This is a tragic story, so let’s start by talking about flowers. Have you ever seen a buffalo pea flower? I have not and never looked them up before today. There are a couple lovely photos of them in this… Read More ›
Willa Cather Short Story Project
“Lou, The Prophet.” Willa Cather Short Story Project • Jan 2021 Reminder
Happy New Year! Our first story for Phase II of the Willa Cather Short Story Project is “Lou, The Prophet.” Cather was nineteen when this story appeared in the October 15, 1892 edition of The Hesperian, the University of Nebraska’s… Read More ›
Get Ready for Phase II of the Willa Cather Short Story Project
Starting January 2021 Get ready, Cather enthusiasts! After wrapping up Phase I in September 2020, Phase II of the Willa Cather Short Story Project will kick off in January 2021. The fortytwo (42!) stories in this phase span from 1892,… Read More ›
The End of Phase One! The Willa Cather Short Story Project
Thank you! Well, here we are at the end of Phase One of the Willa Cather Short Story Project. Thank you to everyone who has participated over the last twenty months! Some folks like Kate and Robin have read along… Read More ›
September 2020 Reminder for The Willa Cather Short Story Project
This month we’re not going to read a short story by Willa Cather, but rather an essay by George N. Kates about the last story she was working on before she died. This piece, “Willa Cather’s Unfinished Avignon Story,” rounds out Willa Cather: Collected Stories that many of us have been reading from, as well as Phase One of this reading project.
Response to “Tom Outland’s Story.” The Willa Cather Short Story Project
Have you read “Tom Outland’s Story” this month? I’ve had a busy and somewhat tiring month and just got around to re-reading it this evening (at sunset, as captured in the photo above). As I mentioned in the reminder post,… Read More ›
August 2020 Reminder for The Willa Cather Short Story Project
“Tom Outland’s Story” is a stunning piece of writing about the West and of historical fiction. Don’t miss out — read it this month for The Willa Cather Short Story Project and enjoy some armchair travel to the Southwest and time travel to the late 19th-century.
Response to “The Enchanted Bluff.” The Willa Cather Short Story Project
“The Enchanted Bluff” by Willa Cather was a delightful short story to read on a hot summer afternoon. That is, until the end when the narrator jumps twenty years into the future. This story is one of Cather’s earlier works,… Read More ›
“The Enchanted Bluff” Willa Cather Short Story Project Reminder July 2020
Our story for July is “The Enchanted Bluff.” We are making some serious progress on our quest to read all of Willa Cather’s short fiction. So far we’ve read seventeen stories in the four collections pictured above. Our next group… Read More ›
Response to “Before Breakfast.” The Willa Cather Short Story Project
“Before Breakfast” by Willa Cather is the last story in the posthumously published collection, The Old Beauty and Others (1948). It’s a tight nugget of a story about a successful middle-aged businessman who escapes his work and family for a… Read More ›