Welcome to a new series on another great novel, Willa Cather’s O Pioneers!. This week we’re discussing Cather’s instinctive yet precise writing, the book’s contemplation of imagination and vocation, the relationship between the characterization and the land, and much more. Plus we discuss our 2025 literary bracket. Happy listening!
I'm behind on listening but always so thrilled when we do a Cather on the show. I worked in the University of Nebraska's library archives as an undergrad and got to help digitize some of her letters for the ongoing Willa Cather Archive project; it was an immense honor and she's very near and dear to my heart. Agreed that Chasing Bright Medusas gives a great overview of her work and life if you're new to Cather!
I want to start by saying I loved this episode. I really enjoy Cather’s writing. So far I have read Death Comes for the Archbishop and Sapphira and the Slave Girl. I am always in awe of Cather’s sense of place. She captures the essence of her locations so intimately. I have spent years living in or near some of her locations and others I have spent enough time in to know well and she nails her descriptions of the place every time. I can understand being able to describe where one grew up with such detail, but to describe places so intimately and in different seasons of the year is a gift. From what I have read, her stories are also rooted in that place and while some of the events could happen elsewhere, this particular story could only take place in this setting.
I am intrigued by your conversation on pioneer imagination and the cost of such vision. Someone earlier mentioned Moses, I had Alexander the Great in mind. (In no small part because of Alexandra’s name.) She inherits land and authority from her father and she works to greatly expand that territory. I am halfway through part two and I don’t know yet if she marries and has children, or if the question of what to do with the land after her death will be an issue.
Listening to the discussion makes me think of the 40 year sojourn to the Promised Land. Her dad is like Moses that does once they get to the doorstep. Alexandra goes on a reconnaissance to scout out the more fruitful land and instead makes her land a farming paradise. She’s the Joshua carrying forward the vision. Leading forth with courage and not entertaining the notion of “going back to Egypt” ie the city or home country. She’s conquering to land to make it flow with milk and honey.
This is my first time reading this book. I loved it so much! I read it in a few days.
I have lived in Nebraska in the Sandhills area for 7 years now. And my goodness! Cather's description of the land in the fiest paragraph was such a beautiful and accurate description of the landscape and feel of Nebraska. Even down to the way the characters talk and act bring up pictures of people in my own little small town. I can't wait for more discussions on this book and to revisit it again very soon.
I'm reading this book for the first time, and so I don't *know* what the main conflict is going to be, but it sure felt like it was set up to be the question of if Alexandra's bet pays off and what the repercussions of it will be. So the conflict is still somewhat vague -- in fact, if the bet does pay off than it is indeed undefined because there's not a lot of inherent drama in "and then they got rich", but if it does not pay off, then you can anticipate all kinds of directions it could go as the family looks for ways to cope.
So even though the conflict doesn't seem super-well defined, I think it's at least gestured at, and, maybe more importantly, I think the stakes are defined, as whatever the conflict is it's obviously going to involve the happiness of Alexandra and her family and their/her connection to the land that she has such hopes for.
Really enjoyed this episode! I love Song of the Lark. What you said about the characters making the hard decisions, ones we didn’t want that character to necessarily make-also true in Lark. Here’s another spin on the pronunciation of Willa Cather’s name: a British podcaster I follow pronounced her first name, to rhyme with Lyla!
I love this book. It’s a heart book. And I love Cather, maybe my favorite American author. But someone help me to love One of Us, which is to me the worst of her major works (despite it winning the Pulitzer Prize).
One of Ours isn’t my favorite of her novels either because some plot threads are left unresolved, most of the secondary characters are flat, it presents an idealized view of war, and her signature vivid depiction of setting is totally absent. That said, I can appreciate that it is a product of its time when sacrifice and self-discovery through patriotism and participation in the war effort were a prominent part of the WWII milieu.
Agree on all counts. Cloying just didn’t seem like the right reaction to WWI. It’s weird because Cather’s posture as a (mostly) traditional writer even when the Joyces and Fitzgeralds and Dos Passoses of the world were at work is some of what makes her most appealing, but that method seems inadequate to the horror and disjunction of 1914-1918
Lark was not my favorite of her four most read novels but I enjoyed it. The Professor’s House was a lot like Stoner, a tick below but I’d guess Williams read it. Shadows on the Rock is interesting enough though, and A Lost Lady has its charm.
I really enjoyed this episode, but sorry, Heidi—Wings of the Dove is by Henry James. I’ve been close reading it with a group of really great readers for the last few months. I definitely recommend it!
I really like O Pioneers. I read it last year with one of my teens. But I'm already seeing much more in it listening to this discussion.
Shadows on the Rock is probably favorite Cather book after Death Comes for the Archbishop. I don't know if it's as good technically, but I love the characters and the setting. It's different because the main character is a child. I agree with what David says about Cather modulating her writing to fit with the place and Shadows has such a different feel since it's set in Canada and the landscape and culture are very different.
I started Song of the Lark but only got a few chapters in and then didn’t finish it. I think I read the first page of The Professors House at one point, but never got any further.
I'm behind on listening but always so thrilled when we do a Cather on the show. I worked in the University of Nebraska's library archives as an undergrad and got to help digitize some of her letters for the ongoing Willa Cather Archive project; it was an immense honor and she's very near and dear to my heart. Agreed that Chasing Bright Medusas gives a great overview of her work and life if you're new to Cather!
No gunfights.😭
I want to start by saying I loved this episode. I really enjoy Cather’s writing. So far I have read Death Comes for the Archbishop and Sapphira and the Slave Girl. I am always in awe of Cather’s sense of place. She captures the essence of her locations so intimately. I have spent years living in or near some of her locations and others I have spent enough time in to know well and she nails her descriptions of the place every time. I can understand being able to describe where one grew up with such detail, but to describe places so intimately and in different seasons of the year is a gift. From what I have read, her stories are also rooted in that place and while some of the events could happen elsewhere, this particular story could only take place in this setting.
I am intrigued by your conversation on pioneer imagination and the cost of such vision. Someone earlier mentioned Moses, I had Alexander the Great in mind. (In no small part because of Alexandra’s name.) She inherits land and authority from her father and she works to greatly expand that territory. I am halfway through part two and I don’t know yet if she marries and has children, or if the question of what to do with the land after her death will be an issue.
Listening to the discussion makes me think of the 40 year sojourn to the Promised Land. Her dad is like Moses that does once they get to the doorstep. Alexandra goes on a reconnaissance to scout out the more fruitful land and instead makes her land a farming paradise. She’s the Joshua carrying forward the vision. Leading forth with courage and not entertaining the notion of “going back to Egypt” ie the city or home country. She’s conquering to land to make it flow with milk and honey.
This is my first time reading this book. I loved it so much! I read it in a few days.
I have lived in Nebraska in the Sandhills area for 7 years now. And my goodness! Cather's description of the land in the fiest paragraph was such a beautiful and accurate description of the landscape and feel of Nebraska. Even down to the way the characters talk and act bring up pictures of people in my own little small town. I can't wait for more discussions on this book and to revisit it again very soon.
hi from a fellow Nebraskan Close Reader! I'm in Omaha :)
We drove through Nebraska every summer, and I too thought it was a very good description!
*drive
I'm reading this book for the first time, and so I don't *know* what the main conflict is going to be, but it sure felt like it was set up to be the question of if Alexandra's bet pays off and what the repercussions of it will be. So the conflict is still somewhat vague -- in fact, if the bet does pay off than it is indeed undefined because there's not a lot of inherent drama in "and then they got rich", but if it does not pay off, then you can anticipate all kinds of directions it could go as the family looks for ways to cope.
So even though the conflict doesn't seem super-well defined, I think it's at least gestured at, and, maybe more importantly, I think the stakes are defined, as whatever the conflict is it's obviously going to involve the happiness of Alexandra and her family and their/her connection to the land that she has such hopes for.
Loved this! I’ve read a lot of Cather but not this one yet. I love Shadows on the Rock the most and want to revisit Song of the Lark next.
Really enjoyed this episode! I love Song of the Lark. What you said about the characters making the hard decisions, ones we didn’t want that character to necessarily make-also true in Lark. Here’s another spin on the pronunciation of Willa Cather’s name: a British podcaster I follow pronounced her first name, to rhyme with Lyla!
I love when a first episode makes me want to read a book 😊
I love this book. It’s a heart book. And I love Cather, maybe my favorite American author. But someone help me to love One of Us, which is to me the worst of her major works (despite it winning the Pulitzer Prize).
One of Ours isn’t my favorite of her novels either because some plot threads are left unresolved, most of the secondary characters are flat, it presents an idealized view of war, and her signature vivid depiction of setting is totally absent. That said, I can appreciate that it is a product of its time when sacrifice and self-discovery through patriotism and participation in the war effort were a prominent part of the WWII milieu.
Agree on all counts. Cloying just didn’t seem like the right reaction to WWI. It’s weird because Cather’s posture as a (mostly) traditional writer even when the Joyces and Fitzgeralds and Dos Passoses of the world were at work is some of what makes her most appealing, but that method seems inadequate to the horror and disjunction of 1914-1918
Lark was not my favorite of her four most read novels but I enjoyed it. The Professor’s House was a lot like Stoner, a tick below but I’d guess Williams read it. Shadows on the Rock is interesting enough though, and A Lost Lady has its charm.
What about "Lark" or "Professor's House"?
I really enjoyed this episode, but sorry, Heidi—Wings of the Dove is by Henry James. I’ve been close reading it with a group of really great readers for the last few months. I definitely recommend it!
Oh good call
I really like O Pioneers. I read it last year with one of my teens. But I'm already seeing much more in it listening to this discussion.
Shadows on the Rock is probably favorite Cather book after Death Comes for the Archbishop. I don't know if it's as good technically, but I love the characters and the setting. It's different because the main character is a child. I agree with what David says about Cather modulating her writing to fit with the place and Shadows has such a different feel since it's set in Canada and the landscape and culture are very different.
I started Song of the Lark but only got a few chapters in and then didn’t finish it. I think I read the first page of The Professors House at one point, but never got any further.
Have you read Song of the Lark or The Professor's House?
Thanks to Heidi for recommending Chasing Bright Medusas, the Life of Willa Cather
Yes. I'm putting it on my list. And I'm grateful for this comment so I don't have to listen to the episode again to find the title.
I can't wait for this! My high school English teacher loaned me a copy that I read just a few weeks ago. I was surprised how much I loved it!