Synopses & Reviews
Willa Catherand#8217;s twelfth and final novel, Sapphira and the Slave Girl, is her most intense fictional engagement with political and personal conflict. Set in Catherand#8217;s Virginia birthplace in 1856, the novel draws on family and local history and the escalating conflicts of the last years of slaveryand#8212;conflicts in which Catherand#8217;s family members were deeply involved, both as slave owners and as opponents of slavery. Cather, at five years old, appears as a character in an unprecedented first-person epilogue. Tapping her earliest memories, Cather powerfully and sparely renders a Virginia world that is simultaneously beautiful and, as she said, and#8220;terrible.and#8221;and#160;The historical essay and explanatory notes explore the noveland#8217;s grounding in family, local, and national history; show how southern cultures continually shaped Catherand#8217;s life and work, culminating with this novel; and trace the progress of Catherand#8217;s research and composition during years of grief and loss that she described as the worst of her life. More early drafts, including manuscript fragments, are available for Sapphira and the Slave Girl than for any other Cather novel, and the revealing textual essay draws on this rich resource to provide new insights into Catherand#8217;s composition process.
Review
"The most significant achievement of this edition is that it will help scholars at every level understand the novel as evidence of Cather's involvement in public intellectual debates of her era, as well as of her complex personal involvement with the interrelation of memory, aesthetics, loss, and aging."and#8212;Robin Hackett, Great Plains Quarterly
Review
"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
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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About the Author
Ann Romines, a professor of English at the George Washington University, is a well-known Cather scholar. She is the author and editor of several books, including Willa Catherand#8217;s Southern Connections: New Essays on Cather and the South.and#160;Charles W. Mignon and Frederick M. Link are both professors emeritus of English at the University of Nebraskaand#8211;Lincoln and textual editors of the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition series.and#160;Kari A. Ronning is a research associate professor of English, assistant editor of the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition series, and codirector of the Willa Cather Journalism project at the University of Nebraskaand#8211;Lincoln.