short stories

A novel of retrospection, A Lost Lady (1923) tells of events several decades earlier, when the rapid growth of the railroads was both expanding - and ending - the western frontier. But that is the larger, the national, backdrop against which more intimate dramas are played out, dramas that have to do with youth and age and beauty, and with adultry, sadism, and the growth of a young man, Niel Herbert. Niel idolizes Captain Forrester's young wife, Marion, and in this he is not alone. All who visit the Forrester's home find Marion's warmth and vitality captivating. In Cather's imagination, Mrs Forrester embodies the natural energy of the west itself: ageless and utterly unselfconscious of its own vibrant beauty. So, too, the Captain stands for all that once was the best in America but is now being lost in a greedy bid for money and land; the Captain is a man of conscience - strong, honorable, solid as a mountain. Their home, Sweet Water, is a kind of Eden on the prairie, and even the willow stakes he planted to mark his property lines come to bloom.

Over time, as Niel matures, his "lady" too ages. And when the Captain dies, she falls on bad times, hurt rather than aided by advice from her lawyer. Her fall however is as much moral as it is financial - or at least it is in Niel's eyes. He notes that she has begun to use cosmetics and sherry. He finds her voice too loud, her laughter too forced. Niel loses his lady- or perhaps he gives her up.

There is a kind of poignancy to this brief novel, and a unity that is as pleasing as the story itself. It is, on the one hand, the story of the West's golden youth and fading future. On the other hand, it is the story of a young man's growth and an aging woman's refusal to live as others would prefer.

"A Lost Lady" is a good read and any experience with Willa Cather's outstanding writing is worth your time, but it's not her best story. "My Antonia" is best followed by "O' Pioneers". Start with those and then by all means read this and everything else that is Cather. She's GREAT!!

First Cather book I've read. I was impressed, frankly and I think I'll read more.

Set in the 1880's/90's in Nebraska, this book chronicles the relationship of a young boy/man and the wife of a wealthy local luminary. As the boy turns into a man, his early admiration for the lady turns into contempt. Is this about a human relationship or rather a metaphor for the rise and decline of the plains economy in the aftermath of the railroad? Maybe both.

One interesting aspect about this book, and, I suppose, all of Cather's work, is that she is writing about a period some twenty or thirty years prior to the era when she was writing. I thought that was pretty cool. She seems like an early example of the "New Yorker" style fiction writer.

Good stuff.