Synopses & Reviews
Willa Catherandrsquo;s last novel set on the Great Plains, Lucy Gayheart, depicts a temperamental young woman, pianist Lucy Gayheart. In writing the novel, Cather drew on her lifelong interest in music, which plays an integral role in the book. The novel received very mixed responses among critics and reviewers after its 1935 publication.
Willa Cather's penultimate novel tells the story of young Lucy Gayheart from Haverford, Nebraska who escapes life in a small town around the turn of the century toand#160;pursue a career in music.and#160;Inand#160;Chicago, she attracts the attention of an aging but charismatic singer, Clement Sebastian, and comes toand#160;the discovery that she was not born to be an artist.and#160;What followsand#160;is a tale of love and loss. and#160;
The Willa Cather Scholarly Edition includes a historical essay providing fresh insight into the novel and Cather's writing process, photographs and maps, and explanatory notes providing a full range of biographical and historical information. The novel, edited according to standards set by the Committee on Scholarly Editionsand#160;of the Modern Language Association, presents a clean, authoritative text of the first edition.
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Review
and#8220;This scholarly edition does justice to Catherand#8217;s notoriously particular production requirements. The material and editorial quality of the book meets very high standards, with the paper, the visual presentation of the words on the page, the rigor of the editing and proofreading, the thoroughness of the notes, and the detailed explanation of editorial decisions all illustrating impeccable scholarship. The historical essay and the illustrations provide useful information. . . . This volume stands as a model of scrupulous, indeed loving, scholarship. It offers a fully elaborated, beautiful text that even Cather, despite her effort to bury the book, might be proud to acknowledge.and#8221;and#8212;
Great Plains QuarterlyReview
"Embellished with handsome photographs and presented in an easy-to-read format, this is a necessary edition for any scholar of Cather."and#8212;N. Birns, Choice
Synopsis
Engineer Bartley Alexander appears to have a happy life in Boston with a successful career and a beautiful wife. He has been commissioned to design the Moorlock Bridge in Canada, the most important project of his career. With the onset of middle age, however, he grows increasingly restless and discontented, so much so that while in London he recklessly reignites a love affair with the sweetheart of his youth, the Irish actress Hilda Borgoyne. Although the tryst allows Alexander to recapture an element that has been missing from his pedestrian life, the relationship torments his sense of morality and eventually proves disastrous. Alexanderand#8217;s Bridge explores the demands of Gilded Age society on the individual, as well as the capacity of the individual to violate his own standards of integrity.and#160;This Willa Cather Scholarly Edition provides an illuminating new framework for Catherand#8217;s debut novel. The novel is edited according to standards set by the Committee for Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association and presents the full range of biographical, historical, and textual information now available, complete with illustrations and maps.
About the Author
Tom Quirk is a professor of English at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the author of Bergson and American Culture: The Worlds of Willa Cather and Wallace Stevens. Frederick M. Link is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Nebraskaand#8211;Lincoln and the textual editor of One of Ours, Obscure Destinies, and Shadows on the Rock.