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Willa Cather, born in 1873, is known for her depictions of American life and pastoral novels. She was born on a farm in Virginia and later moved to Nebraska. She attended the University of Nebraska and began her writing career as a contributor to the Nebraska State Journal. She moved to New York City in 1906 and became editor-in-chief of McClure’s Magazine. Her first novel, Alexander’s Bridge, was published in serial form by McClure. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for One of Ours. Cather died in 1947 and was commemorated with a postage stamp in 1973 and inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1986.
Willa Cather, born Willella Sibert Cather on December 7, 1873, is best known for her depictions of American life and her pastoral novels. With publications such as Alexander’s Bridge, O Pioneers!, My Antonia, and Death Comes for the Archbishop, Cather presented not just a range of American experiences, but a distinct literary voice.
The little girl who would become this famous author was born on a small farm in Black Creek Valley, Virginia, where her family had lived for six generations. Although Willa was her first child, her parents Charles Fectigue Cather and Mary Virginia Boak would add six more young to their brood. In 1883, the family moved to Red Cloud, Nebraska, which would later be made famous by Cather’s novels.
Willa Cather attended the University of Nebraska where she began her writing career as a regular contributor to the Nebraska State Journal. After graduation, Lei Cather moved to Pittsburgh, where she taught high school English and worked at Home Monthly. Her famous tale Paul’s Case is based on a troubled young man who spends most of his time fantasizing about living a gilded life. When she received a job offer from McClure’s Magazine a few years later in 1906, Willa Cather moved to New York City where she would spend the better part of her adult life. In 1908 she was promoted to editor-in-chief of the magazine.
It was McClure who published Willa Cather’s first novel, Alexander’s Bridge, in serial form. It is widely accepted by scholars of the author’s work that Willa Cather was greatly influenced by Henry James early in her career. Her first novel is seen as a direct descendant of James. While living in New York, however, Willa Cather met author Sarah Orne Jewett, who advised her to rely less on James and more on her American experience than she did. It was the novels born on the prairie that won Willa Cather critical acclaim. In 1923 she won the Pulitzer Prize for her pastoral novel One of Ours, published the previous year.
Although Willa Cather died on April 24, 1947, her work and person are still revered today. In 1973, the United States Postal Service commemorated her with a postage stamp. Thirteen years later, in 1986, she was officially inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. Feminists and literary academics have speculated about Cather’s sexual orientation. Although it is known that she was the partner of opera singer Olive Fremstad, she Willa Cather was a very private person and she destroyed many personal letters and documents which might have shed more light on her personal life than hers.
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