018 .
  8. ^ Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1900-1949 ( PDF ). Retrieved September 29, 2015
  9. ↑ Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Foundation ( Memento of the original from August 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.willacather.org
personal data
SURNAME Cather, Willa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cather, Willa Sibert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH December 7, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH near Winchester (Virginia)
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1947
Place of death New York City