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Willa Cather

ウィラ・シバート・キャザー

Willa Sibert Cather

Pen Names: Willa Cather（Used professionally as an author）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1873-12-07 （Gore, Virginia, U.S. (near Back Creek Valley)）
Died
1947-04-24 （New York City (Manhattan), U.S.） age 73
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Early childhood: Back Creek area, Virginia → Red Cloud, Nebraska (moved at age nine; childhood and formative years) → Lincoln, Nebraska (university) → Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (work as editor and teacher) → Boston (short residence) → New York City (primary home from c.1906 until death) → Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick (summer retreat) → Jaffrey, New Hampshire (burial place)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Editor, Teacher (English/Latin), Critic
Active Years
1905-1947
Affiliations
American Academy of Arts and Letters (member), American Philosophical Society (member), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (fellow)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Philosophical Society, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Influenced By
Henry James, Sarah Orne Jewett, Katherine Mansfield
Influenced
Alice Munro (often cited as influenced by Cather), Later writers of American Midwest / Great Plains literature, 20th-century American regionalist writers

Education

University of Nebraska–Lincoln
College of Arts and Sciences / English
Degree: BA
Period: 1890–1895
Year of Graduation: 1895
Country: United States
Active in student journalism; began publishing during university years

Awards

Pulitzer Prize
1923
Work: One of Ours
Organization: Pulitzer Prize Board
Result: 受賞
Gold Medal for Fiction, National Institute of Arts and Letters
1944
Organization: National Institute of Arts and Letters
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

O Pioneers!

1913 Frontier novel / Regionalist novel

A novel set on the Nebraska plains focusing on immigrant farmers, land, family and community dynamics.

Sense of placeImmigrant experienceNostalgia

The Song of the Lark

1915 Bildungsroman / Regionalist

Follows a young woman's development from a small prairie town to a successful musical career; themes of art and personal growth.

Artistic developmentRural-urban contrastPersonal growth

My Ántonia

1918 Regionalist novel

A reminiscence of the immigrant woman Ántonia and prairie life; explores memory, immigration and belonging.

Immigrant memoryReminiscenceCommunity
Translations
  • My Ántonia

One of Ours

1922 Novel set during World War I

A World War I novel about an American youth's experience and search for identity; awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1923.

War and identitySearch for belonging

Death Comes for the Archbishop

1927 Historical / Religious novel

A historical novel set in the American Southwest chronicling the work of Catholic bishops and the shaping of a region.

History and religionTransformation of landscape

Bibliography

  • April Twilights (poetry, 1903)
  • The Troll Garden (short stories, 1905)
  • Alexander's Bridge (novel, 1912)
  • O Pioneers! (novel, 1913)
  • The Song of the Lark (novel, 1915)
  • My Ántonia (novel, 1918)
  • One of Ours (novel, 1922)
  • A Lost Lady (novel, 1923)
  • The Professor's House (novel, 1925)
  • My Mortal Enemy (novel, 1926)
  • Death Comes for the Archbishop (novel, 1927)
  • Shadows on the Rock (novel, 1931)
  • Lucy Gayheart (novel, 1935)
  • Sapphira and the Slave Girl (novel, 1940)
  • Obscure Destinies (short stories, 1932)
  • Youth and the Bright Medusa (short stories, 1920)

Adaptations

  • A Lost Lady (1934 film adaptation)

Translations of Works

  • My Ántonia (Japanese translation)
  • O Pioneers! (Japanese translation)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Plainspoken, lucid proseStrong sense of place and landscape-focused descriptionNostalgic, restrained narrative tone
Recurring Motifs
The Great PlainsImmigrant memoryExile vs. communityNostalgia and reminiscence

Health

  • Breast cancer
    1945-12 – 1947
    Diagnosed December 1945; mastectomy in January 1946. Cancer metastasized and severely affected health and productivity, leading to decline.
  • Cerebral hemorrhage (cause of death)
    1947-04-24
    Died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 24, 1947.

Legacy

Willa Cather is a leading regionalist author of the American Great Plains, notable for literary portrayals of land and immigrant experiences. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 and continues to be the subject of scholarly and cultural recognition.

Museums

  • Willa Cather House (Red Cloud) Red Cloud, Nebraska
  • Willa Cather Memorial Prairie Webster County, Nebraska
  • Willa Cather Archive (University of Nebraska–Lincoln) University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Academic Societies

  • Willa Cather Foundation
  • Scholarly groups at universities studying Cather

Archives

  • Willa Cather Archive (University of Nebraska–Lincoln)
  • Collections at the Nebraska State Historical Society

In Popular Culture

  • U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in 1973
  • Nebraska donated a statue of Cather to the National Statuary Hall Collection in 2023

Quotes

  • She had formed and matured her ideas on art before she wrote a novel.
    Source: Critical commentary (often quoted in studies of Cather's theory of fiction) (1920)

Trivia

  • Cather gave differing birth years during her life; archival evidence supports 1873 as her birth year.
  • Her will restricted publication of her letters and dramatizations of her works, complicating scholarly access.
  • She lived with her partner Edith Lewis for 39 years; Lewis served as literary trustee.