Willa Cather died on April 24, 1947. Our story this month is “The Old Beauty” from The Old Beauty and Others, which was published posthumously on September 13, 1948. “The Old Beauty” is the first of three short stories in… Read More ›
Willa Cather
Response to “Two Friends.” The Willa Cather Short Story Project
Just having read “Old Mrs. Harris,” I couldn’t help think that the narrator of this story is Vickie Templeton from that story. When she describes the freedom of summer — “nights of full liberty and perfect idleness…there was no school,… Read More ›
March 2020 Reminder. The Willa Cather Short Story Project
Our story for March is “Two Friends,” the final story in Cather’s 1932 collection, Obscure Destinies. When Willa Cather sent “Two Friends” to her publisher, Alfred Knopf, she wrote that she thought it the best short story she’d ever written…. Read More ›
Response to “Old Mrs. Harris.” The Willa Cather Short Story Project
What an amazing short story! For those of you who haven’t yet read “Old Mrs. Harris,” it’s primarily about three generations of women in the Templeton family — the grandmother, Mrs. Harris; her daughter, Victoria; and her granddaughter, Vickie —… Read More ›
The World of Willa Cather by Mildred R. Bennett
I scored me some Willa Cather studies at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vermont last night! They sell mainly new books but also have a wonderfully curated used section. This is a 1974 printing of the 1961 Bison Books edition of… Read More ›
February 2020 Reminder: The Willa Cather Short Story Project
Our story for February is one of Cather’s most beloved stories, “Old Mrs. Harris.”
Response to “Neighbour Rosicky.” The Willa Cather Short Story Project
It was nice to meet Neighbor Rosicky. If he seems familiar to you, it might because he’s based on the real life John Pavelka, husband of Annie Pavelka, who was Cather’s inspiration for Antonia of My Antonia fame. In that… Read More ›
January 2020 Reminder: The Willa Cather Short Story Project
Our last story of 2019 was the last story in Cather’s 1920 collection, Youth and the Bright Medusa. This month we kick off reading stories from Cather’s last short story collection published during her lifetime, Obscure Destinies (1932). “Neighbour Rosicky”… Read More ›
Response to “A Death in the Desert.” The Willa Cather Short Story Project
Our final read of the year for the Willa Cather Short Story Project is “A Death in the Desert.” As I mentioned in the reminder post for this story, it was first published in Scribner’s Magazine in January 1903, then revised for… Read More ›
December Reminder: The Willa Cather Short Story Project
December 2019 reminder for the Willa Cather Short Story Project. We’ll be reading “A Death in the Desert.”