Summary
Highlights
Willa Cather, known for her unforgettable 20th-century fiction, also wrote thousands of letters that were thought to be burned. However, many were discovered and published in 'The Selected Letters of Willa Cather'. Despite Cather's will forbidding their publication, her family and scholars believed it was time to reveal more about the person behind the acclaimed author. This collection offers a unique view into her world.
Cather's childhood home in Red Cloud, Nebraska, inspired many of her memories. At 14, she wrote a letter to Helen Stowell expressing her reluctance to leave her 'laboratory and dissecting outfit' for school, showcasing her early ambition and desire to impress. The feeling of her childhood home, with its sloped floors and rose wallpapered room, resonated deeply with her and later appeared in her writing, notably in 'Song of the Lark'.
Cather moved to Nebraska from Virginia at age 9, describing the prairie as 'bare as a piece of sheet iron.' While a feeling more than a literal description, this landscape instilled in her a sense of 'fright.' She feared being trapped, 'dying in a cornfield,' which symbolized a fear of never achieving her aspirations or being forgotten. This fear fueled her ambition to escape her small-town origins.
In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote to Cather, concerned he had inadvertently borrowed from her work for his character Daisy in 'The Great Gatsby.' Cather, by then a famous author and Pulitzer Prize winner, assured him it was not plagiarism. She explained that great writers often respond to the same mysterious phenomenon of personal charm, trying to express its profound effect rather than the person themselves.
Cather's letters reveal a deep affection, possibly an unrequited crush, for Louise Pound, whom she met at the University of Nebraska. A letter expressing admiration for Pound's appearance highlights Cather's romantic orientation towards women, a reality she knew society would judge negatively. This letter, full of longing, is seen as crucial evidence of her love for women and her awareness of societal disapproval.
Cather moved east from Nebraska, finding fulfilling relationships with women. In 1903, she met Edith Lewis, who would become her lifelong companion. Lewis, in her biography, described Cather's 'eyes of genius.' Isabelle McClung, the daughter of a Pittsburgh judge, became Cather's muse; Cather claimed to write all her books for Isabelle. While their extensive correspondence was largely burned by Cather after Isabelle's death, these relationships were foundational to her personal and creative life.
A significant friendship in Cather's life was with Dorothy Canfield Fisher, marked by betrayal and eventual reconciliation. They met at the University of Nebraska and both became famous writers. Their friendship was strained when Cather published 'The Profile,' a short story based on Canfield's disfigured friend, Evelyn Osborne, despite Canfield's pleas against it. This ambitious act led to a decade of silence between them, eventually resolved by a different circumstance.
Cather's early short stories led her to a prominent position at McClure's Magazine, where she eventually became editor. However, this role left her feeling unfulfilled, as she expressed in a letter to Sarah Orne Jewett, describing herself as 'diluted and weakened' and longing to write her own stories. McClure himself doubted her fiction writing abilities, encouraging her to stick to editorial work. Jewett's advice to find her 'quiet center' prompted Cather to leave McClure's and return to the American West, a move that unleashed her true creative potential, leading to works like 'O Pioneers!' and 'My Antonia'.
The decade-long estrangement between Cather and Dorothy Canfield Fisher ended with World War I and Cather's novel, 'One of Ours.' This novel, inspired by her cousin's wartime experiences, became a deeply personal project for Cather. She asked Canfield, who had served on the front lines in France, to read the page proofs, marking a cautious but ultimately successful attempt at reconciliation. Canfield's generous response brought the old friends back together, and 'One of Ours' later earned Cather a Pulitzer Prize. Their correspondence continued until Cather's death.
One of Cather's last letters, written to Edith Lewis from the Shattuck Inn, reflects on the beauty of nature and the human capacity for wonder. She marvels at Jupiter and Venus in the evening sky, suggesting that these natural phenomena are 'something more than mathematics' and that humanity's ability to 'wonder' makes us truly remarkable. This letter encapsulates her appreciation for beauty and the deeper meanings in life, a sentiment that pervaded her work and personal reflections.