Collected Stories

Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

#everyday #quotsyjun21 @TK-421

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batsy

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

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This collection has its high & not-so-high points, as complete story collections often do. Though reading it as part of the #catherbuddyread was fascinating, delving into it as we did after Cather's brilliant novels, in that it crystallises most of her prevalent themes: art vs commerce, freedom in spirit & mind, the sense of communion with nature & the universe that transcends day-to-day banalities, sensitive characters ill-adjusted to the world.

batsy If I wasn't blown away with this collection from start to finish, it's largely because I feel something about the novel form allows Cather the freedom for her ideas & sensibilities, & the short story form can sometimes render it rudimentary or simplistic. There were elements of conservatism or sentimentalism that in the novels become fully fleshed out & take flight. But all in all, what a splendid body of work Cather has produced. 3y

batsy Many thanks to @Graywacke and @Lcsmcat for organising and to fellow buddy readers for the always fruitful discussions! 3y

lazydaizee Nice book cover. 3y

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Lcsmcat Excellent summation! I don‘t believe I‘ve read an author‘s complete oeuvre in order before, and it was fascinating to watch Cather develop her voice, and to experience that with this amazing group gave me so many more insights! 3y

Graywacke @batsy enjoyed your thoughtful review and loved having you as part of our discussions. 3y

batsy @nuttybooklady It really is, though I had to make do with the ebook :) 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat @Graywacke Thank you. I don't think I have either; Cather might be the first author whose complete works I've read! And it was lovely discovering her with all of you 🙂 3y

CarolynM Great review, as always. I agree not all of the stories were up to the standard of the novels, but I thought a few of them were excellent. 3y

batsy @CarolynM Thank you! I agree, there were definitely some gems in here & even the stories that I weren't fond of had some indefinable quality, being Cather 🙂 3y

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Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

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We learned a great deal about WC these last 3 months with these 19 stories and an essay. She was a dynamic author who reveals here much more complexity than her novels indicate. Beginning in a Henry James‘s style, she quickly cultivated her own voice, tying to various experiences in her life and imagination. I liked her novels better, but I love what this collection reveals. So, 5 ⭐️s. Thank you so much to our wonderful #catherbuddyread

Lcsmcat

Lcsmcat It was an amazing journey with our beloved Willa, and I think it distilled and clarified some of her ongoing themes. Thanks to everyone who participated and shared unique perspectives. 3y

Suet624 What a lovely photo of her. 3y

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Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

The papal palace at Avignon reminds me of the cliff dwellings. Hmm. If, like me, you were expecting the surviving fragments you can read them here: https://www.willacather.org/system/files/idxdocs/willa_cather_nr_fall2011_vol_55... There‘s also explication, so if you just want the fragments scroll down to p 3. My reaction to Kates‘ work wasn‘t as violent as Chris Wolak‘s. How about yours? #catherbuddyread

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @CarolynM @batsy @jewright @Louise @Sace @Tamra @Suet624 @arubabookwoman @Currey @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @crazeedi @mdm139 @Tanisha_A @emilyhaldi @rubyslippersreads @KathyWheeler of course let me know if you want off or on this list. 3y

Lcsmcat Having trouble posting comments, so apologies to anyone who got multiple tags. 3y

Lcsmcat A couple quotes I marked from the essay, if Litsy will behave and let me post them. 🙄 3y

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Lcsmcat “Against the materialism of the aftercomers alone, the second generation, that lesser breed after the pioneers, was she to remain adamant in lifelong hostility.” We noticed this feeling, but “hostility” seems a bit strong/harsh to me. Thoughts? 3y

Lcsmcat About Old Beauty Kates said “She [Cather] is no longer at any pains to conceal her disillusion and aversion to most of the life about her.” Yet we saw that the title character might have felt that way, but Cather also drew Chetty as joyfully connected to the new. My 2 cents. (edited) 3y

Currey @Lcsmcat I think you capture Cather‘s disillusionment exactly. I do not think it was the just the first generation and then all was degradation. Rather there were exceptional people that persevered and were able to flourish spiritually in the new land but many more who were unable to. The subsequent generations also had their rare individuals but the times called for different characteristics. 3y

Currey @Lcsmcat Cather also appreciated much of what the second generation would bring, the sculptor, the singers, etc. It was the materialism that accompanied the arts that caused her to write with despair 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey Right! I don‘t think she was hostile to an entire generation. And there were those among the pioneer generation she did not revere, so I felt Kates distorted things a bit. 3y

Graywacke (Sorry, struggling today. Vaccine.) I found Kate‘s essay equal parts annoying and interesting. He brought up a lot of information and ideas I didn‘t know or hadn‘t had laid out for that way. I really liked his take on The Professor‘s House. But many of his perspectives I found irritating. I would have found a more respectful writer, if I‘m the editor. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i see a lot to like in those two quotes, and I remember the first one. I think in general she really didn‘t like the post wwi world. 3y

Graywacke So, this Avignon story. This is Petrarch‘s time. In 1340 he‘s around the corner, in Vaucluse, criticizing Avignon bitterly. As I‘m reading Petrarch now, I kept looking for a reference. Surely she couldn‘t use the date of 1340 without thinking about Petrarch. ?? !! That‘s him as his prime. In 1348 his Laura will die of the plague. Anyway Kate didn‘t go there or touch on it in any way. I wonder what Cather was thinking about P. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Sorry the vaccine hit you hard! I was intrigued by Kates‘ “arc” if you will, of Cather‘s work, but put off by his certainty that his interpretation was the only one. The source I linked above proposed that Avignon was to be part of a triptych with Archbishop and Shadows on the Rock - a sort of French Catholic theme if you will. I liked that perception. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Ooh, that‘s a cool connection. Cather was steeped in the classics so I bet you‘re right. 3y

Currey @Graywacke Given Cather‘s interest in historical transitional times, I suspect that Cather was more interested in the transformation that the world was going through as Philip IV forced his will into the selection process for Popes and pulled the French popes into “Babylon”, than in the stunningly romantic poetry of Petrarch but hey, what do I know.... 3y

Graywacke @Currey I suspect both, but i may be biased. Had she chose 1320 or 1360 I would agree more. But 1340? It surely seems to make a call that way. P isn‘t just poetry but also the founder of Humanism and definer of the dark ages. (edited) 3y

Currey @Graywacke What of his should I read other than poetry? Or “stack” as they say on Litsy....I know nothing about this time. I just read Albigenses which takes place in the 13th Century but Maturin wrote it in 1824 so it is infused with the language of Sir Walter Scott. However, I still learned a great deal about “the church”. 3y

Graywacke @Currey hmm. I think Wikipedia. 😆 I know, not helpful. No, seriously, I‘m reading P‘s poetry now and I‘m not sure I would recommend it. And that‘s his best stuff. You kind of really need to want to read him to read him. However, he‘s fascinating to read about. (edited) 3y

Currey @Graywacke Ahhh, read about. That I can do! (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Do you like sonnets in general and don‘t recommend Petrarch‘s, or are you not a sonnet aficionado? Because he was so influential in the form, and I love sonnets, but I haven‘t read Petrarch. Shameful, I know. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat his are the only i‘ve read. ☺️ I value him but i‘ve not become a huge fan of his obsession with Laura and his own love pains. So it‘s a context issue. And translation issue. I‘m reading 3 translations and each is so different. 3y

Graywacke *content (not context) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke The translation can make so much difference, especially in poetry! I think I‘ll try library editions to see which translator I prefer. Whenever I finally get around to P. 😀 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i like Wyatt‘s 🙂 That Wyatt, from Henry Viii era. Also Morris Bishop. Mark Musa is plain. And David Young is just not my taste. Wyatt, of course, is writing his own poem and claiming it‘s a translation. I don‘t know how much of Petrarch he translated (or, his milieu translated). 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Good information. Thanks. 3y

batsy I like that connection between the cliff dwellings & Avignon—the "enchanted bluffs" that underlie her work. I liked Kates' essay & thought it had some sensitive readings of her texts, like Paul's Case for example. I didn't find him harsh or disrespectful; I mostly agree that his analysis of her overall themes, particularly that aspect of transcendence that her fiction is in search of, in refusal of the profit-driven morass of the changing times. 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy I didn‘t find Kates disrespectful, but just a little too sure of himself sometimes. He did point out some of the same themes that we have been discussing over the past years. (Has it been years?) 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat Sorry, I was responding to @Graywacke 's comment there re: a more respectful writer. I understand that Kates being so sure of his position is somewhat annoying, but I think most literary critics tend to stake out their position in that manner (& proceed to argue with other critics 😆) And I guess it has been years? That's pretty amazing. 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy No need to apologize! I like the back and forth. And he was writing in the 1950s, so I try to cut some slack, but he was a bit patronizing towards her, I thought. Not quite allowing her to be a full complicated human. Which is a pet peeve of mine. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy On the similarity between the palace and the cliff dwellings, it didn‘t hit me until I was hunting online for a photo of the palace. But then it jumped out. I read that when she visited Avignon she was there with the guide and her friend and no one else - crowds of tourists weren‘t around - so it would have seemed as deserted as,Mesa Verde, too. I‘m not sure what to make of that. 3y

Graywacke @batsy I would roughly say what @Lcsmcat said as an explanation to why I felt it wasn‘t respectful. He writes as a critic of a female writer, not of a writer. (And he oversimplifies. Not enough noticed the dominant pull Europe exerted on her work... ?? That‘s his thesis?) 3y

Lcsmcat So @Graywacke @CarolynM @batsy @jewright @Louise @Sace @Tamra @Suet624 @arubabookwoman @Currey @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @crazeedi @mdm139 @Tanisha_A @emilyhaldi @rubyslippersreads @KathyWheeler , where do we go from here? There‘s the novel we skipped, (tagged) and we‘ve played with the idea of a biography or biographies. Any thoughts?

Alexander's Bridge

Graywacke I‘m thinking two things. First I think Alexander‘s Bridge makes a nice next book. (But I‘m ok with anything). Second, what do we do after Cather? Does this group want to look at another author? Someone outside Litsy praised Edith Wharton to me. I‘ve never read her. Of course similar era, but Wharton was (an embittered?) part of the wealthier class. But it‘s just an idea. https://www.edithwharton.org/discover/published-works/ 3y

CarolynM Sorry everyone, I completely forgot this weekend 😳😩 I'll try to catch up in the next day or two. As to where to next, I think we need to read Alexander's Bridge for completeness. Also, my ebook Cather collection includes a volume called Not Under Forty, which seems to be essays. Would anyone else be interested in reading that? I am definitely interested in Edith Wharton @Graywacke I've not read her either, but I've long wanted to. 3y

arubabookwoman I'm also interested in Wharton. Similar era, but I think very different than Cather. I think most of her novels were set in the time contemporary to when she was writing. (No HF). And though she herself was of the wealthy classes, (and many of her books are set in that milieu), many of her novels feature the "lower" classes, as well as those living in genteel poverty. 3y

Graywacke @arubabookwoman my only worry with Wharton is if we will lose our nature connection and miss it. Cather‘s connection to the landscape was very special and a very attractive aspect of her writing. Wharton sounds very society. But perhaps so were most novels from Austen to Woolf (i‘ve read very little of all that, so...just kind blindly saying that without having any idea if it‘s true.) 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM I‘m interested in Not Under 40. Of course I was born around 80 years too late to fit that “not” in the title. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @CarolynM @arubabookwoman If we want to keep the Cather nature/setting strength, perhaps Jane Smiley or Ivan Doig would be worth exploring. I‘m up for Wharton too, but she is much more about society and its hierarchy than natural settings. 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM @Graywacke I‘m curious about Not Under Forty too. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat you remind me you brought up that I should read Eudora Welty. Just tossing that name out there. Or Virginia Woolf - all I have read is A Room of One‘s Own. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Both excellent choices also. We could keep this going for years. 😀 3y

arubabookwoman @Graywacke @Lcsmcat You are right. In my memory of Wharton her novels are not about nature, landscape, setting. I didn't realize that was what the object was. I guess I was thinking early 20th century novelists, female. I know Wharton's considered "society" but I think she focuses much more on individuals rather than society. I've never read Doig, and will admit I don't get on with V.Woolf (but maybe I need to revisit now that I'm older). ???? (edited) 3y

arubabookwoman I like Welty, but her focus is entirely Southern. She does remind me a bit of Faulkner, who I love, but a bit easier to read. And I like what I've read of Smiley, but I'm not sure I'd put her in the same "classic" category as the other authors mentioned. 3y

Lcsmcat @arubabookwoman As far as I‘m concerned the object is to read good books and talk about them. I‘m open to any era, any author, as long as they are well-written works. 3y

Graywacke @arubabookwoman like @Lcsmcat said, just good books. I only brought up nature in case it that aspect was that specifically interested anyone. Wharton sounds like a best choice so far - for us 4 anyway. I‘m really interested in learning about her and reading her work. (edited) 3y

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Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Enchanted Bluff and Tom Outland‘s Story. Both concerned with cliff dwellers and the white man‘s reaction to them. Tom is a reread for those who have been with us from the beginning, but in rereading our comments about it from The Professor‘s House I found we didn‘t focus on Tom, so maybe some new perspectives here. As always @chris.wolak gave us lots to think about in her blog posts. Like the double meaning of “bluff” in the first story.

Lcsmcat #catherbuddyread Also the nonfiction Cather wrote about Mesa Verde here: https://cather.unl.edu/writings/nonfiction/nf057 (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat Both these stories struck me as being more about the past being better than the present than about one culture being better than another. I‘ve got two quotes from Tom that I want to throw out there for discussion that we didn‘t focus on last time. 3y

Lcsmcat “He was the sort of fellow who can do anything for somebody else, and nothing for himself. There are lots like that among working-men. They aren‘t trained by success to a sort of systematic selfishness.” 3y

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Lcsmcat “Rodney explained that he knew I cared about the things, and was proud of them, but he‘d always supposed I meant to ‘realize‘ on them, just as he did, and that it would come to money in the end. ‘Everything does,‘ he added.” 3y

Suet624 @Lcsmcat What a quote about the working man who does things for others! I know both types of people. (edited) 3y

Currey @Lcsmcat I did think when I read the second quote while reading the story that it was very human to believe that others understand your motives and intuit your desires without your having to express them. The failure here is not that Rodney sold off his findings but that he did not deeply understand Tom‘s needs. 3y

Graywacke I was surprised how much I enjoyed re-reading the Tom Outland. The end obscured everything for me. I had forgotten how well she fleshed out the beginning - the gambling, Rodney‘s personality, the cow herding on the grassland - the town armpit vs the natural purity and its impact on Tom‘s mentality. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat you‘re sharp to pick up her golden age themes. Everything was better in 1890 than in these money focused times. Very subtle here - i hadn‘t fully noticed - but yeah, it‘s there. I love those quotes, especially the 1st sentence in the first one. - it‘s a nice sentiment, but also it works so well in the meter, so to speak. It all comes down to one word, and needing the context. (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Currey i was thinking how in the whole story of personal refreshment, we assume Tom was speaking for everyone. But it turns out we readers were wrong (or, at least this one was). Tom was only speaking for himself. Rodney was just working. That hit me. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat “the houses of the Pueblo Indians to-day and of their ancestors on the Mesa Verde are a reproach to the messiness in which we live.” From the essay. Thanks for linking. 3y

Graywacke On TEB - I liked Arthur Adams. “When I had talked with him for an hour and heard him laugh again, I wondered how it was that when nature had taken such pains with a man, from his hands to the arch of his long foot, she had ever lost him in Sandtown” 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Such a great quote about Adams! 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey We all know this intellectually, which is why it resonates. And yet it‘s so difficult for us to act this way! I had so much more sympathy for Rodney this time around. And, like Tom. I want to know what happened to him! 3y

Currey @Graywacke Good point about the assumption that Tom was speaking for everyone. Rodney was not even just working, he thought he was working for a common goal. 3y

Currey @Graywacke @Lcsmcat Yes, really great quote on Adams. So visual and cerebral at the same time 3y

batsy @Graywacke I was just going to come here to post that quote about Adams. There is a kind of underlying heartache in Cather's stories about these unique and sensitive characters lost to the circumstances of their time or the place they can't escape from. 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy Do you think that‘s why the “time jump” at the end works? Because it increases the pathos? And do you think it was all a “bluff” or did the boys, as they grew to men, think that someday they would make it to the bluff? 3y

Lcsmcat BTW, if you haven‘t been to Mesa Verde, add it to your bucket list! We took the kids there about 15 years ago and it was so much more than you get from a photo. Breathtaking! 3y

Graywacke @batsy yes, heartache. He‘s beautiful and also lost. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i want to say something on the “time jump”. The bluff is essentially a fantasy (a life bluff, as Chris sort a noted) because they will never get there. It maybe represents child‘s fantasy about their future life. And so, maybe, by jumping ahead and removing the magic, exposing the bland futures they actually have, she exposes the gap between the fantasy and reality, childhood optimism and adult reality. Maybe not, also. 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat That time jump is something Cather uses to emphasise pathos & I do like the yearning wistfulness of it; there's always the sense of the search for something transcendental. I feel like the narrator & Tip are still the romantics in that sense. I'd like to think they (and little Bert) are still attempting to get to the bluff. And it's telling that the boys who might not be as keen still are the ones who ventured into finance & business. 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat Though I just might be reading into it a bit too much there :) 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy @Graywacke Good points, both of you, on the time jump. Cather does both romanticize childhood and denigrate (too strong a word, but I can‘t think of another right now) the business/banking world. Wistful is a great word to describe that story. 3y

Graywacke @batsy interesting comment, all of it. It is telling. @Lcsmcat romanticize childhood? Seems obvious now that you said it. But I hadn‘t picked up in that before. (Sorry for the 9 hr later response. Travel day 😕) 3y

CarolynM I thought TEB was a really lovely story. @Graywacke @batsy @Lcsmcat Picking up your points about yearning and romanticising childhood, it made me think that maybe Cather's nostalgia is as much for lost youth as for past times. How you see the world, what seems important to you, what seems possible are all so different at different stages of life. A lot of her work examines that gap between childhood and the mature person. (edited) 3y

batsy @CarolynM Nicely said and I agree. That's maybe why her artist characters continue to struggle with the world; the qualities of being a child (openness, wonder, possibility) that they need to cultivate stand in (increasing) contrast to the age of industrialisation and finance. 3y

CarolynM @batsy Thank you. I hadn't thought to take it that step further, but I think you're right. 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM @batsy That‘s a great insight. Her artists are driven, but they are also child-like in the ways you mention. We all commented on the yearning for lost youth when we read The Professor‘s House, but I can see it in other works now too. Niel in Lost Lady missed more his impression of Mrs. F than who she actually was; Jim in Antonia; Cecile in Shadows on the Rock. They all had a yearning for the past quality. 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM @batsy @Graywacke The Cather archives has images of TEB in its original publication here https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss001 I don‘t know how much control, if any, Cather had over the illustrations, but they‘re VERY nostalgic. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat hi. In case you missed them, check your email for my last one. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke 👍🏻 3y

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Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

#alone #quotsyapr21 @TK-421

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Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

This week we look at the two last stories Cather completed.
#catherbuddyread

The Best Years, written for her brother in 1945, looks at Evangeline Knightly‘s experiences with a bright teenage teacher in rural Nebraska. Before Breakfast (1944) covers Henry Grenfell‘s emotional swings alone on Grand Manan Island, Nova Scotia

This completes The Old Beauty and Others. Next - one week off then @Lcsmcat leads the selection from Five Stories (1956)

Graywacke I found @chris.wolak ‘s posts really helpful this week. https://chriswolak.com/2020/05/13/may-2020-reminder-for-the-willa-cather-short-s...

https://chriswolak.com/2020/05/27/response-to-the-best-years-the-willa-cather-sh... 3y

Graywacke https://chriswolak.com/2020/06/10/june-2020-reminder-for-the-willa-cather-short-...

https://chriswolak.com/2020/06/24/response-to-before-breakfast-the-willa-cather-... 3y

Graywacke Personally, i was shocked by the first story, but then forgot about it as I read about Henry‘s troubles and enjoyed the language Cather used to describe it. Of course, Henry regathers himself in a nice moment before coming home to breakfast. Thoughts? 3y

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Graywacke @Lcsmcat @CarolynM @batsy @jewright @Louise @Sace @Tamra @Suet624 @arubabookwoman @Currey @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @crazeedi @mdm139 @Tanisha_A @emilyhaldi @rubyslippersreads @KathyWheeler of course let me know if you want off or on this list. 3y

Lcsmcat One of the things that popped out at me in Before Breakfast: he was reading law in CO when he met his wife, who was from NY people. But he‘s in bonds now (which I took to be insurance or finance, not law) and on the East coast, given his island retreat. So is his alienation from family because his mother in law (who always got her way) got him into a different job (family business?) and state and basically controlled how his life turned out? 👇🏻 3y

Lcsmcat 👆🏻 Why else would his “private life” be separate from his “family life?” 3y

Lcsmcat In the first, I was surprised by Leslie‘s death, but by the time I finished the story it was clear that it wasn‘t her story. I‘m not sure it was Miss Knightly‘s either. It seemed more to belong to an era than a character and, like, Beauty, to be about the passing of time and who deals with it well and who doesn‘t. I loved Ms. Knightly as a character, but Molly (the horse) might be my favorite. 😀 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat “bonds” has two meanings. 🙂 (And his marriage was a kind of wreck, literally founded on one.) but he does seem to like to work. Honestly, I neglected thinking that part through. i was too stuck on “everything that was shut up in him, under lock and bolt and pressure, simply broke jail, spread out into the spaciousness of the night, undraped, unashamed” 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Good point about bonds! And the quote? If he liked hard work (which I agree with you on) then what was shut up under lock and bolt and pressure? It felt to me like that was because he was living a life that wasn‘t authentic. That quote about only being your true self when no one is looking - it made me feel that a major part of his life was spent living someone else‘s values. Like Mrs. Fergusson‘s new house that was her husband‘s taste. 3y

batsy I really enjoyed The Bright Years. It felt like a wiser, sadder, more mature Laura Ingalls Wilder story! I was surprised by Leslie's death too & felt a missed opportunity for a story of female friendship between her & Miss Knightly. But I loved the depiction of Leslie's relationship with her brothers & their upstairs world: "a story in itself, a secret romance". Particularly poignant since Cather based it on her own relationship with her brother. 3y

batsy The second story struck me mainly in terms of how much more I'd like to get to know the geologist's daughter! She seems fascinating. Also the painterly language and vivid description of her bathing that was probably a reference to Botticelli's Venus? I have to think some more about what I thought about Grenfell; that quote struck me, too @Graywacke 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @batsy - on TBY - it felt to me to be about an era, mostly, too. The time shift from buggy to car, from knights (er, Knightly), to Wanda Bliss (!!). Poor Molly has been become obsolete. And Cather gets in her point about the shallower new era, even if Mrs. k is more kind about it. And, I like that quote, @batsy. Sibling affection, homeness, is really meaningful here. 3y

Graywacke Any thoughts on that barbed wire? Mrs. K‘s note that they are less visible and nicer to the view does not erase the fact that they fundamentally change and contain the wildness of the landscape and of where ms. k can roam. It‘s unspoken - invisible barriers. Important here? (Perhaps, for example, a reference to gender roles, or marriage, or... ) (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i think your feeling is spot on. The more I think about it the more I think about that lie of life. We do and do and it distracts us from all the other stuff in life. He works because that‘s how he got ahead, and now that‘s how he escapes his family and self-fulfillment. He just chases blindly, he‘s escaping himself. And that‘s part of his morning catharsis. (To answer @chris.wolak ‘s question - I don‘t think it will change him one bit.) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat oops. Last post was, of course, on BB. 3y

Graywacke @batsy on BB - Surely we don‘t get to know a goddess. 🙂 Our Venus, this daughter, must remain distant and mysterious and worth some reflection. ?? I LOVED, all caps, the little geological element. If he‘s right, the rocks are Cretaceous. Wait... i can look this up! (web 🤿 ... ) 3y

Graywacke http://magnificentrocks-rochesmagnifique.ca/the_periods-les_periodes/permian_tri... Cambrian = 541 to 485 million years ago (ma), Triassic 245-201 ma (these basalts should be closer to 201 ma). 😁☺️ 3y

Graywacke http://earth2geologists.net/grandmanangeology/GM_Bedrock_Map_2013_modified_JGM.p... (yellow, greens, blues and grays are Cambrian. Peaches and pinks Triassic) 3y

Graywacke (Hopefully us Shakespeare readalong peeps picked up on the Henry VI reference. For Shakespeare, Hvi marked the end of the era of chivalry and the beginning of cut-throat power plays. That is a near perfect parallel for Cather‘s WWI - or, as she preferred, her 1922. Glenfell is living cut-throat capitalism, but grew up in more heroic pioneer Colorado. Anyway, links us into tomorrow... 😁) (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke While H VI would be a great parallel, the play in the story is actually HenryIV. So I read it as the father-son difficulty. G just doesn‘t get his son and his son doesn‘t get him. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke re the barbed wire - I love your idea that it represents unspoken barriers. Miss K. is so independent, but in the end she ends up Mrs. somebody. But Mrs. F saying she can‘t call her that could also point to some (mild) subversion. PEO (which I‘ve never seen in a story before!) was newish then and is dedicated to higher education for women. So Mr. F wasn‘t the only progressive one. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat vi iv —- 🙈🤦🏻‍♂️ thanks. (Now I have to wonder about Falstaff...) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I also appreciate the geologist‘s insight into that part of the story. Like G. that isn‘t what I read for pleasure so it helps to have your interpretation. (But I won‘t lose sleep over it. 😂) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke There‘s a reason we use Arabic numerals! Did you catch the Pilgrims Progress reference, too? Cather was dropping literary references left and right! 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy More mature Wilder is a great comparison! Leslie‘s relationship with her brothers was great, but it felt a bit like it was being used to point out the lack of relationship with her father. It makes me curious about Cather‘s relationship with her father. There seem to be a lot of “disconnected” fathers in her fiction. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat PEO? 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I could tell you what it stands for but then I‘d have to kill you. 😂 We‘re an organization that raises money to send women to college, or to graduate school, owns a women‘s college in Missouri, and supports education for women. Started by 7 girls at a small college in Iowa in 1869, we‘re now world-wide. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat endangering my life, I looked it up. Cool that it‘s mentioned here (and that it exists). 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke It made me wonder if 1) Cather was a PEO, and 2) if “Methodist Win-a-Couple” was real. (And if so, what the H was it?) 3y

Currey I was happy while reading The Bright Years because as @batsy said, it was a wiser version of Wilder and really seemed to capture a balance between a sentimental attachment to the past versus being stuck in the past. I was not surprised by Leslie‘s death as how soon it happened. However, like @Graywacke I largely forgot about it when reading Breakfast. 3y

Currey @Lcsmcat Good insight about fathers. The father son relationship in Breakfast is obviously strained by having no shared foundation on which to understand each other. I did totally love the fact that he didn‘t have to rescue the daughter and I was happy that he realized it. 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey Yes, it was great that he realized it before she had to be aware of his impulse. 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat That's a good point about fathers in her fiction. Maybe Neighbour Rosicky is one significant departure from her usual stories? The connection with his daughter-in-law that might be a version of a father-daughter relationship that Cather saw as ideal. 3y

batsy @Graywacke Ah yes, good point! The mystique and allure will be gone if we got to know her better. I picked up on the Henry IV reference too and perked up a bit :) It does seem interesting in the sense that it's a play about competing masculine (patriarchal) interests and that seems to be an underlying concern for Grenfell. 3y

batsy @Graywacke Thanks for the links about rocks; I have a bit of a nerdy interest in geology 😆 3y

CarolynM I don't have much to add here. I enjoyed TBY, I saw it as largely a story about change. We often here about the pace of change in the modern world, it was interesting to consider how much difference the move from horses to cars made in that 15 year period. BB left me a bit cold. I like the various references highlighted in the comments here but I didn't pick them up. I was interested that the absent father motif appears in both stories, but👇 3y

CarolynM ☝️examined from different perspectives. In TBY it leaves the mother isolated and looking backwards rather than forwards once her children are no longer dependant on her, while in BB the father is shown as the isolated one, unable to share enjoyment (holidays, entertainments) with his wife or children. 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy I agree that Rosicky is an exception. He‘s an engaged, loving father. She has others who are engaged but not loving, and loving but not engaged, so they‘re not one-size-fits-all by any means. 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM The pace of change really picked up in this era, didn‘t it? My grandparents went from riding a mule to school to seeing the space shuttle, and all that came between. I often think, even with all the changes I have seen, that generation had the most head-spinning rate of change of any. 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy “competing masculin (patriarchal) interests” Yes - you manage to say things so clearly while I‘m stumbling around the edges of an idea. (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat couldn‘t find anything on “Methodist Win-a-couple”. Although googling “Methodist” and “couple” together does overwhelm the results with the Methodist gay marriage split. 3y

Graywacke @Currey @Lcsmcat @batsy @CarolynM we saw in Old Mrs. Harris that Cather‘s father might have had some oddball undesirable characteristics, and I think we are seeing more in TBY. Keep in mind that part of the divide in BB is because the father and son are of different eras and their strain represents that, to a degree. Overall - 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke You thought the strain between G and son was the era? Hm. His “I‘m glad my hands are grubby” line meant that the divide was more based on self-made man vs. easy-life son. Which was slightly related to the era, but more related to the social differences between husband and wife. I‘ll have to think about this. 3y

Graywacke @batsy @Lcsmcat hmm. Glenfell, Hiv and “competing masculin (patriarchal) interests”. I don‘t have much to add her except to say, thanks for highlighting. Thinking. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat pioneer principled heroes and their spoiled ruthless materialistic children. 🙂 Yes, my mind is hanging on that. Another on A Lost Lady theme. 3y

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Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

The Old Beauty (1948)
#catherbuddyread.

A story of friendship and of an era, a nice story, that can get lost in the story around it.

Finally, a story about a lesbian relationship (albeit subtle), but one that Cather not only never submitted, but didn‘t save. A friend preserved it. It has parallels to Cather‘s life with Edith Lewis (pictured). The death in the story and posthumous publication seem to emphasize the life parallels.

Thoughts?

Lcsmcat, Suet624

Graywacke @chris.wolak notes: “She‘d sent it to the Woman‘s Home Companion in 1936, but withdrew it.” 3y

Graywacke Reading Wolak‘s post, i was surprised not to see anything about the likely lesbian relationship between Madame de Couçy and Madame Allison. It seems obvious to me - the boy acting (something Wolek notes Cather did), the living together and “the queerest partnership that war and desolation have made” all sum together. But you can read this story without any of that, and think instead about WWI, what was lost and the new post-war priorities. 3y

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Graywacke Next week, April 10: The Best Years & Before Breakfast 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I didn‘t immediately pick up on a lesbian relationship, but the two-sidedness of everyone, the public face vs. private face, all the masks and disguises, certainly could carry that meaning as well. I‘ve been thinking a lot during this pandemic about how WWI and WWII changed the world in unpredictable ways and how so many people thought that once peace was declared things would “go back to normal.” Because obviously they didn‘t, 👇🏻 3y

Lcsmcat Test 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat re Test - Litsy just ate my Shakespeare post. 😭😭 (ETA it‘s back 🕺🏻🕺🏻) (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke And now it‘s there. 😀 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat 🙂 3y

Lcsmcat 👆🏻(cont.) and no one knew _how_ they would be different until they were. Chetty is able to roll with that better than Gabrielle and some others. (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat The parallels with our new normal are thought provoking! (Also, appreciate your public-private face comment). 3y

Suet624 I‘ve been meaning to send this to you for a while. Way down in the article (way down!) the write talks about lesbianism a d Edith Lewis/Willa Cather. Thought you might be interested. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/02/a-walk-in-willa-cathers-prairie 3y

batsy I feel a bit dense for not picking up on a lesbian relationship here! I'm certainly seeing that possibility now. What really struck me is Cather's continued complex relationship with female beauty—sometimes she seems to be in judgment of it, & at other points she is astute about its burdens on women. Also, the sexual assault & the subtle criticism of patriarchal norms that exist among the class of men Cather is wary of: bankers, capitalists 👇🏽 3y

batsy The way these men only know how to take, & see everything, including women, as property. 3y

Graywacke @Suet624 thanks. I will get there. 3y

Graywacke @batsy Oh, thanks for this comment. So much to think about. I always love how Cather just lays it out, as a foundation of the world. This character had this look and it leaves this impression on society. Now, let‘s move on with the consequences. (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat @Suet624 Thanks for sharing! 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy Yes! She is hard on the men who take and also I think on the women who don‘t _do_ anything and just get by on being beautiful. She always seems to throw in hard, and/or cold, type descriptions as part of their beauty. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Gabrielle is really trapped in that lost world. It‘s a little odd, no? Curious. 3y

Graywacke @batsy on “patriarchal norma” - it‘s interesting to me that Cather has such a romantic and also critical view of this lost world. I thought here she excoriated the objectification of women while also, at the same time, adapting it to what she appreciates, and using it as a touch point to the honorable “great men”. (Also, oye, the rapist was explained in terribly racist terms. Calaban-ed) And that materialism, here again, right? (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat types... I‘ll argue it‘s a flaw, a simplification she couldn‘t resist. I think she mostly managed it for her era, but not as well for ours. 3y

Currey @Graywacke @Lcsmcat @batsy So wonderful to catch up. I had to work this morning.... I did think of the lesbian relationship because of the story calling out that Chetty was not a paid companion, that she took boy parts, that she acknowledged their relationship as odd. Obviously, they could simply be friends but it did come to mind that they were more than that. Also, I agree that our banker is once again painted as a dark immigrant rapist. (edited) 3y

Currey @Graywacke @Lcsmcat @batsy I was also disquieted by how many times Cather mentions the lack of wit, the lack of sparkle in her eye, the lack of intelligent conversation. Gabrielle sounds like an object. However, when we actually encounter her she is thoughtful and although regretful of not living a fuller life when she could have, she is not without insights into a lost world, and great men and the light hearted delight of a younger companion. 3y

Graywacke @Suet624 oh, that article! ❤️ Who is this person, this Cather who makes up interviews and her birth year? This trickster was not in my imagination of her mindset. I‘m fascinated and re-thinking everything. That‘s a wonderful warm enlightening essay. 3y

Graywacke @Currey Great comment on Gabrielle. Again, there‘s more there than what Cather is directly telling us. And maybe what she‘s telling us is a misdirection(?) I think Gabrielle both was and was not “beautiful, that was all.” 3y

Suet624 Hahaha. I‘m happy you enjoyed it so much. 3y

CarolynM There is so much in this story! I'm personally suspicious of nostalgia, I don't think things were better in the past. I think many people find life more difficult as they age, so they look back to when they found it easier and think it was easier because of the change in the world rather than the change in them. I enjoyed the way the story looked at these ideas. I was struck by S's remark about the French Revolution being "gentlemanly" compared? 3y

CarolynM ☝️to WWI. I guess I understand the sentiment, but really? The scale of the killing might have been less, but does that make it less horrifying? The lesbian relationship is possible, but I'm not sure how much it matters in this particular story - C seems to have her place as closest confident and chief mourner recognised. Interesting, though, that those with friendly attitudes toward G set store by C's place as friend rather than paid companion.👇 3y

CarolynM ☝️Yes to @batsy 's point about the banker being the villain again and about that type perceiving women as property. Interesting that he was described only as an "immigrant" - I was bracing myself for the word "Jew" and very glad not to see it - does this indicate a hardening of her attitude towards all immigrants, rather than the way she distinguished between ethnic/cultural groups in earlier works? Or is it intended to soften the criticism? 3y

CarolynM ☝️of capitalists? I thought the descriptions of the younger G were meant to distinguish her from other beauties but I agree with @Currey that the old woman we meet is hard to reconcile with the description of her younger self. Maybe it was S's youthful lack of perception that made him remember her so. Here in Australia we are in the middle of a political storm about the treatment of women working in the federal parliament, and by extension 👇 3y

CarolynM ☝️about the treatment of women in our society generally (don't google it, it is most unedifying) so it is hard not to read this story without reflecting on the attitude to sexual assault reflected here. There is no suggestion that the banker could be guilty of a crime, no-one will seek to hold him accountable. G sells at a loss and moves away and when she alludes to the event to S she is effectively told to forget about it. I could go on... 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM The French Revolution comment caught my attention too. And I agree about the issues with Cather's nostalgia for the past. Her idea of how the world broke around 1922 is a little awkward. In Nebraska, it simply overlooks the American Indian wipe-out. But her view is also interesting. But today's problems weren't easier 20 years ago, regardless of when today is (excluding times of disaster). 3y

CarolynM Thanks for the link to the article @Suet624 Most interesting. 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM Also interesting about Australia today and how little has changed with these predators, and how society still casually accepts that this will happen. 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM @Graywacke The French Revolution comment pulled me up short too. The best I could make of it was that Cather was making your point on nostalgia. We think our horrors were worse than those we think of as history. So book clubs today read all these misty-eyed books set in WWII, and laud the “greatest generation.” 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM G really is defined by the bad actions of men around her, isn‘t she? She loses her social position when her husband divorces her, even though he gave her the grounds (meaning he had to at least pretend to cheat on her if not actually do it), sells at a loss to leave NY after attempted rape, hides her identity at the end of her life because she‘s “notorious.” But what did she do to earn that? Have male friends & not female. 3y

chris.wolak @Graywacke Update on this story. It was supposed to be included in the The Troll Garden but Dorothy Canfield Fisher petitioned the publisher to have it removed because she thought it harmful to the woman she thought the story was based on (Evelyn Osborne). Cather argued against this but Fisher won out and the publisher pulled the story. After Osborne died, the story was published in McClure‘s Magazine in 1907. That‘s Isabelle McClung in the photo. 3y

chris.wolak @Graywacke I highly recommend Melissa Homestead‘s new book, The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather and Edith Lewis. The most accurate biographical details to date based on newly available primary sources. 3y

Graywacke @chris.wolak !! Thank you! Thanks for the corrections and updates. I didn‘t know about the picture. However, I‘m a little confused by the 1907 date. Surely WWI predates The Old Beauty. Also, thanks for recommending Melissa Homestead‘s book. That will be of interest to all of us.

The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather and Edith Lewis

chris.wolak @Graywacke Oh, my bad!!! I saw the photo and my mind immediately went to a story called The Profile and I got swept up in the moment (note to self: do not post before you‘ve had sufficient amount of morning coffee). Sorry for the confusion! (edited) 3y

Graywacke @chris.wolak ☺️ it‘s ok. I don‘t know The Profile. Should we add it on our list? (edited) 3y

chris.wolak @Graywacke Maybe? I‘m curious to re-visit it now. It is available on the Willa Cather Archive if you want to check it out, https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss002 3y

Graywacke @chris.wolak did you post on it in your site? (PS: thanks again for stopping by. I really appreciate your posts in these stories and all the info within.) 3y

chris.wolak @Graywacke My pleasure, and thank you for your group! I look forward to the end of the semester when I can dive in deeper here. I have not posted about The Profile. According to the reading schedule for phase 2 of the short story project, it‘s not up until Aug 2023! I am definitely going to read it before then. 🤓 3y

Louise @Graywacke Hi, Dan, please keep me on the group list. I‘m sorry I‘ve been absent for a while. We‘re getting organized for a move, and it‘s been pretty stressful. 3y

jewright @Lcsmcat That line really reminded me about our current situation. My heart aches so for the normal, and I‘m really afraid it will never be. I did wonder if her husband divorced her because she was having an affair with his relative. The assault section is heart breaking. Note that there was never any mention of calling the authorities because there was no point. 3y

Lcsmcat @jewright I didn‘t see any evidence in the story that G was having an affair with his cousin, other than she stayed with G after the divorce. It explicitly says “he established the statutory grounds, she petitioning for the decree.” Which means she was the innocent party. 3y

CarolynM @Lcsmcat "misty eyed books set in WWII" ?? 3y

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Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Old Mrs. Harris and Two Friends are our stories today for the #catherbuddyread The first was originally titled “Three Women” and is said to be “extremely biographical.” Above are Cather (left) and her mother (right) from the National Willa Cather Center online. I couldn‘t find an image of her maternal grandmother.
Does the story “work” better for you with one title or the other?

Lcsmcat Did Cather want us to share Mrs. Rosen‘s opinions, (especially on Victoria) and if not what‘s her purpose in the story? Which of the four women (I include Mrs. R) spoke to you? And what was up with the clueless husband, Hillary T.? 3y

Lcsmcat About Two Friends, Cather wrote to a friend “I don't know if "Two Friends" is out yet, but I saw proofs of it before I left New York and ever since have wanted to prepare you for the dreadful illustrations. The editor gives a western story to some nut who has never been west of Hoboken, and who thinks that all Western men are rough-necks. I hate publishing stories in magazines, anyway, and only do it because they pay me very well.” 3y

Lcsmcat Which made me want to find copies of those “dreadful illustrations!” @chris.wolak writes that she pictured the child narrator as a younger Vicky. I saw a young barefoot boy. Who did you see? And gee, does the political situation seem familiar? 3y

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Lcsmcat @CarolynM @batsy @jewright @Louise @Sace @Tamra @Suet624 @arubabookwoman @Currey @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @crazeedi @mdm139 @Tanisha_A @emilyhaldi @rubyslippersreads @KathyWheeler @Graywacke of course let me know if you want off or on this list. 3y

Graywacke Where to begin? First I liked these more prolonged character studies. And second I never considered Old Mrs. Harris might be autobiographical. How interesting, but also not complimentary to her parents. And third, again, a lot on death. 3y

Graywacke On the title of OMH. I think the title does change the readers expectation of the story. When the story seemed to be about Vickie, I found myself surprised a bit. On the other hand all the Mrs.-es are weird to me regardless. Hillary called his MiL Mrs Harris? Do we never learn her name? 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat on the next OMH questions - I appreciated that Mrs Rosen was not a Jewish stereotype. She was imperfect but in her own way. I was fascinated by her. I thought her opinions were varied and almost irreconcilable. Overly materialistic but also human. Very educated but also not foregrounding it. Driven by community expectation, a scary influential community leader, but also sincere and insightful. 3y

Graywacke Mrs R‘s purpose seems to me to be the Cather observer. It‘s mostly her opinions i used to see the three women. Maybe she is the one that spoke to me. But, of course, I was pulling for Vickie. I thought Mrs. T never dealt with what she was criticized for, and Mrs H was always a mystery to me. 3y

Graywacke I‘ll add the the story really emphasizes to me the financial dependence of the women on these men they are named after or otherwise attached to. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat The situation on TTF is so current except the arguments seem more tangible today to everyday life when orange means a lot of really bad stuff. I liked both characters. I caught the narrator was a girl only because she was playing jacks and that seemed like a girl thing, especially to go unnoticed. Otherwise I would have assumed a boy. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat thanks for the post and questions 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Going backwards, I hadn‘t thought of Jack‘s as a “girl thing.” Maybe because I‘m a girl? 😂 But if so, that would be the best clue we have. 3y

Lcsmcat Three Women made more sense as a title to me. It made it “hold together” better. Mrs. R was definitely the observer, but I couldn‘t get a hold on her real opinion of Mrs. H. “Irreconcilable opinions” is a good way to word it. I found myself saying “wait - I thought you believed x.” a lot. 3y

Lcsmcat The Mrs. -es are just one way Cather uses to show how little control these women have over their own lives. They have no money of their own (or it‘s taken from them, like Mrs. H) and no control over where they live, or even their bodies, as Mrs. T‘s unwanted pregnancy shows. 3y

Lcsmcat I feel like I short changed Two Friends a bit. Cather had this to say: "Old Mrs. Harris" is the more interesting, perhaps; but I think "Two Friends" is the best short story I have ever done. It's a little like a picture by Courbet; has that queer romantic sort of realism.” And it is painting like, in that it‘s a frozen-in-time scene of a complicated friendship and the reader/observer has to fill in the details. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat “the best story I have ever done” ? Hmm. Ok WC, not to me, but I liked TTF. It really captures a time and place, and i loved how the narrator enjoyed the theater through their discussions. And it‘s entertaining. (“I like tragedy, but that play‘s a little too tragic. Something very dark about it. I think I prefer Hamlet“ on Richard II ) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat good point about the (unwanted) pregnancy. Agree about Mrs. r and interesting about your opinion on the title. And Jack‘s - well, when i was a kid it was a something girl put some effort into and, admiring the focus and excitement, something girls had to show me how to play. 3y

Lcsmcat Digging in the internet sandbox, I found this https://mises.org/library/willa-cathers-capitalism Know the bias of the Mises Institute (libertarian) as you read, and Two Friends appears way down - section V - but it adds to my understanding of the story as a choice between friendship and politics & how the men chose one way and the narrator the other. Interesting stuff about O Pioneers! in the first sections. 3y

Currey I did enjoy both readings this week but not sure they are the best I have ever read of Cather. In TTF I definitely read the observer as a boy because he was allowed to be around two gruff men. Boys played jacks also. I will have to twist my head around to think of it as a young girl. 3y

Currey @lcsmcat I agree with you on old Mrs Harris - that it points out the lack of control women had even within their own spheres of influence. And I appreciated Mrs R not being a stereotypical Jew. She had opinions and judgements that did not align but nevertheless she seemed to have a largely good heart and a intelligent perspective to understand she could help Mrs Harris just by being with her 3y

Currey I liked the title OMH rather than Three Women because it is an interesting misdirect. I thought I would come to understand her but there was little to understand there. Her prescribed status (running the household) did not work for the time and place. I did get more insight into Mrs R and Victoria 3y

Currey @Graywacke Yes! What was Mr H T about? Do you think Cather had a relative like that? 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey Interesting thought that OMH could be an intentional misdirect. Cather seems so deliberate in her word choices that I felt odd preferring the title she rejected. 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey @Graywacke I think WC probably did have relatives like Mr. T. But more intriguing to me is, did she have a neighbor like Mrs. R? And if she did, why didn‘t it make her other portrayals of Jewish characters more nuanced? 3y

Currey @Lcsmcat That is a good question. Her other Jewish characters are not nearly as nuanced. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @Currey I was thinking the same. Although I do think her Jewish characters have nuance, they also almost always seem to represent the low end of capitalism. And we see them a lot in her stories. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @Currey There‘s a lot about capitalism in her works. The Mises article I linked above is about that. And you‘re right, Cather has not portrayed refined, educated Jews in other works we‘ve read. (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat I‘ve been thinking a lot about why I, a female reader, saw the narrator of TTF (written by a female author) as male. And why, when @Graywacke pointed out the jacks clue, I still wanted it to be a boy. No answers, exactly, but I think, having read these 2 stories together, and all the focus on the constraint women & girls were under, I couldn‘t imagine that much freedom for a girl. If the men had stayed friends would she have been allowed to 👇🏻 3y

Lcsmcat 👆🏻hang out with them at 14? To my mind 13, even seems a little old for a girl to run that free in that era. Maybe that was part of the western ethos we didn‘t get in the south. 😀 3y

rubyslippersreads I‘d like to stay on the list, even though I don‘t participate every time. And I used to love playing jacks. 😄 3y

Lcsmcat @rubyslippersreads Of course! Chime in whenever you like. 3y

Currey @Lcsmcat @Graywacke Yes, I saw the observer as a boy for exactly the same reason you did. Would they have allowed a girl to hang out like that? “Why are you not at home helping your ma with the laundry?” However, either way, I do think he/she marvelously captured the essence of two older men who gave to him/her a view of a larger world. Plus he/she came to understand, presumably at a much later date, what a rare and wonderful coupling it was 3y

CarolynM I loved OMH (and I like the title because I think she was very much the focal point of the story) because of the steady gaze on the interaction between a group of ordinary women. I wished it was longer - even a whole novel! I was startled by the asserted cultural differences of "the South". Is this true? I was also interested in the depiction of Jewish characters here, and how they fitted in the society. I agree with @Graywacke about her usual? 3y

CarolynM ☝️use of Jewish characters & how different this was. I'm sure it's deliberate that Mr R is described as the only unsuccessful member of a rich family (I can't find the exact quote unfortunately) I also liked the comments on child rearing🙂 TF suffered by comparison for me. Funnily enough, I did think the narrator was a girl, maybe just because I was in the female mindset after OMH. Clearly there's nothing new about politics severing friendships! 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM The mother-in-law as drudge is not a southern cultural phenomenon I‘m familiar with. And I‘m a southerner with Tennessee roots, although not mountain Tennessee. (And not in the late 1800s!) 😂 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM I felt like OMH could have been expanded into a novel, too. I wanted to know more. 3y

CarolynM @Lcsmcat The whole idea of girls having no responsibilities and young married women doing nothing but having babies and socialising seems so unlikely, not to mention the apparently itinerant older women who just turn up when needed in return for a gift in their bag when they depart! Presumably there's some basis for this, but I wonder what the reality was. Your point about women being financially dependent may be part of it. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat I finally read the Mises article (took a little while) and it was fun to revisit all works in this light. And it adds weight to TFs. I do wonder why Dillon‘s initials were RED. Like Marxist red? Red Cloud? Trueman‘s name is a little silly in that light, maybe. 3y

Graywacke @rubyslippersreads thanks for noting the Jacks! 🙂 3y

Graywacke @Currey the narrator in TFs - maybe the gender is intentionally ambiguous? He/she (?) talks to Trueman late in the story and I looked for hints in that exchange but couldn‘t pick up on any. 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM Glad you like OMH so much. I agree that it could have been expanded, there seemed more to say. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Oooh, I hadn‘t noticed the initials! And “true-man” - it kind of lets you know which side the author is on, doesn‘t it? 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @rubyslippersreads The jacks sent me on another internet dive, as well as quizzing my husband about his childhood games. And “Jack‘s were for girls; marbles were for boys” came up over and over again. Even in a current article about what kids can do during the lack of organized sports during the pandemic. So I think Dan gets the gold star for most attentive reader on this one. ⭐️ 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat embracing my star 🙂 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @CarolynM @batsy @jewright @Louise @Sace @Tamra @Suet624 @arubabookwoman @Currey @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @crazeedi @mdm139 @Tanisha_A @emilyhaldi @rubyslippersreads @KathyWheeler Reminder - we have a break this week. Next Saturday, April 3, we‘ll go over one story: The Old Beauty. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I‘m looking forward to it! 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Yay. I'm looking forward to our chatting here, which I adore. But I'm losing a little steam with the stories. 🙁 3y

CarolynM Thanks @Graywacke I'm still enjoying the stories, but it's good to keep breaking them up as we have🙂 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM @Graywacke The last 2 weren‘t as sparkling as her other work, but I‘ve started this week‘s and I‘m enjoying it. 3y

batsy @Graywacke I must admit that I'm losing a little steam with the stories, too. However this break was much needed and starting to look forward to picking it up again. 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM @batsy Glad the break works out. I was worried about that when I thought up this schedule. @CarolynM also that‘s great you‘re enjoying them. I am too. Just need a little rejuvenation. @batsy relieved it‘s not just me. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat ah, encouraging! I‘ll start Wednesday or Thursday. 3y

jewright Sorry I‘ve not been able to keep up. This spring is so busy. 3y

39 likes53 comments

Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Neighbor Rosicky from Obscure Destinies March 13th #catherbuddyread
Anton Rosicky was based on the real life John Pavelka, husband of Annie Pavelka, who was Cather‘s inspiration for Antonia of My Antonia.(Photos are their farmhouse and the church in Red Cloud, MN where they married.) Did he seem familiar to you?

Lcsmcat We seldom get his first name in the story - he‘s “Rosicky” or “Neighbor Rosicky.” Why do you think Cather did that? Themes of country vs. city and immigrants v. “Americans” are here. What spoke to you? 3y

Lcsmcat Here‘s the link to @chris.wolak ‘s blog https://chriswolak.com/2020/01/22/response-to-neighbour-rosicky-the-willa-cather... 3y

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Graywacke I don‘t know the answer to your question. It does put forward his immigrant status. 3y

Graywacke Also I didn‘t pick up on the My Ántonia connection. Makes sense. What I thought I did pick up on was a connection to Death Comes for the Archbishop. Crazy? Maybe. Three things lead me there. 1. The obvious one, theme of mortality. 2. The ritual aspects of how his current life is described. And 3, I sensed spiritual elements that weren‘t in the previous short story collections. Anyway I got sidetracked on that maybe tenuous idea. What do you think? 3y

Graywacke As for what spoke to me - hmm. Tough one. I think Rosicky‘s London and Ny are as important as his Nebraska to the story. Also I think he was a little unrealistically idealized. Which leads me to the way the story is told. I felt there was a ritualistic aspect to his life, and the description of his life, in Nebraska (I think this characteristic is tenuous). But that struck. (Posting early as I‘m driving 9 hours today and I‘m doing all the driving) (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Cather does spend a lot of her creative energy exploring death, doesn‘t she? 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat yeah...seems always there. Dealing with end of life 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Rosicky felt familiar to me as a “Cather character” from the Plains books, but I didn‘t immediately go to Antonia. But the warm, loving, twinkly-eyed farmer felt very familiar. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i agree with that. He seemed immediately recognizable as a My Ántonia kind of character - comparable to other characters throughout that novel. 3y

batsy "A Cather character from the Plains books" is how I thought of it, too. I did think of My Antonia because of the Bohemians, but didn't make a particular connection. I don't have much to say about this story but I have noticed that in the compressed form of the short story some of Cather's themes in the Plains books (a sense of communion with the natural world, immigrants trying to make it in America) tend to come off simplified & sentimental. ?? 3y

batsy This one largely made me miss the sweeping sense of mystery that imbue her novels like My Antonia. There were lines that I loved, like what made the Rosicky's marriage work: "because, at bottom, they had the same ideas about life" & agreed on "what was most important & what was secondary". And money vs. how to have a good life again a predominant theme in the doctor's observation: "Maybe you couldn't enjoy your life & put it into the bank, too". 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy I underlined that last quote too. 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy I have felt in a few of theses stories that Cather was working out themes that she would enlarge on later in her novels. Not to say the stories were just studies for the novels, but you can get a little peek into Cather‘s thought process. 3y

Currey I ran behind this week and just finished reading Neighbour Rosicky. I think I agree with Graywacke, although I would probably not have thought of it myself, that this one was closer to Death Comes to the Archbishop than her Prairie stories even though the setting was out on the High Plains. There was a quiet ritualistic investigation of death but also, what makes a good life. 3y

Currey And as @Batsy mentions, it leans to the sentimental in a way that Cather usually manages to touch on without this much weight. On the other hand - it only mentioned opera a couple of times!! Strange how I was dreading another opera singer. 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey @batsy I didn‘t feel it as overly sentimental. I found it more about relationships, which is why (I think, anyway) Cather rarely used Rosicky‘s first name. He was a neighbor, a husband, a father. It was all about his relationships with the others in the story. 3y

Lcsmcat Her making his illness heart disease seemed relevant too. 3y

Currey @Lcscmat Yes, he was good hearted with a bad heart... 3y

CarolynM I loved this story and didn't want it to end. I thought it was yet another example of Cather telling us that someone's personal qualities are more important and more worthy than material wealth. I loved the last line of part I "Maybe, Dr Burleigh reflected, people as generous and warm-hearted and affectionate as the Rosickys never got ahead much; maybe you couldn't enjoy your life and put it into the bank too."? 3y

CarolynM The contrast of the poverty of the life old Rosicky lived in London with his life in Nebraska was stark and a reminder of what basics we take for granted - the luxury of water in which to wash! I did think of My Antonia while reading - references to Bohemians as an ethnic group will always make me think of it and the relationship with the doctor was reminiscent of Antonia and Jim. 3y

CarolynM @batsy I wrote my comments without reading yours. Sounds like we largely agree, but I was happy to indulge myself in the sentiment🙂 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM We all loved that quote! And like you and @Graywacke I thought his city life was just as important to the story and the drawing of his character. His beliefs weren‘t based on the only thing he‘d ever known, but rather having tried both ways. The whole Christmas dinner/begging scene! 3y

Lcsmcat We haven‘t talked much about Polly and that marriage. Any thoughts on whether Rosicky was a good father-in-law or a meddlesome one? 3y

CarolynM I certainly think his intentions were good, but maybe his actions were a bit heavy-handed. Although it was probably good for Polly to have it made clear through actions that her in-laws wanted her to be happy and didn't expect her to do nothing but work for her husband. 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM He reminded me of my father-in-law, so I thought it was really sweet. But if I‘d lived within walking distance of my in laws when we were newlyweds, I might have felt differently. 😀 3y

Graywacke Finally able to comment. Some loose ideas I meant to post but having trouble working them out. I think this is a book of healing, and that there is a spiritual element to it, and that the two combine to tell R how to manage in a tough cold world. “The worst things he had come upon in his journey through the world were human,—depraved and poisonous specimens of man.” That‘s a pretty cynical discouraged sentiment. It‘s what R has to overcome. 3y

Graywacke I think the way the story is told is interesting. @Lcsmcat has a great point on how stories may show themes she was working on (and words it nicely ). Our different reactions are curious - with some finding it too sentimental and others finding it nice to get lost in. I think this story is mixed with elements that work and that don‘t. 3y

Graywacke If you‘re wondering whether this story is spiritual, she eventually tells us through the doctor at the graveyard: “A sudden hush had fallen on his soul. Everything here seemed strangely moving and significant, though signifying what, he did not know. “ 3y

Graywacke @batsy thinking about your comments on the compression and that this might cause (or expose) a sentimental simplicity. What bothered me was the loftiness of R. He‘s held up as a beacon of goodness. It‘s like a kind of propaganda. 3y

Graywacke @currey - “ritualistic exploration of death” - I felt this too. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @CarolynM R and Polly - meddlesome? Surely every daughter-in-law wants to be saved by their father-in-law. 🙂 I think R made a good read, but also desperate effort to help. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat now i see where you were going with calling Rosicky Rosicky, and not “Anton”. That‘s an interesting observation. (edited) 3y

batsy @CarolynM I loved that bit, too. And I can understand why, there is a gentleness to the sentiment. It is sort of like a balm (that is much needed in these times!) 3y

batsy @Graywacke Yes! Far too idealised. Maybe it's a little bit of the complexity in his character that I was seeking. As it ended with his death, it felt somewhat like a moral tale of his particular goodness. (In contrast, I found his wife and prickly Polly quite fascinating...) 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat It would depend totally on the kind of people involved, and I agree with @CarolynM that it's his good intentions that probably came through to Polly and that's why she responded the way she did, with an openness to receiving his care, as it were. 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy I would have liked more of Mary, too. She struck me as an interesting character. 3y

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Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

1. Yes. Currently reading the tagged with the #catherbuddyread
2. Yes, my current “real life” book club is using virtual meetings due to the pandemic.
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
If you want to play, consider yourself tagged.

TheSpineView Thanks for playing! 3y

23 likes1 comment

Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Feb 27 stories #catherbuddyread
The Sculptor's Funeral
“A Death in the Desert”
(This Finishes Youth and the Bright Medusa)

Two stories on death. Harvey Merrick‘s body comes home to the town he escaped. Katherine Gaylord, dying from TB, is comforted by the brother of her musical hero. Cather‘s own grave marker is pictured, in Jaffrey, NH.

Next: one week off, then @Lcsmcat leads Obscure Destinies (1932) - March 13 - Neighbour Rosicky

Graywacke The picture was taken recently by a friend of mine via LibraryThing, after a snowstorm. 3y

Graywacke "The Sculptor's Funeral" was 1st published in McClure's Magazine, 24 (January 1905)

https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss008

“A Death in the Desert” was first published in Scribner's Magazine, 33 (January 1903)

https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss012

The title comes from a Robert Browning poem : https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43752/a-death-in-the-desert-56d222942c57c (its long ?) 3y

Graywacke Chris Wolak
@chris.wolak

https://chriswolak.com/2019/11/06/november-reminder-the-willa-cather-short-story... (nothing on this specific story here)

https://chriswolak.com/2019/11/27/response-to-the-sculptors-funeral-the-willa-ca... 3y

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Graywacke https://chriswolak.com/2019/12/11/december-reminder-the-willa-cather-short-story...

https://chriswolak.com/2019/12/25/response-to-a-death-in-the-desert-the-willa-ca... 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM @batsy @jewright @Louise @Sace @Tamra @Suet624 @arubabookwoman @Currey @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @crazeedi @mdm139 @Tanisha_A @emilyhaldi @rubyslippersreads @KathyWheeler of course let me know if you want off or on this list 3y

Graywacke Some introductory thoughts on each and on finishing ...

Youth and the Bright Medusa

Graywacke The Sculptor‘s Funeral, with hints that Harvey was gay, comes down to a rant against the money-obsessions that oppress a small Kansas railroad town. We‘re constantly meeting new characters, or new important details about them throughout the story, nonstop. (I admit I admired Harvey‘s abusive mother who gives “injured, emotional, dramatic abuse, unique and masterly in its excruciating cruelty”) 3y

Graywacke Chris Wolak notes Cather‘s own brother lived in Cheyenne, WY, setting of “A Death in the Desert”. The story is little bitter sweet as Everett Hilgarde, overshadowed by his brother, has practically fallen in love with this Katherine who worked with and is obsessed with his talented brother, a flame that left her “this white, burnt-out brand”. 👇 (edited) 3y

Graywacke Several overt literary quotes. The title is a Robert Browning poem. Katherine will quote Dante and Shakespeare‘s Brutus (from Julius Caesar). The Dante quote is enticing! When Francesca tells Dante “and the book we read no more that night”, she means because they did some illicit stuff. It‘s possible Katherine means specifically she didn‘t (or, one hopes, at least not then while Adriance was sick). Anyway, in character, Everett merely moves on. 3y

Graywacke For what it‘s worth, both stories are early ones, reworked for this 1920 collection. 3y

Graywacke Lastly, some sort of closing thoughts on Youth and the Bright Medusa: Whereas The Troll Garden is a developing author, this is a masterful author, although often reworking her older stuff. It‘s a second theme. The prairie books feel more removed, historical, than these stories that get into then contemporary American cultural. Either the theme of life reflected in music or of the curse of finance seems to be in every story, often both are. (edited) 3y

Graywacke That, finally (!!), ends my introduction. Please share your responses on Harvey‘s worlds, on Katherine and Everett and on this collection. What do these leave you thinking about? (edited) 3y

Currey Wow, incredible introduction @Graywacke. I read these two stories early in the week and they have haunted me all week. The same themes of creative success and financial success and the rot they both can generate but also here a more multilayered treatment of underlying emotions. Everett is not just a journalistic recorder of the last days of Gaylord but the actual main character. Stevens is more Cather‘s traditional observer 👇 3y

Currey But he also vibrates with the hostility he feels from the small town detractors who must have influenced the sculptor all his life. 3y

Currey Also, I spend my summers just down the road from Cather and Lewis final resting place and they are tucked nicely in the corner of an old Congregational church cemetery, away from preying eyes and just out of view of Mt Monadnock. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I read the Browning poem, but it‘s not a poem to understand on one reading. I meant to try again before today, but life got in the way. Did anyone else read it? 3y

Lcsmcat Both of these stories made me think of Scrooge‘s desperate plea to see some tenderness connected with death. In both stories this tenderness comes not from family, but from others. So, in addition to Cather‘s continued exploration of artists, she seems to be probing family relationships and who is family. Why do you think the sculpture felt compelled to return “home” to be buried, in spite of his treatment there? 3y

Lcsmcat I have to confess that my favorite part was the lawyer blasting in to the towns people. What a great indictment! 3y

Currey @Lcsmcat @Graywacke Do you think he had his body return home to punish his mother? It doesn‘t seem like it given that the mother seemed to delight in the drama and her son must have realized that. It almost seemed as if he knew how both his mother and the old coots in town would respond and somehow was good with that. And yet, I can not imagine that he felt as if this ugly collection of people was “home”. 3y

Graywacke @Currey thanks. Completely agree about Everett and Stevens. And these are sad stories. Everett haunts me a little. (However the idea of Stevens as a young gay optimistic Boston boy stuck surrounded by abusive Kansas small town moralities makes me smile.) 3y

Graywacke @Currey I‘m jealous of your summers. It‘s a really beautiful resting place. 3y

Currey @Lcsmcat Love the Scrooge idea....where is the tenderness of death? In the Gaylord story it lives in Everett‘s ability to put aside his ego for a few weeks of her comfort. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i gave up on Browning last night after I kept falling asleep. 😁😊 I‘ll try again. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat it was a terrific rant, by the red bearded lawyer. 3y

Graywacke @Currey @Lcsmcat The idea that Harvey had his body sent home as revenge is quite an idea. I assumed it was more about honoring the family code - these small towns tended to have identities that kept people valuing that tie. And I think it was mostly that. And also some guilt - and also that he was finally in a state he could handle his family and town. Maybe also his way own version of rant - like, “hey guys, look at me. Good job.” 3y

Graywacke Cather, obviously, felt differently about her own resting place. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @Currey I‘m not familiar with this tenderness in death theme of A Christmas Carol. But I haven‘t read it. Harvey had no for tenderness at home. Katherine is different. She was in that elemental isolated environment, but her brother did not seem neglectful. Did I miss that? What i felt was a mixture of fame and one-way love. She loved the star that burned. He loved heroine in that star‘s glow. But no one was looking down. 👇 3y

Graywacke They were all very selfish, actually, only looking upward at what they wanted. (I did like that Katherine was both Francesca and Beatrice) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke In Death in the Desert I was thinking the family relationship between the brothers, rather than Katherine and her brother. Everett coming to a more mature understanding of his relationship with his brother‘s fame and an understanding of his own worth. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @currey I like the idea of being sent home as revenge, too. But if he planned it he did a poor job of preparing his student for what he would find there! 3y

CarolynM I don't have much to add about these stories. They resonated with me less than the others have done. I thought the lawyer's rant in Sculptor was an explicit expression of Cather's contempt for the materialistic and "proper" that weaves through all of her work. Everett seems to be a supportive rather than jealous sibling, in contrast to most of the other siblings in these stories. 3y

batsy The Sculptor's Funeral is my favourite out of the two and as @Lcsmcat mentioned, the rant directed at the townspeople was superb. There's a lot there about the rot starting from the older generation and the younger ones being hung out to dry, and also a lot unsaid but implied about homophobia and standards of masculinity, I think? 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM ( @batsy ) “They resonated with me less...” I‘m glad you said that. I thought these two stories were less powerful than some others. But I thought the prose was notable. The way the Sculptor story opens, the whole atmosphere she sets up in the opening paragraph struck me. Several other lines and or paragraphs caught my attention. 3y

Graywacke @batsy “also a lot unsaid but implied about homophobia and standards of masculinity, I think?” Yeah. Subtle, but there. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @CarolynM the Hilgarde brothers have such an unusual sibling relationship i kind of neglected the family aspect. I mean I know it‘s there. Everett does seem to hold his blood loyalty. But Adriance is so other worldly, almost a flawed sinful greek god. ... 3y

Graywacke Whereas Everett is humbled, really run over, a forgotten doppelgänger (“his own individuality played a smaller part”), the “stopgap”, fill-in...he‘s like a human mortal nothing in the shadow this god. (These brothers maybe play into the collection title) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @CarolynM But you can‘t forget that we see A. only through the eyes of E. It‘s like your earlier observation of one-way love. Everett‘s relationship to his brother is changing, whether it goes both ways is immaterial. Cather revised the story 3 times, shortening it each time. And the last paragraph is E. blushing at being mistaken for A. It feels like a different reaction to me. And, given the revisions, it had weight. (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i can forget that...actually maybe I did! 😊😁 Although we also see him through K‘s eyes, and we see something through A‘s fans. Also I hadn‘t picked up on the blush. That certainly adds a little something. ( @CarolynM ) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke True, we do see him through K‘s eyes, and the fans. But we never see him (or their brotherly relationship) through A‘s perspective. (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat hi. An fyi post. Turns out I will be driving Saturday - all day. We‘re doing a family trip to some 9 hour drive away place. I imagine I‘ll still be able to post, but might be a bit distracted - just letting you know. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Safe travels! 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat thanks! 3y

44 likes42 comments

catebutler

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Catching up on the #CatherBuddyRead this afternoon. I‘ve fallen a bit behind, so I‘m getting a jump start on this week‘s section and then playing catch up with previous sections. Every time I read Cather, I‘m quickly reminded why I adore her. She‘s brilliant with describing the beauty of nature in particular the American frontier and developing sketches of human lives and why we think, do and pursue.

Graywacke

CarolynM The stories are great and so is the discussion but we've missed your input🙂 3y

Graywacke Lovely picture. I‘m really happy you‘re joining in this week. 3y

catebutler @CarolynM That‘s so kind of you to say. 😊 I can‘t wait to catch up on the discussion - everyone has great insight! 3y

catebutler @Graywacke Thank you! I don‘t know how I seem to fall behind so quickly! 🤷‍♀️ I guess I should blame my inability to read just one book at a time. 3y

Graywacke @catebutler it‘s a good problem 🙂 ... and we are kind of flying through Cather‘s stories (edited) 3y

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Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

“One lost the contour of faces and figures, indeed any effect of line whatever...”

Feb 20 stories #catherbuddyread
Scandal
Paul's Case
A Wagner Matinée

In brief: Kitty‘s social criticism, Paul‘s tragedy, and then a touch of impressionism. Music is everywhere offering something, some unspecified thing, to uncomfortable real life. I‘ll add more in the comments. Thoughts?

Next week, Feb 27
The Sculptor's Funeral
“A Death in the Desert”

Lcsmcat

Graywacke Scandal was first published in The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine in August 1919

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112001586301&view=1up&seq=451 3y

Graywacke Paul‘s Case was first published in McClure‘s Magazine in May 1905. Link is to the version within Youth and the Bright Medusa (well, a link the requires copy and paste)

https://cather.unl.edu/writings/books/0008#paul (edited) 3y

Graywacke The Wagner Matinée was first published in the March 1904 edition of Everybody‘s Magazine

https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss011 3y

See All 56 Comments

Graywacke Chris Wolak
@chris.wolak

https://chriswolak.com/2019/08/14/august-reminder-the-willa-cather-short-story-p...

https://chriswolak.com/2019/08/28/response-to-scandal-the-willa-cather-short-sto...

https://chriswolak.com/2019/09/10/september-reminder-the-willa-cather-short-stor...

https://chriswolak.com/2019/09/25/response-to-pauls-case-the-willa-cather-short-... 3y

Graywacke https://chriswolak.com/2019/10/09/two-quick-willa-cather-reminders/

https://chriswolak.com/2019/10/23/response-to-a-wagner-matinee-the-willa-cather-... 3y

Graywacke A few comments on each. Scandal has Kitty Ayrshire again and was actually writing before A Gold Slipper. Painfully and mercilessly antisemitic, it‘s also an insightful slice of wealthy NY life and what money does, a look at women within this milieu, and a curious look this star caught in someone else‘s place of power. 3y

Graywacke Paul‘s Case is curious in light of another misfit Paul from The Professor‘s House. Possibly some gay implications (?), possibly some abuse (?), but mainly a misfit passionate boy in the wrong place and time. Anyone else have the impression he was just one of many moneyed thieves in NY (momentarily)? There is a movie version. 3y

Graywacke A Wagoner Matinée seems to have autobiographical aspects and really echoes My Ántonia in narrator tone and story. It‘s also a display of Cather‘s prose as she captures the atmosphere in the theater. The moving and beautiful story seems to have some darker implications. (I‘ll note Wagner was a notorious antisemite. Maybe relevant in light of Stein, etc) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @CarolynM @batsy @jewright @Louise @Sace @Tamra @Suet624 @arubabookwoman @Currey @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @crazeedi @mdm139 @Tanisha_A @emilyhaldi @rubyslippersreads @KathyWheeler don‘t feel bad if you want off or on this list. Just me know. 3y

Lcsmcat In Paul‘s Case I was struck by the Anna Karenina vibe of his suicide, to the point that I pulled my copy of AK off the shelf and reread that scene. The lighting, the thoughts going through his head at the end, it all mirrors closely. So what was Cather telling us about Paul with that? Or was it a case of not yet finding her own voice? I was very surprised by Wolak‘s information that this is often taught in high schools 😲 ! 3y

Graywacke Curious about everyone‘s thoughts on these individually and as a whole. A lot in these 44 pages. 3y

Lcsmcat As for Scandal, the thing that hit me most (after the quarantine vibe of the opening paragraph) was the casual anti-immigrant/anti-semitism that pointed out that while we in the US love to think of ourselves as having been more enlightened than Europe, and her savior in WWII, the sentiment was here too. We just hid it, as we do our racism, behind fancy words. (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat it‘s been a while since I read Ak, but I thought I felt a strong parallel in the feel of that and this. Felt intentional. And it clicks - Paul and Anna have some striking parallels. Unhappy home, limited by societal norms and expectations (and immoral society‘s morality?), perhaps each is misled in a way... 3y

Lcsmcat Wagner, I spent half the time wondering why, if Aunt Georgiana ran away to Nebraska because her family disapproved of her marriage, how her nephew came to be basically raised by her. But also, with the music lessons she gave him, why Clark stilled her hands when she was obviously (to me at least) playing along with the music. It‘s what pianists do! 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke re: immoral society‘s morality is exactly the connection, especially if you accept the supposition that Paul was gay. I wonder if the coldness at the end of the evening of the college boy he went out with near the end - that abrupt shift from besties back to strangers - was meant to imply that Paul made an unwelcome advance. Or was he just too odd for the frat boy? Not sure. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I too pondered if the choice of Wagner was meant in that direction, but in the end decided it was more about what had happened in the musical world since Aunt G left Boston, and Clark wanting to show off a bit as well as showing his aunt a good time. I think he was well-meaning, just clueless the way the young often are toward the old, not realizing a worn body can have a sharp mind. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Scandal and xenophobia - i cycle through some thoughts? How much was Cather and how much was Kitty? How much was this an expose on the ugly forceful characteristics it takes to be a Stein? How mush was it a no-win for people of certain origina? Also there is a 1920‘s Jewish novel that comes to mind - very Dickens-ish - that tries to capture the full history of the American Jewish clothing industry... looking that up. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat The Rise of David Levinsky by Abraham Cahan was published in 1917, two years before Scandal. There are parallels to Stein. Cahan is looking at American corruption of Jewish culture.

The Rise of David Levinsky

Graywacke @Lcsmcat wagner - well-meaning but clueless is a good way to put Clark. (Despite all his insight, he‘s unable to understand. Actually he‘s not willing to put the attention needed to understand.) I agree Wagner here is probably not meant in a negative way. And the hands - stilling her hands is very meaningful. An echo of all that is suppressed in Georgiana. (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Paul - i wondered about Paul‘s night with the Yale man too. That Paul made the other boy uncomfortable seems reasonable. I had originally assumed they both did something they were ashamed of. (edited) 3y

Currey @Graywacke @Lcsmcat I also paused at the two men in Paul‘s Case turning from friends to strangers and read it as an unwanted advance. However, I assumed the advance was unwanted by Paul. He projected outside the heterosexual norm but the actual act may have degraded his living dream of being above such things.... 3y

Currey @Graywacke @Lcsmcat I found The Scandal to be so sad for so many reasons but largely because in The Golden Slipper Kitty is so wry and full of herself and full of life. In this short story she is losing her power, her voice, and allows herself to blame others like Stein. The anti-Semitic nature of this story was ugly. 3y

batsy @Currey That's an interesting read on Paul. I've read this story once before & this time, I was struck by the same thing. Paul's aesthetic sensibility/sensitivity might be one of the key things that makes him feel like an outsider, but you almost get the sense that there's something else about himself he hasn't been able to face. That line, "Until now, he could not remember a time when he was dreading something" could have several meanings. 3y

Currey @batsy Yes, I think you are correct and certainly others have read Paul as an outsider in that way. However, at that moment in the story, I flipped it. Not sure why. 3y

batsy Some tragic parallels between Paul and Aunt Georgiana, in a way. There's death & the death of the soul, as it were. When she warns Clark about music/art becoming central to his life, "Don't love it so well, Clark, or it may be taken from you" it tells you the cost of her own suppression in order to have to get on with the reality of her life. 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey Yes, the difference in Kitty is profound! And all three of these were sad in their way. (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey Good point on Paul perhaps being the receiver of an unwanted advance. 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy That line! “Don‘t love it so well” It made me weep. (edited) 3y

Graywacke @batsy @Lcsmcat I wrote that line down too. It‘s a powerful sentiment. 3y

Graywacke @batsy Paul and Georgian are both straining against the expectations of society. They manage it in different ways. But they‘re also in different levels of responsibility. Paul was born into his situation. Georgiana volunteered for hers - and then has to bear it - and does. (I think Stein is also straining against it, in his own way.) 3y

Graywacke @Currey @Lcsmcat just thinking out loud. This Kitty in her later prime was written first and it‘s not exactly complimentary. But she is clearly a strong personality. A Gold Slipper becomes something of a prequel. It‘s just we liked Kitty more when she undressed a suit than when she gossiped and undercut an “American Dream” nouveau riche story. (Changing topics a bit, Wolak notes, iirc, Stein became a model for Gatsby.) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @Currey It didn‘t bother me that Kitty “gossiped and undercut” Stein. He used her for his own ends and deserved her disrespect. So while I don‘t condone the anti-immigrant/ anti-sémitismes, I also do not condone his behavior towards Kitty. 3y

Lcsmcat I guess what I‘m saying is, to separate the author from the character: Stein was despicable as shown by his actions in the story; Cather was wrong to make him a Jew as part of that definition. His religion and country of origin did not create the actions that made him a jerk. 3y

jewright Poor, Paul! Guess this reminds me how important it is to let your children be themselves. You cannot force what you wanted in life on your own children. I did like that his father wanted him to work a little, and Paul was good at his job. 3y

Currey @Lcsmcat Well said. Stein is an interesting character capable of manipulating markets and opinions but you are right despicable in his actions nevertheless. Cather‘s making him an immigrant and a Jew buries the interesting part and simply labels him. It made me sad that she did that. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat good point. 3y

Graywacke @jewright yes, poor Paul. Just putting this question out there: Should we be less sympathetic and more critical? 3y

CarolynM Scandal - There is a lot in this story. The antisemitism again. As I said last time, I feel like she used Jewishness as a kind of shorthand for shadiness knowing her readers would understand it. It's horrible but in some ways I'm glad to be reminded how pervasive it was - this is why we must guard against backsliding. I agree with @Lcsmcat 's last 2 comments. I'd add that I think Cather had disdain for rich merchants/industrialists of all kinds👇 3y

Graywacke @Currey ( @Lcsmcat ) I wonder if I was more sympathetic to Stein because he was Jewish. I assumed he was shaped by what it took to be successful. I was thinking a David Levinsky, who goes through a similar process where fighting to succeed means discarding principles and quickly becomes ugly once there is some success and he starts crushing “innocent” people. 3y

CarolynM ☝️The immigrants she champions in her books are pioneers on the land and doing the hard work in the small towns. She is frequently scathing of those who have become rich off the backs of those people in those stories too. I really liked Kitty's story about Peppo. I also highlighted the passage Chris Wolak quotes and Kitty's observation that it's a queer world. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @jewright I became more sympathetic to Paul as the story went on, but I have to confess that the former teacher in me was every bit as frustrated with him as his teachers were! 3y

CarolynM Paul's Case - What a sad, sad story! I felt great kinship with Paul, being a lover of the arts (especially the theatre) with no artistic ability of my own. While it's clear that Paul doesn't fit in, I hadn't thought of the gay angle or the possibility of abuse but both suggestions make sense. It's also possible that Paul is on the autism spectrum, something that is unlikely to have been recognised at the time. 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM interesting comments and I agree with you about using Jewishness as a shorthand. 3y

Currey @Graywacke Hmmm, do you think Cather was making Stein more sympathetic by making him an immigrant and a Jew or just as a shorthand for “shady” to use @CarolynM‘s word. To us, in our time, it makes him more sympathetic but back then? It is an interesting question because as @CarolynM says, Cathers sympathies are generally with the working class. Is Stein‘s moral downfall his financial success? 3y

CarolynM A Wagner Matinee - Like My Antonia and A Lost Lady it's a young man's version of a woman, and also like MA, a lot of the view that man has of the woman comes from his childhood memories. I was moved by Georgiana's tears, I thought she was mourning the life she might have lead. 3y

CarolynM @Currey Yes, I think so. 3y

Graywacke @Currey ( @Carolyn ) I don‘t think there was any sympathy for Jews in NY, except by other Jews (and, then, of course, not universally either. 🙂) I think antisemitic notions were generally accepted until WWII changed things a bit. Of course there was a lot of anti-immigrant feelings in immigrant rich US, leading to immIgration being shut down around 1920. (edited) 3y

Currey @CarolynM I did not think of Paul being on the spectrum although there certainly are suggestions of that including not wanting to be touched. 3y

Graywacke @Currey @CarolynM @Lcsmcat @batsy @jewright just thinking out loud again. Paul - does he ever show any affection or sympathy or empathy with anyone else? And, if not, does that indicate a sociopathic aspect to him? 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @CarolynM @batsy @jewright Re Paul: autistic or sociopath, hmm. I didn‘t think about that. I just saw him as a troubled soul. 3y

CarolynM @Graywacke @Lcsmcat Not knowing how to show affection or empathy is a common feature of autism (doesn't mean it's not felt) I certainly wouldn't categorise Paul as sociopathic. At the time it's unlikely Cather would have had any knowledge of high functioning autism as a psychological condition, but I'm sure she'd have been aware of the personality type. (edited) 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM i agree. Cather seems to be very specific in her descriptions to a degree. 3y

Graywacke @Currey @CarolynM @Lcsmcat @batsy @jewright I‘m really happy this is moving along. Thanks for being part of it. Just a reminder, next week is The Sculptor‘s Funeral and “A Death in the Desert”. Then we‘ll take one week off. 3y

jewright @Graywacke I guess I just see him as selfish and self-focused as we are all at that age. 3y

Graywacke @jewright so true. 3y

Currey @jewright so true 3y

41 likes56 comments

Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

“For nearly two months [Kitty Ayrshire] had been deprived of everything she liked, even of the people she liked, and had been shut up until she had come to hate the glass windows between her and the world “
Well this is starting out to be relevant! #catherbuddyread

Bette No kidding! 🤣 3y

Cathythoughts Yes ! 3y

jewright It‘s amazing how the pandemic has changed stories for me. I‘ve never before noticed masks being mentioned so much. 3y

Lcsmcat @jewright It‘s funny, isn‘t it? Good literature is always relevant, but the details that do or don‘t jump out depend on when we read something. 3y

47 likes4 comments

Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Feb 13 stories #catherbuddyread
The Diamond Mine
A Gold Slipper
From: Youth and the Bright Medusa, 1920

Cather loves her singers. Cressida Garnet might catch our imagination with that opening paragraph, her self promotion, four husbands, or even just her name (an echo of the title). Kitty Ayrshire meanwhile lacked a fb page to rant about anti-art stereotypes, so she found a semi-human to rant to. 👇👇

Lcsmcat

Graywacke We‘re steamrolling through stories. Are you able to keep up? Thoughts?

Next week:
Scandal
Paul's Case
A Wagner Matinée 3y

Graywacke Uploads of original magazine articles

The Diamond Mind
From McClure's Magazine,(27 (October 1916)
https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss010

A Golden Slipper
From Harper's Monthly Magazine,05c (January 1917)
https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss059 3y

Graywacke From Chris Wolak

https://chriswolak.com/2019/06/12/june-reminder-the-willa-cather-short-story-pro...

https://chriswolak.com/2019/06/26/response-to-the-diamond-mine-the-willa-cather-...

https://chriswolak.com/2019/07/10/july-reminder-the-willa-cather-short-story-pro...

https://chriswolak.com/2019/07/24/response-to-a-gold-slipper-the-willa-cather-sh... 3y

See All 57 Comments

Graywacke I left Chris Wolak a message about our group read on her page and she responded. Turns out she is on Litsy: @chris.wolak 3y

Graywacke Side comment. I liked these stories, maybe loved The Diamond Mind. But also I‘m a little uncomfortable with the semi-antisemitism. Miletus Poppas is the 3rd iffy Jewish character we have encountered in Cather. Sure, Caroline seems to appreciate him. Sure he‘s talented and somewhat sympathetic. But yet again he‘s scheming, financially focused, with questionable morals. I can understand it‘s of its time, but it‘s made me a little uncomfortable. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Cool about Wolak being on Litsy! I agree with you on the anti-semitism. It makes me uncomfortable, and I want to make excuses for her. But can‘t quite. 3y

Lcsmcat In Gold Slipper, one paragraph jumped out at me as still so true as to be painful. It‘s longish, so I‘ll put it ⬇️ 3y

Lcsmcat “His religion was not very spiritual, certainly, but it was substantial and concrete, made up of good, hard convictions and opinions. It had something to do with citizenship, with whom one ought to marry, with the coal business (in which his own name was powerful), with the Republican Party, and with all majorities and established precedents. He was hostile to fads, to enthusiasm, to individualism, to all changes except in mining machinery ⬇️ 3y

Lcsmcat ⬆️ in methods of transportation.” 3y

Lcsmcat This was McKann, obviously, and there seem to be so many like him. 😞 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat great quote! She is trying to diagnose her time - I would call it the relentless need for blind progress and token justification with religion, and, unspoken, an excuse to be extremely selfish. (After having just been in the music hall named after Carnegie - the steel mogul who famously gave everything away. Is she playing on the various perspectives of the American contradictions of principles and selfishness?) (edited) 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat I love that quote. She really went all in there on defining the "McKann type". An expression "well-visored with good living and same opinions" and "a 'business face' upon which years and feelings had made no mark". 3y

batsy I like Wolak's take that A Gold Slipper flips the male gaze. It's a bit of an extended soapbox speech from Kitty; but I did enjoy it and basically kept thinking, "You go, girl!" throughout ? I really liked The Diamond Mine. That bit about Poppas being "like a book in which [Cressida] had written down more about herself than she could possibly remember"—a damaged/vulnerable artist & the one person that they can trust is a recurring Cather theme. 3y

batsy (And yes, the anti-semitism is an ever-present issue 😕) 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy “flipping the male gaze” is so apt! 3y

Lcsmcat On Diamond Mine, Cressida reminded me of musicians I have known who achieve more through work than talent. One trumpeter in particular, who we refer to as a “lunch box trumpeter” because he‘s about the work. 3y

Currey @batsy @Graywacke @Lcsmcat I also was disturbed by the anti-semitism but really loved some aspect of Poppas in The Diamond Mine plus the fact that Cressida recognized Poppas and valued him regardless of his stereotypical traits. Why do you suppose so many of Cather‘s female characters are singers? Is it because it is one of the few arenas in which women could be powerful then? 3y

Graywacke @batsy that‘s a great quote about Poppas. 3y

Graywacke @Currey interesting thought about women singers and a place women could hold some power. I see Cather as something of a proto-feminist, as one who sees feminine strength within the current cultural setup, without any pressure for change. And performers certainly fit that role. Interesting idea. (Also, I‘m assuming Cather really liked music and all its nuance) 3y

Graywacke (Off topic side note: in texas we‘re having winter this weekend and I just watch my daughter play soccer in temperatures barely above freezing. 🥶) 3y

Graywacke Thinking about Cather‘s overall work and where these stories fit. The Diamond Mine is more interesting to me in that light. There is a mixture of styles - tight strained character close ups, and then open sweeping passes of life. And terrific curious characters. Who is Caroline? Poppas has a few roles and a great closing line (in German). She had great fun with Bouchalka - and how he took to some comfort. And Cressida is a fascinating. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke The whole Bouchalka was interesting. Was Cather saying that comfort stifles creativity? Or was it just that Cressida attracted dependent people? 3y

Currey @Graywacke siblings do not fare well in Cather stories - in O Pioneers, the two brothers dependent on their sister and angry at her for their own dependency has some mirror in The Diamond Mine 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat i think that‘s certainly true of many people. Creativity can be an act of desperate. Also Cressida was a careless and poor judge of character... unless she saw Bouchalka as a pet of some kind. But I think part of her expected him to use her support to grind out inventive music. In that light he was an act of charity 3y

Graywacke @Currey yes, good point. Alexandra carried everyone, or tried. Same as Cressida in that light. Many parallels 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey I wonder if Cather used singers as stand ins for herself. They‘re artists, but she can safely reveal things without being vulnerable. Kind of like she did with My Mortal Enemy. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat ( @currey ) only issue I have with that is I feel some remove between Cather and her musicians. The narrator always feels like an observer. But other characters (like Caroline in The Diamond Mine) feel very autobiographical. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Fair point. 3y

CarolynM @Lcsmcat @batsy @Currey I really liked both of these stories. The antisemitism seems ever present and it is grating. It feels like any time she wants us to be suspicious of a character she makes them Jewish. Even making allowances for the time, it feels deliberate and wrong. Linda's quote jumped out at me too - it is apposite in these times - and I like your contrast with Carnegie, Dan. I thought Bouchalka was interesting too👇 3y

CarolynM I think she was mostly thinking about the relationship between creativity and material wealth, but I wonder if she was also thinking about security of place - B's reluctance to travel seems to me to indicate a deeper insecurity. Success seems to bring out the worst in a lot of families. They either want to tear the person down and have them "come home" (hints of this in Lark and Lucy) or they feel entitled to the spoils of the success. (edited) 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat @Currey It's interesting, that point about Cather using singers as stand ins for herself. Also a recurring psychological pattern in Cather's fiction is the narrator/POV of a "regular person" telling the story of someone else (in these stories, of a famous female singer). Cather seems to want to explore how genius/talent & celebrity looks like from an external viewpoint, maybe... 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM regarding security of place - there is so much traveling in The Diamond Mine. I wonder whether the travel itself was intended to play a role. Especially traveling by boat where you‘re never any one place, but always kind of no-place. 3y

Graywacke @batsy ( @Lcsmcat @Currey ) thinking about that. It‘s very judge-y - having an observer give the external view. Whether famous or Ántonia or the main characters in My Mortal Enemy, The Lost Lady, etc, whether intentional or not it sets them on trial, and shame becomes a threatening possibility - the narrator being the arbitrator...if we trust them. I always wonder what role, if any, Cather‘s experience as a journalist plays. 3y

jewright Bouchalka reminded me of David and Bathesheba minus the killing to cover up the infidelity. The Gold Slipper just shows how the same incident impacts everyone differently. Sometimes super pivotal moments in our lives are merely a joke to someone else. 3y

Graywacke @batsy being actually famous and having many people watch you, and judge you would ramp that effect up. Everyone‘s a judge. (When she flips the male perspective, she also flips on the judge - on all the McKanns,) 3y

Graywacke @jewright do you mean almost as if Cressida becomes Uriah? (B as David, the cook as Bathesheba). 3y

jewright @Graywacke Yes, Bouchalka stays home in comfort and that leads to infidelity, just like David. 3y

Graywacke @jewright and Cressida out on campaign. I love that. 3y

batsy @Graywacke Good point about Cather's experience in journalism and that "judgy" POV. Wonder if that was the method of investigation into personalities and characters that she felt most comfortable with. Also take your point on how she flips the gaze back on the "judge", like with McKann—on the surface it seems like a simple story but I liked the way she played with perspectives. 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy @Currey @Graywacke You‘re right, Cather does use the external observer a lot. I remember we were kind of curious about Jim in Antonia, but the more we‘ve read the more of that there is. Her journalism background would feed into that. But also I wonder if she was more comfortable describing the “normal” person‘s reaction to the “artist” or if she thought the _reader_ would be more comfortable with that approach? 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @batsy @Currey when we were reading the sort of back story My Mortal Enemy, we came across how much Cather ghost wrote - writing large parts of another person‘s biography and presumably a lot more she wrote was published without her name on it. This and the journalism had me imagining a writer with some introverted tendencies. But then she looks bold and confident in all her pictures. So maybe that‘s a lot of nothing. ... (edited) 3y

Graywacke Anyway, it‘s an interesting tendency 3y

chris.wolak @Graywacke Thanks for tagging me, Dan. I haven‘t used Litsy much recently but your Cather group is certainly pulling me back. It‘s always fantastic to meet other Cather enthusiasts and talk about her work. 3y

Graywacke @chris.wolak hi. Thanks for stopping by and glad this thread has some draw. I‘m never sure how these will go, and yet this conversation took off nicely. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat hi. This is an FYI. I lost power for ~42 hours because unprepared texas has rolling blackouts. Not sure I will have power or not Saturday. I mean I think I will, but 🤷🏻‍♂️ 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat also the freeze and power loss combined took out our water heater. (Had it been just one, would have been ok.) Might have other major house damage too. Anyway, just letting you know i may not have access and, if I do, i may be distracted... 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Oh Dan, I‘m sorry you‘re caught in that! Stay warm and safe. We can discuss Cather when you‘re back connected. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke That sounds horrible! I hope the damage is minimal and you have a well-stocked pantry. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat thanks. We‘re ok. So so happy to have power again, and heat. Jeeze. 50° inside is cold, and it just gets colder. Yuck. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Fifty degrees inside is too cold! We‘re supposed to get ice storms tonight, but our electric lines are buried so we‘ll probably keep our power. And I can work from home. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat probably i‘m ok for tomorrow. (And i was pleasantly taken away by A Wagner Matinée.) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Great! I‘m glad you‘re ok. How‘s the house? (And yes, A Wagner Matinee is a rich story!) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat house - awaiting news of when we‘ll get our water heater replaced. Otherwise ok, if not normal. One more freeze tonight. (Also awaiting our broadband. Att has left us with cellular only, which doesn‘t allow me to work from home. But i can do Litsy. ) (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Wolak saw a dark side to The Wagner Matinée. Interesting. I hadn‘t picked up on Clark‘s negligence. (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Fingers crossed that tonight‘s freeze doesn‘t do any more damage! 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke The hand stilling jumped out at me, but not the other stuff she saw. It should be an interesting discussion tomorrow. 3y

34 likes57 comments

Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

You can find the illustrations from Gardner Soper for The Diamond Mine here: https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction/ss010. And also, the final quatrain in English for those of us who don‘t speak German. #catherbuddyread

rubyslippersreads, Crazeedi, Louise, catebutler, CarolynM, KathyWheeler, emilyhaldi, Tanisha_A, Suet624, batsy, Tamra, TEArificbooks, Currey, Graywacke, arubabookwoman, jewright, Catherine_Willoughby

KVanRead Gorgeous 😍 3y

Graywacke Thanks for this! 🙂 3y

batsy Thank you! 3y

See All 7 Comments

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @batsy You‘re welcome! There are some good resources out there on Cather! 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat I love the Soper illustrations; evocative & stylish. And appreciated the translation :) 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy Before I found this I tried Google translate on the German. It was, close-ish? But not enough to make sense. 😀 3y

CarolynM Thank you for that. I needed the translation 🙂 3y

44 likes7 comments

Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

#catherbuddyread
Coming, Aphrodite
From: Youth and the Bright Medusa, 1920

A brief relationship of contrasts in NY between a brooding serious but cautious orphan artist and a fearless small town girl far away from home, set to make the world do her will.

I thought Cather made this a terrific story. Was there a touch of Checkhov? Did not expect her to have a peep hole story. !!

How did you like this?

Next week:
The Diamond Mine
A Gold Slipper

Lcsmcat

Graywacke Some extra intro comments. The story takes place mainly in Washington Square (pictured), in Manhattan. It‘s dated by Eden‘s awkward reference to the Russian Revolution and the death of the Czar in 1918. Not sure if the setting is a homage to Henry James, whose novel Washington Square was published in 1880. (edited) 3y

Graywacke (Also, if the story dates to 1918, then the last section, 18 years later, would be 1936. Either an interesting touch of science fiction or I‘ve misdated it.🙂) 3y

See All 41 Comments

Graywacke Chris Wolak: https://chriswolak.com/2019/05/15/may-reminder-the-willa-cather-short-story-proj...

https://chriswolak.com/2019/05/22/response-to-coming-aphrodite-the-willa-cather-... 3y

Currey Chriswolak captures this story well. I was excited to be out from under James influence and found the fact that there were no clear answers to which of the artists choose wisely an excellent ending. 3y

Currey @Graywacke I sketched the dates also but then thought that was so unlike Cather to project so far into the future, that I assumed I got it wrong 3y

Graywacke @Currey It‘s interesting what she may be saying in regards to art here. The lack of education strikes me. And the difference in background. Does a small town traditional foundation give one trust in the larger world? Certainly an orphan may lack that. 3y

Lcsmcat I‘m not sure that having the last bit set in the near future makes it _science_ fiction. Jane Smiley did something similar in Golden Age. 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey I liked that open-ended ending too. It seems more Cather-like to leave the conclusions up to the reader. 3y

Lcsmcat I went down a bit of an internet rabbit hole on “the novels of Oida” and wondered 1. if Cather herself had read them; and 2. if that was an easy shorthand at the time for what type of family Eden came from. Like a similar reference today to Lifetime movies would be. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouida 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Oida - i was wondering what that referred to. I need to revisit the mention in context. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Eden‘s mother had the novels hidden away, and Eden read them and decided she would become the Czar‘s mistress. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @Currey regarding the sci-fi (☺️) - a key point of the 18 years is noted by Wolak. Our story takes place in a peaceful Washington Square, spared automobiles and it gets dark at night. When Eden returns (thinking about stocks) she is in her motorized car, surrounded by electric lights. The garden is spoiled... 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat thanks! That brings it back and marks the place. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @Currey Yes, “Eden” is spoiled. So maybe Cather is choosing sides as to which artist chose the right path? 3y

Louise @Graywacke I‘m sorry to be behind with my reading and thus not yet able to comment. I‘m a bit overwhelmed at the moment but hope to catch up by the next discussion. Miss you guys! 3y

Graywacke @Louise no worries, but sorry you have so much going on. Feel free to skip this one and come back to it if/when you have time. (It will make a nice treat.) 3y

jewright The peephole is a little disturbing, but I loved this story. It does a good job of showing that even though it doesn‘t always work out with your first love, you always have a special place for that person. 3y

Graywacke @jewright (Nabokov would have loved the peephole if he read this.) Yes, it‘s an untraditional but reasonable love story. Eden is untraditional. I was mixed on her while reading, but over time i like her more. 3y

Currey @Graywacke @Lcsmcat in reference to small towns giving you more confidence, I read it as being good looking gives you more confidence. Perhaps a small town would reward looks and confidence more overtly. In NYC, a good looking man is just a dime a dozen (edited) 3y

Graywacke @Currey certainly that was her ticket to the rest of her life. Brings up a question - is that all Don Hedger liked? Her looks? The balloon trick (and its mythological impression) just pissed him off (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @Currey I too thought her looks did more than her small town roots, and I thought Don didn‘t like the balloon trick for the same reason he didn‘t like the young men in boaters coming to sing with her. He didn‘t want others looking at her. That possessiveness and objectification seems connected to the peephole in my mind @jewright and yes, disturbing. 3y

CarolynM I can't say I liked this story very much. The peephole was downright creepy and I found Don's instant obsession with Eden after the first peep a stretch of credibility. The Forty Lovers of the Queen story feels out of place, I don't know what to make of it. It seems too long and involved to be only about showing an unsettled Eden.👇 3y

CarolynM ?The prostituting yourself for your art angle is interesting. Eden seemed quite comfortable with it in any form while Don, who was happy to undertake "commercial" work for payment was highly offended by the suggestion he should do anything to make his "real" art more likely to pay. Is this just about the characters, or a comment on female pragmatism in conflict with male idealism? 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM The Forty Lovers of the Queen might be interesting in light of Don‘s discomfort with Eden‘s audacity. He was kind of un-manned by her and so maybe retaliated. That is, it was more about Don‘s insecurity than Eden. 🙂 (but then i also liked that horrible little extra story.) 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM interesting about pragmatism and idealism and its gender associations. Also, I think we can‘t discard their individuality. Whatever her symbolic meaning or cultural commentary, Cather created two living characters. So, that question - is it just about character - i think it‘s always valid. 3y

CarolynM I read the Forty Lovers story as a warning against the dangers of jealousy, and Don's jealousy of the other artist's success and of Eden's talent are what sent him off on a sulk so I suppose it could be taken as a kind of foreshadowing. 3y

CarolynM As to the pragmatism/idealism issue, there's a song a like that sort of takes this position on the gender divide in relation to how memory differs, so I was interested to find it here in a different form. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @CarolynM I tend to agree that Don used the Forty Lovers story as a kind of revenge. It really bothered him that Eden had that kind of bravura. 3y

batsy Didn't like this one much, for the same reasons that @CarolynM outlined. But interesting in terms of what Cather's trying to say about Don's idealism/principles in relation to women: he disliked well-dressed (& well-to-do?) girls because he "believed them all to be artificial &, in an aesthetic sense, perverted" but it's his desire for one such woman that's perverted (peephole, the possessiveness). & the Forty Lovers tale feels like a moral one. 3y

Graywacke @batsy @CarolynM such different responses from my own. @batsy - I like your analysis of Don. He doesn‘t simply hedge, he‘s judgmental, had preconceived notions of women that are visual and artificial. In a way Eden plays him as she plays other men - using his preconceptions to her own advantage. Although i‘m not entirely sure she saw it that way. 3y

Graywacke Some things that stand out for me overall are (1) that Cather is playing with inappropriate stuff - sex and creepy people and the subjectiveness of art. (2) that she‘s playing with the greek and biblical mythological (3) that her characters are bigger than their meaning and symbolism and commentary. So all that adds to what they already are. (4) as Wolak puts it, the openness of this stories. 3y

Graywacke (Also i like the names. Is Eden spoiled, or just showing us the whole idea of the innocent Garden of Eden is an illusion? She even made up the name. How the dog‘s name is literally a command. And his owner fails, following his own name, hedging and losing out. And i like how human this naked greek Aphrodite is - literally keeping in shape, taking command of her body and her life, honoring the classic olympic athletes. 👇👇 3y

Graywacke How Don becomes a Hephaestus around her. Otherwise an artist - but reduced to a dark brooding craftsman. ... Obviously i like this story 🤷🏻‍♂️ 🙂) 3y

CarolynM She is clearly playing with Greek mythology - I recognised the story about the dogs attacking the mortal who peeped on Artemis bathing and the Danae "golden shower" reference, both are represented in famous paintings. I'm sure I missed others. Going back to our earlier suggestions that some of her novels are a writer's version of painters' forms, maybe this story is another of those - her way of using mythology as painters do? @batsy 3y

batsy @CarolynM That's a great point about the parallel with Artemis/Diana, complete with the dog's "attack", though with a twist to it. There's a comment on art/craft & nature of "selling out" in this story. Or maybe not a particular statement beyond a study of two different, gendered types? I liked how Eden was pleased in knowing that her assessment of him as an artist turned out to be right. @Graywacke I need to read Wolak's take on it, I missed it! 3y

Graywacke @batsy the selling out theme, or variation it, a discomfort with money-focus and technological changes, is interesting to me because of its contemporary commentary and because it‘s major theme in her 1920‘s novels. It‘s a curious sign of conservatism, hesitancy with cultural development. Her writing becomes a kind of martyrdom to a lost cause. 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM I hadn‘t thought of Caesar III in light of Diana/Artemis. That made me smile. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @CarolynM I missed that allusion, too. Excellent insight. 3y

batsy @Graywacke It is one of Cather's ever present concerns, isn't it? I quite like the tensions it produces in her work, & I'm quite sympathetic to it. When I look at twitter today & see writers & artists talk about the levels of "selling out" needed, especially on social media, to first of all make an impression, then remain relevant, it makes me wonder, "what would Cather say"... :) 3y

Graywacke @batsy I think she would have a lot of trouble getting past contemporary materialism and attention culture (which drives twitter, fb, blogs, conspiracy theories, etc. Drives us here too, even if its more kind and palatable). 3y

46 likes41 comments

Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

#catherbuddyread - Coming, Aphrodite - Feb 6

See you Saturday.

Lcsmcat

Tanisha_A ❤️ Thanks for tagging me. I will get to this book some day though. 🙃 Hope you are well, Dan! 3y

CarolynM 👍 3y

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Lcsmcat Just FYI, I have to work Saturday until around 2:00, so I‘ll be later than usual chiming in. But I‘m very eager to discuss this one. (Great photo choice Dan!) 3y

Graywacke @Tanisha_A maybe we‘ll spark a Cather short story need. 🙂 (This is a nice one this week to try!) of course let me know if I should stop tagging you. 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM 🙂 @Lcsmcat ok, we won‘t worry if you‘re quiet tomorrow morning. (Wish you a good morning.) I‘m looking for to discussing this one too. An easy one to like, I think. 3y

jewright I loved this one! 3y

36 likes7 comments

Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Cather‘s collected stories - week 1
#catherbuddyread

From: The Troll Garden (1905)
- Flavia and Her Artists
- The Garden Lodge
- The Marriage of Phaedra (pictured)

Next: Coming, Aphrodite

Flavia is exposed. Caroline losses something. Ellen wants to move on. There is a lot here and I‘m a little at a loss on how to go about this. But what are your thoughts on each and overall? Surprised? What is Cather saying... about women? Where‘s the prairie?

Lcsmcat

Graywacke @CarolynM @batsy @jewright @Louise @Sace @Tamra @Suet624 @arubabookwoman @Currey @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @crazeedi @mdm139 @Tanisha_A @emilyhaldi @rubyslippersreads @KathyWheeler (as always, let me know if you off or on this list) 3y

Graywacke Another, more practical question. Are you ok with this pace? It took me 3 hours to read this week‘s section. Ok? Too much? Next week with be a little shorter and only one story. 3y

Graywacke (PS: who has read Henry James, a major influence here?) (edited) 3y

See All 60 Comments

Lcsmcat I‘m ok with this pace - I spread the three stories out across the week - but will also do whatever the group wants to do. It‘s not as if I don‘t have other books to read. 😂 3y

Lcsmcat I‘ve read a fair amount of James, but it‘s been years. I might have to add a reread at some point on this journey. 3y

jewright “The Marriage of Phaedra” was my favorite from these. The characters were great. I read Henry James in college, but that‘s been a bit. The reading pace worked great for me this week. 3y

Lcsmcat I reread (at least re-skimmed) the stories after reading the blog posts of Chris Wolak, and was struck by the Amazonian angle. In Garden she even has D‘Esquerré sing from the Valkyries, and the song is a love song, yes, but between twins who were separated, didn‘t recognize each other, and fell passionately in love. So definitely a forbidden love angle to reinforce. (One of the lines C didn‘t quote is “Bride and sister be to thy brother.”) ?? (edited) 3y

Currey I really appreciated Wolak‘s blog‘s insights for Marriage of Phaedra. It seemed the most mature story in regards the complexity of the characters and the mirroring of James wordy style but in some ways it also seemed the least Cather like. She does not seem to like her characters in this one and the tone of personal betrayal seems a touch melodramatic. I also thought there was something in Garden that was a sketch for Lucy Grayheart... 3y

Currey @Graywacke - on the practical question, the reading pace was fine this week 3y

Lcsmcat 👆🏻 So while the influence of Henry James is strong, I think these early stories show C working out some of her recurring themes of strong women and what the world does to them. 3y

Lcsmcat @Currey Yes, I felt the Lucy connection in that one too. Also some connection with Lark, in how much art/music requires of the artist. (edited) 3y

batsy I find the pace is just right but willing to adjust if necessary! I appreciated Wolak's take on Phaedra too & it did make me wonder if Cather saw herself a little bit in Treffinger. The concept of being married to one's art & the subsequent dangers. In the 1st & 2nd stories Flavia & Caroline are two studies of women with a frustrated/unrealised relationship to art; Caroline seems self-aware yet she denies that part of herself. The sadness of it. 3y

Currey @Lcsmcat Yes, what the world does to them but also what they do to themselves, their choices in constrained circumstances. I hope these short stories going forward show us Cather shedding James to find her own style 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat @Currey Yes to the Lark and Lucy connections! Also a hint of A Lost Lady in Flavia... 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy Yes, Caroline not only denies that part of herself, she is terrified of it. Interesting thought about Treffinger reflecting Cather‘s work ethic. I read a letter from the archives (https://cather.unl.edu/writings/letters/let0080) that she was struggling with these stories. Like Treffinger with Phaedra? 3y

Currey @batsy I have not read Lark yet. I am just about to start O Pioneers 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat Thanks for that! I'm going to check it out. I did find the portrayal of Ellen to be quite uncompromising, so felt like Cather had more sympathy with the artist whose wishes were not being honoured & the deep feeling with which James described the costs of making art on Treffinger. 3y

batsy @Currey Nice! You have fantastic reading ahead of you 🙂 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy I agree. Lady Ellen was an unsympathetic portrayal. I thought James was the most sympathetic character in Phaedra. I could have done with less phonetic spelling to show his accent though.😀 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat I did *not* enjoy that, either 🙈 3y

Graywacke @Currey I also really appreciated Chris Wolak‘s blog. Thanks @Lcsmcat 3y

Graywacke I haven‘t read James. I was struck by how these stories are closest to My Mortal Enemy, and so far from My Ántonia. I also feel these stories have a social criticism in them. The woman seem to me to come out badly, and the men seem to play sinister roles in that. Most obviously in Flavia where her husband does some really messed up stuff, and manages to leave an impression he is being heroic (creating his exiles Marius). 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Amazonian angle ? Thanks for the insight into what D‘Esquerré was singing. “strong women and what the world does to them” is on my mind too. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke My classical education is lacking. Can you elaborate on the Caius Marius? Is he the same as Gaius Marius? What‘s the allusion Cather wants us to get? 3y

Graywacke @Currey The Garden Lodge is the only music-focused story here, which ties into a major Cather theme later on (especially Lucy and Song of the Lark). Cather‘s authorial relationship to musicians is always interesting. Actually all three of these stories are closely entwined with the arts. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Caius is Gaius. Historically (re-interpreting Plutarch), Marius unleashed the pandora‘s box that undid the Roman republic. He hired anyone to be his soldier, undoing the landholding requirement. Fundamentally the Roman soldier was no longer loyal to home, but to his general. 👇👇 3y

Graywacke Marius paid for this. When Sulla took his army to Macedonia, Marius took over Rome. Sulla did the unthinkable, reversed his army and attacked Rome with a Roman army (loyal to him, not Rome). This has never happened before and was unexpected. Marius was stunned, and fled and ended up stranded in Africa. (Sulla would run Rome, purging non-loyal Roman families (as in many executions), wiping out dissent, before retiring peacefully. 👇👇 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat The Republic would never recover. That‘s a long answer. 🙂 But the main element here is Marius as a disgraced broken general stranded in exile amongst now meaningless ruins. 3y

Graywacke @batsy Flavia as A Lost Lady? I‘m protesting and maintaining my loyalty to Marian Forrester. 🙂 No, seriously, interesting connection. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke So, current events. 😀 Seriously, thanks. I tried to look him up on the internet and got hopelessly lost. 3y

Graywacke @batsy Love your summary. Cather in Treffinger - that‘s interesting. I see her as Imogen (in Flavia). And I think Hugh Treffinger and James are a gay-exploration. (Also, maybe, Imogen and Jemima Broadwood). And that may be relevant. But Cather as struggling artist capturing meaning like Treffinger - this is a Cather I don‘t recognize. She‘s so crazy confident in her novels... hmm (eta fix: “exploration” instead of “exportation”) (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat Flavia had me more troubled than the other stories, partly because it was difficult to tease out what Cather was doing. Was Hamilton a good guy or a bad guy? The opening names Flavia as a friend of Imogene‘s mother, yet Hamilton seems to have played a bigger role in I‘s childhood. Then there‘s the type that Flavia represents- those who don‘t understand or even appreciate art but use it for their social advancement. 3y

Lcsmcat Cather gets right the contempt artists feel for such. All the “Symphony supporter luncheons” my husband had to suffer through! All the people who tell me “I almost had a career in music” who then go on to admit they haven‘t touched an instrument since high school band. I totally got that bit. (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat But was Flavia‘s husband cruel or kind in burning the paper and the comments at dinner? 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat was fun to answer ☺️ 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat Flavia - I‘ve come to see Arthur Hamilton as dark. His burning the paper isn‘t directly cruel, but it exposes his role in her craziness. It shows he is aware, and is managing her in some hidden way and has chosen to humor her. Which could mean many things, including many not so flattering to Arthur things. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke He seems so intent on keeping Imogene “innocent” (which I read to mean “ignorant“) that in addition to his Mr. Bennett-like lack of respect for his wife, he seems to lack respect for women who think in general. Is “Jimmy” Jemima Broadwood‘s nickname because she is allowed to think “like a man?” Anyway, I found his relationship with Imogene creepy, but couldn‘t lock down exactly why. 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat I think WC hints that Arthur‘s way of working on Flavia was sort of practiced on Imogene earlier- a kind of implicated manipulation by him. I‘m pushing a bit... 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat thanks for linking the letter! That was fascinating. Flavia was her friend‘s influential mom? !! Whoa. And to her friend, Flavia was Fulvia - the Roman wife of Marcus Antony? So a concealment or a later edit? Also - how formal that letter is! I expected something personal, some joking. It‘s all business and formal language. (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke They say a later edit. But Cather and Dorothy became estranged supposedly over a character based on a friend of Dorothy‘s being the basis of a different story, so Cather could have done it intentionally for all I know. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I found it odd. 3y

TEArificbooks I read the stories, but don‘t have any constructive to say. Overall I did not like the characters but I did love her prose as always. 3y

CarolynM I'm happy with the pace, I enjoyed reading all 3 stories. I haven't read James. I tried to read The Wings of the Dove but had to give it up as I was having real trouble understanding it - there were literally whole sentences that made no sense to me. 3y

CarolynM Flavia - quite an odd story I thought. Who is it really about - Flavia, Imogen or Jemima? Is it about contrasting 3 different female "types", or maybe presenting 2 "types" in the older women and asking which will Imogen become? The Wolak blog was fascinating (thank you @Lcsmcat ) I agreed most with Buriedinprint's comments about Arthur, I didn't see him as a sinister figure. And Flavia may be using the artists, but aren't they using her too? 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM Yes, everyone is using everyone in this story, just some are easier to sus out than others. An interesting observation about the 2 types, and which will Imogene become. Arthur bemoans her growing up at all, so maybe he‘s trying to keep Flavia innocent by giving her a reason not to invite Roux again and risk him insulting her to her face. Jimmy obviously wants to sit back and enjoy the show. Which I think was Dan‘s point above. (edited) 3y

CarolynM Garden - I was also reminded strongly of Lucy Gayheart here - the relationship between a woman who doesn't fully recognise her own talent and a musical superstar who captivates women from the stage. (Contrast with Lark where Thea's suitors have money rather than talent) I thought the storm (both literal and figurative) was somewhat overblown (no pun intended) and unlike Cather's usual approach. 3y

CarolynM Phaedra - apart from its highly offensive references to Australia (joking?) this was my favourite, partly because it reminded me of visiting Lord Leighton's studio ("the Moorish hall and tinkling fountain of the great show studio of London, not far away") All 3 stories involve a marriage between a wealthy partner and an "artistic" partner. I liked that this one gave us some insight into what each party was seeking and why they didn't get it ? 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM antisemitic and anti-🇦🇺 3y

CarolynM ?James is an interesting character (I agree about the phonetics - ugh!) MacMaster's view of him is problematic. I can accept that Treffinger was his most honest self while painting and James was the only witness to that, to say James made no interpretation of what he saw because of his "limitations" seems naive at best. As to the sale of the painting, I wonder if MacMaster would have questioned it at all if the buyer was American? 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @CarolynM Yes, that was jarring, and unlike Cather at her best, although we‘ve seen these kinds of prejudices creep in before. And James, while my favorite character in this one, is no more un-biased than any other observer. I didn‘t think Cather expected the reader to see it that way, but McMaster did. 3y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM I like your observation about the 3 marriages. Cather doesn‘t portray many marriages as happy, as we‘ve seen, but she does seem to try to figure them out. Why are they unhappy? And these stories all poke at that, with greater or lesser success. 3y

Graywacke @CarolynM interesting to compare the marriages. The artistic one is always the dependent, the kind of powerlessness dependent. I think James understood Treffinger best, MacMaster understood him only through James, and Lichenstein only through MacMaster (and through $$) And I appreciate your sensitivity to the view of Australia. Not something I‘ve encountered before. (edited) 3y

batsy In response to the Henry James question, I've only read two short works: The Turn of the Screw and Washington Square, both of which I loved :) 3y

batsy @CarolynM Good point about the marriages throughout those 3 stories, which leads me to that line by James in Phaedra: "it was the Marriage that killed him", that can be both literal and figurative. 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat I felt that there was something sinister underlying Arthur Hamilton, too, wrt wanting to maintain/preserve Imogene's youth & innocence (& the fact that they were reading Alice in Wonderland, a work that is itself troubled by Lewis Carroll's life...) 3y

batsy Something that caught my eye was how MacMaster sees Treffinger's Phaedra as medieval, "no daughter of Minos" but "the daughter of heathenesse and the early church", doomed "to torturing visions and scourgings". I'm not sure I understand why that caught my eye, but it did. @Graywacke interesting point about that possible exploration of gay love/desire; that religious/medieval imagery could be what has to be repressed by Treffinger, perhaps. 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy I wondered about the significance of the painting being medieval too. If I‘m remembering my myths, Phaedra fell in love with her step-son (more incest -what‘s up with that?) so was the reference to scourgings related to that? 3y

Lcsmcat @batsy On Arthur and Alice in Wonderland, would the allegations about Lewis Carroll be well known enough in 1903 to serve as an image in a short story? I‘m not sure when they surfaced. 3y

batsy @Lcsmcat Oh that's a good point about Carroll and timing. I'm not sure either and will have to do a bit of an investigation later. 3y

Graywacke @batsy @Lcsmcat yes, Phaedra fell in love with her perfectly chaste stepson, who was horrified (he‘s an attractive youth cropped off to the left in the painting I used). This lead to lots of disastrous stuff for both and her husband. Cather seems really interested in these illicit love references. It may be all she could do to be suggestive, or all she was willing to do. But, they do seem suggestive. 👇 3y

Graywacke Scourings was MacMaster‘s interpretation (and so maybe actually James‘s) 3y

36 likes60 comments

Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

I confess that I almost didn‘t share this, so I could seem so much more insightful than I am 😂 but I like y‘all too much for that. I found a blog that read the Cather short stories from our collection, one a month starting in 2019 (so they‘re all there.) some intriguing ideas about the first three stories that we‘re discussing tomorrow. Link in comments. @Graywacke #catherbuddyread

rubyslippersreads, Crazeedi, Louise, catebutler, CarolynM, KathyWheeler, emilyhaldi, Tanisha_A, Suet624, batsy, Tamra, TEArificbooks, Currey, arubabookwoman, jewright, Catherine_Willoughby

Lcsmcat This link will take you to the main page: https://chriswolak.com/the-willa-cather-short-story-project-on-chriswolak-com/ If you only look at one, look at Phaedra because all three stories get attention there. 3y

Graywacke Thanks for this. I just read Chris‘s commentary and am digesting. She adds a lot. Thinking about the love triangle now. 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke Doesn‘t she?! I started thinking in whole new ways. 3y

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Graywacke @Lcsmcat two thoughts: 1. maybe tag everyone, so they see this. 2. I was going to use Marius as the discussion picture, but now wondering what i can find with Phaedra. 🙂 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat yeah. I missed key stuff. And she has me about to string Arthur Hamilton up. I was thinking he was a strange one and manipulative, but now... well, wait...we‘ll discuss tomorrow 😆 (edited) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I think I‘ve tagged everyone except I couldn‘t tag @sace. Did her handle change? 3y

Louise Thanks, @Lcsmcat! 3y

CarolynM Thanks for directing us to this discussion, Linda. Some extra points for our discussion, I think🙂 3y

batsy Thank you for this! I read Paedra last night before bed & was a bit bored by it (& sleepy), but reading it again this morning + reading the analysis has placed the story in a different light. 3y

Suet624 Thank you! 3y

44 likes10 comments

Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Alright #catherbuddyread, I‘m getting started...

Discussion Saturday
- Flavia and Her Artists
- The Garden Lodge
- The Marriage of Phaedra

Lcsmcat

Graywacke “lawful prey”! 😳 “Will Maidenwood, the editor of Women” 😂 Looks like Cather was having fun! 3y

Graywacke “Her eyes were as keen and gray as a windy April sky” - so is Cather‘s prose in the opening of this 1st story. Wow. I‘m a little overwhelmed by all this texture to take in. 3y

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Lcsmcat @Graywacke She was in good form in this first story! 3y

jewright Read these today on my snow day. 3y

Graywacke @jewright ❤️ nice! (I want a snow day. 🙂) I read the last one this morning. 3y

42 likes6 comments

Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

I started this collection for the #catherbuddyread today, and can‘t resist posting this quote. Can‘t wait to discuss Flavia with you all! @Graywacke

Graywacke Now i want to know the context of this evocative line. I have the book near me, will open it up tomorrow am. 3y

27 likes1 comment

Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

I‘ve got my copy all set up for the next #catherbuddyread!

rubyslippersreads, Crazeedi, Louise, catebutler, CarolynM, KathyWheeler, emilyhaldi, Tanisha_A, Suet624, Tamra, TEArificbooks, Currey, Graywacke, arubabookwoman, jewright, Catherine_Willoughby

Graywacke That‘s just...well beautiful. I‘m excited. (Holding off till after hvi p1 act iii... ) 3y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I haven‘t started reading yet, but given all I‘ve committed to, I thought I a should at least get organized. 😀 3y

Suet624 I agree with @graywacke. That‘s just beautiful 3y

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Graywacke @Lcsmcat 😆 I have the same issue. At least my copy is out, and has a bookmark. 3y

CarolynM I've ordered my copy, but the first stories we plan to read are in my ebook collection so I will be starting soon🙂 3y

batsy That is indeed a lovely sight! 3y

Louise Color coded? 🤓 3y

Lcsmcat @Louise No, just separated by week. The colors are just random. 3y

52 likes8 comments

Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Just a reminder that we‘re about two weeks from our next Cather discussion

Jan 30 discussion of stories from The Troll Garden (1905)

- Flavia and Her Artists
- The Garden Lodge
- The Marriage of Phaedra

#catherbuddyread

Lcsmcat

Lcsmcat Looking forward to it. 😀 3y

Currey Me too 📚 3y

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batsy Yay! 3y

CarolynM Looking forward to it 🙂 Thanks Dan 3y

Louise Looking forward to it! 🤓 Thank you for organizing it, Dan! 3y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat @Currey @batsy @CarolynM @Louise waving hello. I‘m ready to pick up WC again. 3y

Currey Me too! 3y

40 likes8 comments

Graywacke

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

#catherbuddyread 2021

We have a schedule for the Willa Cather‘s collected stories! (Woot! 🍾... Was not so simple 😳) Details are in the comments, but note that this collection covers 5 books of stories. Thanks @Lcsmcat for helping. We‘re a small group, but open to anyone who wants to join. Please feel welcome.

1st discussion: Jan 30, three stories from The Troll Garden (1905)

Flavia and Her Artists
The Garden Lodge
The Marriage of Phaedra

Graywacke Of course, let me know if you want off or on the list. 3y

Graywacke SCHEDULE IN FIVE POSTS The Troll Garden (1905)

January 30
Flavia and Her Artists
The Garden Lodge
The Marriage of Phaedra (edited) 3y

See All 17 Comments

Graywacke Youth and the Bright Medusa (1920)

February 6
Coming, Aphrodite

February 13
The Diamond Mine
A Gold Slipper

February 20
Scandal
Paul's Case
A Wagner Matinée

February 27
The Sculptor's Funeral
“A Death in the Desert”

Break 3y

Graywacke Obscure Destinies (1932)

March 13
Neighbour Rosicky

March 20
Old Mrs. Harris
Two Friends

Break 3y

Graywacke The Old Beauty and Others (1948)

April 3
The Old Beauty

April 10
The Best Years
Before Breakfast

Break 3y

Graywacke Five Stories (1956)
(Yes, there are only two stories and an essay)

April 24
The Enchanted Bluff
Tom Outland's Story

May 1
“Willa Cather's Unfinished Avignon Story," an article by George N. Kates. 3y

Graywacke @LitsyHappenings 3y

Lcsmcat Looking forward to reading more Cather in 2021! 3y

CarolynM Thanks Dan and Linda. The Troll Garden is in my ebook so I'm good to go. I'm going to order a copy of the collected stories to be sure I've got all the rest. @Lcsmcat 3y

Graywacke FYI - three extra items. 1. Many if Cather‘s stories are available free online here https://cather.unl.edu/writings/shortfiction 3y

Graywacke 2. Is that on that website is where I see Cather‘s stories were sometimes published twice. (I thought maybe the collection was incomplete but that seems wrong). And 3. She published numerous stories in various journals. They are found on that page, but not part of our group read. 3y

catebutler Thank you for all the hard work you do for this group, it is greatly appreciated it! Can‘t wait to dive into some short stories. 3y

Lcsmcat Several of her stories that are out of copyright (approximately before 1925) are available free here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Willa+Cather&submit_search=Search 3y

batsy Thank for organising the schedule @Graywacke @Lcsmcat 🙌🏽 I'm really looking forward to this! 3y

batsy *thanks 😅 3y

Louise Thanks very much for organizing this in such a thoughtful way, @Graywacke and @Lcsmcat! I‘m really looking forward to diving into Cather‘s short stories with this wonderful group of readers! 3y

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Lcsmcat

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Look what arrived in today‘s mail! #bookmail I‘m ready for the next installment of #catherbuddyread!

arubabookwoman I love that cover! (More precisely I love antique quilts). 3y

Lcsmcat @arubabookwoman It seems very appropriate for Cather, doesn‘t it? 3y

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Louise

Collected Stories | Willa Cather

Christmas #bookhaul of 2019! Heartfelt thanks to my Litsy pen pals @robinb and @Chelleo for your contributions to this wonderful tower of reading material! Your thoughtfulness is deeply appreciated! My packages to you both will arrive in the New Year, as I‘m behind with my “Literary Santa to-do list”! Wishing everyone many pleasant hours of reading in 2020! 🎄📚🎄📚🎄📚

charl08 Lovely stack! 4y

Chelleo Nice haul! Looks like 2020 will be a great reading year ☺️ 4y

Louise @Chelleo I feel so guilty, as I have your birthday gifts wrapped up in a pile here and haven‘t yet got them parceled up and mailed. And your Christmas gifts have yet to be wrapped! It‘s been difficult to get organized. My apologies! I will get them sent off as soon as I can! 😘😘😘 4y

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Chelleo @Louise No apologies needed. They‘ll get here right on time...just when I need them, I‘m sure. 🤗 4y

Louise Thanks, @chelleo! I really enjoyed your recent letter about your women‘s retreat. And thank you for the gorgeous pin, fun socks, and lovely book! You are so thoughtful! 💕 4y

ju.ca.no Lovely stack!😍 4y

Louise Thanks, @ju.ca.no ! And thank you for your lovely letter, the cute origami, and the tea! I will write to you very soon! 😘 4y

ju.ca.no @Louise I‘m glad it has arrived already🤗😘 4y

robinb Nice stack awaiting you @Louise ! Happy Eudora arrived safely! 🤣 Enjoy! 🤗 4y

Louise @robinb I‘ve already read the first story! It‘s a great collection! Thank you so much! I‘ll write soon and send your package in the New Year. 😘 4y

robinb @Louise I do hope you‘ll enjoy the collection! Hope you‘re doing well, sweet friend! 😘 4y

Tonton Maria Popova! 4y

Louise @Tonton Yes! Have you read it yet? I‘m looking forward to diving in! 4y

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