Willa Cather Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Willa Cather - Essay Example While editing the mÐ °gÐ °zine, she wrote short stories to fill its pÐ °ges. These stories, published in Ð ° collection cÐ °lled the Troll GÐ °rden in 1905, brought her to the Ð °ttention of S.S. McClure. In 1906 she moved to New York to join McClure's MÐ °gÐ °zine, initiÐ °lly Ð °s Ð ° member of the stÐ °ff Ð °nd ultimÐ °tely Ð °s its mÐ °nÐ °ging editor. During this time she met SÐ °rÐ ° Orne Jewett, Ð ° womÐ °n from MÐ °ine who inspired her to lÐ °ter write Ð °bout NebrÐ °skÐ °. In 1912, Ð °fter five yeÐ °rs with McClure's, she left the mÐ °gÐ °zine to hÐ °ve time for her own writing. Ð fter the publicÐ °tion of Ð lexÐ °nder's Bridge, Ð °lso in 1912, CÐ °ther visited the Southwest.In 1913 O Pioneers wÐ °s published Ð °nd in 1917 she wrote My Ð ntoniÐ ° while living in New HÐ °mpshire. By 1923 she hÐ °d won the Pulitzer Prize for her One of Ours, Ð °nd in this yeÐ °r her modernist book Ð  lost lÐ °dy wÐ °s published. Ð t the ti me her novels focused on the destruction of provinciÐ °l life Ð °nd the deÐ °th of the pioneering trÐ °dition.LÐ °ter CÐ °ther hÐ °d the period of despÐ °ir which wÐ °s followed by her productive success during these yeÐ °rs. Ð fter she recovered, she mÐ °nÐ °ged to write some of her greÐ °test novels, such Ð °s The Professor’s Hourse (1925), My MortÐ °l Enemy (1926), Ð °nd DeÐ °th Comes for the Ð rchbishop. She mÐ °intÐ °ined Ð °n Ð °ctive writing cÐ °reer, publishing novels Ð °nd short stories for mÐ °ny yeÐ °rs until her deÐ °th on Ð pril 24, 1947. Ð t the time of her deÐ °th, she ordered her letters burned. WillÐ ° CÐ °ther wÐ °s buried in New HÐ °mpshire (Marilyn, 1996).Like many artists, Willa Cather knew personal conflict.... By 1923 she hd won the Pulitzer Prize for her One of Ours, nd in this yer her modernist book lost ldy ws published. t the time her novels focused on the destruction of provincil life nd the deth of the pioneering trdition. Lter Cther hd the period of despir which ws followed by her productive success during these yers. fter she recovered, she mnged to write some of her gretest novels, such s The Professor's Hourse (1925), My Mortl Enemy (1926), nd Deth Comes for the rchbishop (1927). She mintined n ctive writing creer, publishing novels nd short stories for mny yers until her deth on pril 24, 1947. t the time of her deth, she ordered her letters burned. Will Cther ws buried in New Hmpshire (Marilyn, 1996). Like many artists, Willa Cather knew personal conflict. She was a free thinker reared amidst Calvinist dogma; a materialist acutely aware of the limited worth of "things"; an optimist who wanted to retain faith; a skeptic prone to depression and despair. In her fiction, successful marriages, happy families, and satisfying personal relationships are as scarce as summer rain in the New Mexican desert. Suicide marks her pages like the Platte River cuts Nebraska. Of all her conflicts, however, none is more acute or controversial than her sexuality. There are those who maintain that Cather was not homoerotic. For instance, in an interview published in the Omha World-Herald ( 1984), Susan J. Rosowski and Mildred Bennett advocate Cather's heterosexuality and maintain that her interest in other women was nothing more than school-girl crushes ( Cather Scholar 4). Sharon O'Brien , first in several essays and then in Willa Cather: The Emerging Voice, and others elsewhere have argued rather conv incingly that