UNITED STATES AUTHOR · FICTION · SHORT
Willa Cather
Also known as: W. S. Cather], Willa Sibert Cather
Willa Siebert Cather was an American author who grew up in Nebraska. She is best known for her depictions of frontier life on the Great Plains in novels such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. Source and more information
THIRTY OR FORTY years ago, in one of those grey towns along the Burlington railroad, which are so much greyer today than they were then, there was a house well known from Omaha to Denver for its hospitality and for a certain charm of atmosphere.
— from A Lost Lady, 2001
Most acclaimed
Short stories
For over three decades, Reynolds Price has been one of America's most distinguished writers, in a career that has been remarkable both for its virtuosity and for the variety of literary forms he has embraced. Now he shows himself as much a master of the story as he is of the novel, in a volume that presents fifty stories, including two early collections - The Names and Faces of Heroes and Permanent Errors - as well as more than two dozen new stories that have never been gathered together before. In his introduction, Mr. Price explains how, after the publication of his first two collections, he wrote no new stories for almost twenty years. "But once I needed - for unknown reasons in a new and radically altered life - to return to the story, it opened before me like a new chance...A collection like this then," he adds, "...will show a writer's pre-occupations in ways the novel severely rations (novels are partly made for that purpose - the release from self, long flights through the Other). John Keats's assertion that 'the excellence of every Art is its intensity' has served as a license and standard for me. From the start my stories were driven by heat - passion and mystery, often passion for the mystery I've found in particular rooms and spaces and the people they threaten or shelter - and my general aim is the transfer of a spell of keen witness, perceived by the reader as warranted in character and act.". There is, indeed, much for the reader to "witness" here of passion and mystery, of character and act. And the variety of stories - many of them set in Reynolds Price's native North Carolina, but a surprising number set in distant parts: Jerusalem in "An Early Christmas," the American Southwest in "Walking Lessons," and a number in Europe - will astonish even his most devoted readers. In short, The Collected Stories of Reynolds Price is as deeply rewarding a book as any he has yet published.
Willa Cather
1951
"Many years ago, on the occasion of Willa Cather's seventieth birthday, E. K. Brown, then Professor of English at the University of Chicago, wrote an appreciation of her work which appeared in the Yale Review. This so appealed to her that a friendly correspondence with Brown ensued, and after her death it was agreed that e would embark on a full-length critical biography. Brown died very unexpectedly at the early age of forty-five before he had quite completed what gave every promise of being a work of major stature, which would win for him reputation his friends and colleagues knew he richly deserved. Fortunately for all of us, Mr. Leon Edel, himself no mean writer of literary criticism, a man who had known Brown well when they were both students at the Sorbonne in their younger days, undertook to complete the work from the very copious notes left by Brown and with the active co-operation of Miss Edith Lewis, Miss Cahter's literary executrix and trustee. The result is a work that seems to me ideally to fulfill its purpose. Here is all the biographical information anyone is likely ever to gather about Willa Cather, and a critique of all her writings which is absolutely first-rate. It is the only authorized biography of the author of DEATH COME FOR THE ARCHBISHOP, and does the job so well that I think no one is likely to attempt it again for a very long time to come."--BOOK JACKET.
Shadows on the rock
1931
First published in 1931, 'Shadows on the Rock' is a quietly powerful historical novel set in 17th-century Quebec. The story centers on young Cécile Auclair and her father, Euclide, an apothecary serving the remote French colonial town. As the long, harsh Canadian winter descends, Cécile tends to her household with devotion, preserving the customs and faith of her French heritage in a distant and often unforgiving land.\ Through a series of intimate, reflective episodes, the novel captures the rhythms of colonial life—its hardships, joys, and enduring rituals. Cather portrays a vivid cast of characters, from missionaries and aristocrats to beggars and orphans, each contributing to the rich social fabric of the settlement.\ With her graceful prose and deep historical insight, Willa Cather explores themes of endurance, cultural identity, and spiritual continuity. 'Shadows on the Rock' is not driven by action, but by atmosphere and quiet emotional strength. It stands as a tribute to the ordinary lives that shape history and the quiet heroism found in tradition, routine, and unshakable faith.