Synopses & Reviews
Thirteen original essays by leading scholars cover the complete range of Cather's career, including most of her novels and short stories. The essays situate this major, enigmatic American novelist's work in a broad range of critical, cultural, and literary contexts. The introduction explores current trends in Cather scholarship and her place in contemporary culture. A detailed chronology and a guide to further reading complete the volume.
Synopsis
This Companion offers thirteen original essays by leading scholars of a major American modernist novelist. The essays collected here cover the full range of Cather's career including most of her novels and short stories. A detailed chronology and guide to further reading offer a fresh introduction to this enigmatic author.
About the Author
Marilee Lindemann is Associate Professor of English at the University of Maryland.
Table of Contents
List of illustrators; Notes on contributors; Acknowledgements; Chronology of Willa Cather's life; Introduction Marilee Lindemann; Part I. Contexts and Critical Issues: 1. Willa Cather as progressive: politics and the writer Guy J. Reynolds; 2. The Cather thesis: the American empire of migration Joseph R. Urgo; 3. Willa Cather's American modernism Richard H. Millington; 4. Willa Cather and the geography of Jewishness Lisa Marcus; 5. Willa Cather and sexuality Jonathan Goldberg; 6. Willa Cather and the performing arts Janis P. Stout; 7. Willa Cather and the comic sense of self Susan J. Rosowski; 8. Cather and the short story Mark J. Madigan; 9. Willa Cather in the country of the ill Sharon O'Brien; Part II. Studies of Major Works: 10. Rereading My Ántonia Anne E. Goldman; 11. Fictions of possession in The Professor's House John N. Swift; 12. Catholic expansionism and the politics of depression in Death Comes for the Archbishop Leona Sevick; 13. Willa Cather and 'the old story': Sapphira and the Slave Girl Ann Romines; Selected bibliography; Index.