Synopses & Reviews
Willa Catherand#8217;s 1935 novel drew on her lifelong interest in music, which plays a transformative role in the lives of her characters. Catherand#8217;s last novel set in the Great Plains tells the story of young Lucy Gayheart, who escapes life in small-town Haverford, Nebraska, in 1902 to pursue a career in music. In Chicago she falls in love with an older singer, Clement Sebastian, who finds renewed inspiration in her. However, tragic chance destroys their ensuing love affair. The novel has evoked divergent responses among critics and readers ever since its publication.
and#160;This Willa Cather Scholarly Edition includes a historical essay providing fresh insight into the novel, the role of music, and Catherand#8217;s writing process. It also features photographs, maps, and explanatory notes with a full range of biographical, historical, and cultural information. The textual editing of the novel, approved by the Committee on Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association, draws on corrected typescripts and proofs and presents a clean, authoritative text of the first edition.
Synopsis
In the past, collections of Bradbury's works have juxtaposed stories with no indication as to the different time periods in which they were written. Even the mid- and late-career collections that Bradbury himself compiled contained stories that were written much earlier--a situation that has given rise to misconceptions about the origins of the stories themselves. In this new edition, editors William F. Touponce and Jonathan R. Eller present for the first time the stories of Ray Bradbury in the order in which they were written. Moreover, they use texts that reflect Bradbury's earliest settled intention for each tale. By examining his relationships with his agent, editor, and publisher, Touponce and Eller's textual commentaries document the transformation of the stories--and Bradbury's creative understanding of genre fiction--from their original forms to the versions known and loved today.
Volume 1 covers the years 1938 to 1943 and contains thirteen stories that have never appeared in a Bradbury collection. For those that were previously published, the original serial forms recovered in this volume differ in significant ways from the versions that Bradbury popularized over the ensuing years. By documenting the ways the stories evolved over time, Touponce and Eller unveil significant new information about Bradbury's development as a master of short fiction.
Each volume in the proposed eight-volume edition includes a general introduction, chronology, summary of unpublished stories, textual commentary for each story, textual apparatus, and chronological catalog. The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury is edited to the highest scholarly standards by the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies and bears the Modern Language Association's seal of approval for scholarly editions.
About the Author
David Porter, a professor of classics, English, and music from 1962 to 2013, also served as president of Carleton College (1986andndash;87) and Skidmore College (1987andndash;99). He is the author of On the Divide: The Many Lives of Willa Cather (Nebraska, 2008) and coauthor of Seeking Life Whole: Willa Cather and the Brewsters. Kari A. Ronning is a research associate professor of English and textual editor of the Willa Cather Scholarly Editions, most recently The Song of the Lark (Nebraska, 2012). She worked on the historical editing of A Lost Lady (Nebraska, 1997) and Obscure Destinies (Nebraska, 1998). Frederick M. Link (1930andndash;2011), professor emeritus of English at the University of Nebraskaandndash;Lincoln, is the textual editor of Catherandrsquo;s Obscure Destinies (Nebraska, 1998), The Professorandrsquo;s House (Nebraska, 2002), and Shadows on the Rock (Nebraska, 2006).
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