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Great Plains Trilogy #1
O Pioneers!
O Pioneers! (1913) was Willa Cather's first great novel, and to many it remains her unchallenged masterpiece. No other work of fiction so faithfully conveys both the sharp physical realities and the mythic sweep of the transformation of the American frontier—and the transformation of the people who settled it. Cather's heroine is Alexandra Bergson, who arrives on the wind-blasted prairie of Hanover, Nebraska, as a girl and grows up to make it a prosperous farm. But this archetypal success story is darkened by loss, and Alexandra's devotion to the land may come at the cost of love itself.
At once a sophisticated pastoral and a prototype for later feminist novels, O Pioneers! is a work in which triumph is inextricably enmeshed with tragedy, a story of people who do not claim a land so much as they submit to it and, in the process, become greater than they were.
At once a sophisticated pastoral and a prototype for later feminist novels, O Pioneers! is a work in which triumph is inextricably enmeshed with tragedy, a story of people who do not claim a land so much as they submit to it and, in the process, become greater than they were.
159 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1913
About the author
Willa Cather
647 books2,454 followersWilella Sibert Cather was born in Back Creek Valley (Gore), Virginia, in December 7, 1873.
She grew up in Virginia and Nebraska. She then attended the University of Nebraska, initially planning to become a physician, but after writing an article for the Nebraska State Journal, she became a regular contributor to this journal. Because of this, she changed her major and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.
After graduation in 1894, she worked in Pittsburgh as writer for various publications and as a school teacher for approximately 13 years, thereafter moving to New York City for the remainder of her life.
Her novels on frontier life brought her to national recognition. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), set during World War I. She travelled widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada. In later life, she experienced much negative criticism for her conservative politics and became reclusive, burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript.
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943. In 1944, Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments.
She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 73 in New York City.
She grew up in Virginia and Nebraska. She then attended the University of Nebraska, initially planning to become a physician, but after writing an article for the Nebraska State Journal, she became a regular contributor to this journal. Because of this, she changed her major and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.
After graduation in 1894, she worked in Pittsburgh as writer for various publications and as a school teacher for approximately 13 years, thereafter moving to New York City for the remainder of her life.
Her novels on frontier life brought her to national recognition. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), set during World War I. She travelled widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada. In later life, she experienced much negative criticism for her conservative politics and became reclusive, burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript.
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943. In 1944, Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments.
She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 73 in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,291 reviews
April 17, 2020
I was entranced by the Nebraska prairie and a wonderful leading woman, living a century ago: a time and place I have never been, but which leaped from the pages, with simple craftsmanship, to sculpt the landscape of my mind’s eye, as Alexandra transformed both her fields and the lives of those around her.
The final thirteen pages felt written by or about a different person, not the author and protagonist I thought I knew.
Prairie Spring
The novel opens with a poem contrasting the harsh landscape with the power of youth to trigger change, including:
“Evening and the flat land…
The toiling horses, the tired men…
Sullen fires of sunset, fading,
The eternal, unresponsive sky.
Against all this, Youth,
Flaming like the wild roses…
Flashing like a star out of the twilight...”
Part I – The Wild Land
At barely twenty, Alexandra Bergson takes over her late father’s land, aided by hard-working but risk-averse brothers Lou and Oscar (aged 17 and 19). She has big plans to try new things, buy more land, employ farmhands, and get little Emil (aged 5) educated.
Alexandra is the leading person, but the landscape is the main character. Everyone in The Divide is an outsider, identified by their heritage (Swedish, French, Bohemian etc), as they strive to survive and conquer the harsh and unfamiliar soil and climate, while battling blizzards, prairie dogs, snakes, cholera, and debt. Many cling to “the Old-World belief that land, in itself, is desirable. But this land was an enigma” and there is the constant fear that “men were too weak to make a mark here”. But Alexandra is a woman.
First impressions are conjured by short plain words: gray, anchored, haphazard, howling wind, frozen, straying, straggled, open plain, impermanence, tough prairie sod.... The simple, but carefully chosen language of landscape reminds me of Kent Haruf’s Colorado high plains (see my reviews of Plainsong and Eventide).
The vast, bleak, and beautiful place, whose capricious moods both give and take life, reminds me of Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s Iceland (see my reviews HERE).
Part II – Neighboring Fields
Sixteen years later and the writing style is the same, but the landscape is transformed: checker-board fields, white roads at right angles, telephone cables, steel windmills, gaily painted farmhouses (rather than being made of sod), and gilded weather vanes.
“The brown earth, with such a strong, clean smell, and such a power of growth and fertility in it” now “It gives itself ungrudgingly to the moods of the season, holding nothing back.” Humans have won, Alexandra chief among them. “The land… had its little joke. It pretended to be poor because nobody knew how to work it right”.
Freed from the stress of basic survival, pleasure can sometimes be indulged: friendships and marriages formed, children born, the adventure of university. But it’s the tentative relationships that quietly dominate in the shadows, the ones that society can’t condone.
The soil of success can also nourish discord, greed and jealousy.
“People have to snatch happiness when they can… It’s always easier to lose than to find.” The second half is undoubtedly true, but the first half ignores the possible price paid by others.
Part III – Winter Memories
“The season in which Nature recuperates, in which she sinks to sleep between the fruitfulness of autumn and the passion of spring.” Just as the frozen ground hides and protects, those mourning loss, absence, and what cannot be feel comfort that deep down, “the secret of life was still safe, warm as the blood in one’s heart; and the spring would come again!”
Part IV – The White Mulberry Tree
“The sun was hanging low over the wheatfield. Long fingers of light reached through the apple branches as though a net; the orchard was riddled and shot with gold; light was the reality, the trees were merely interferences that reflected and refracted light.”
There’s an idyllic veneer (white mulberries: how succulent, beautiful, and pure - but they’re next to the cherries). However, many of the characters are hurting, longing, trying to suppress things, and there is a sense of possible doom.
“Always the same yearning, the same pulling the chain - until the instinct to live had torn itself and bled and weakened for the last time, until the chain secured a dead woman.”
Part V – Alexandra
Thirteen pages of betrayal. Betrayal in the story, but I felt betrayed as a reader.
For the first four sections, I was in awe of Alexandra: intelligent, practical, principled, loyal, generous, and determined, but “armoured in calm” and with charm and persuasiveness. Somehow, Cather makes this admirable woman entirely believable and likeable.
Alexandra is never passive (nor even deferential), never aggressive, and not even passive-aggressive - except when a man makes an unwelcome compliment on her hair, to which “she stabbed him with a glance of Amazonian fierceness”. She just does the research, takes calculated risks, and firmly but gently demonstrates the best way to do things, getting her way, without pressuring anyone.
She is aspirational for her family, especially Emil and niece Molly, but loves her land more than any possessions. She is conventional enough to attend church regularly, and although “She liked plain things”, she bows to “the general conviction that the more useless and utterly unusable objects were, the greater their virtue as ornament.”. But she fiercely defends the rights of others to live, dress, and think differently, even to the detriment of her own relationships and reputation, most notably by taking in Ivar, a barefoot, Bible-loving, bird-loving, vegetarian, and amateur veterinarian who has visions.
In this final section, everything changes. I try not to judge an old book solely by my own times, but how Alexandra reacts, over several months, to the dramatic end of the previous section, doesn’t fit with how Cather had portrayed her thus far. To get to this ending, Alexandra should have been a different person all along; not radically different, but different.
BIG spoilers
I don't crave happy or even tidy endings. I've read books where I've been stunned in a positive way (Stoner, and Stefansson's Heaven and Hell triptych, and Toibin's Testament of Mary come to mind), and others where I've felt the last few pages unnecessary, and perhaps diluted the force of the main narrative (Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible). But this just jarred. It tainted the preceding sections. What would have been a 5* book only just scrapes 4*.
Quotes
No plot spoilers; they’re hidden for brevity.
Image of Nebraskan prairie:
https://thecalloftheland.files.wordpr...
The title of this novel is a nod to Walt Whitman’s poem, Pioneers! O Pioneers, published in Leaves of Grass in 1865 (Cather’s novel was published in 1913).
The final thirteen pages felt written by or about a different person, not the author and protagonist I thought I knew.
Prairie Spring
The novel opens with a poem contrasting the harsh landscape with the power of youth to trigger change, including:
“Evening and the flat land…
The toiling horses, the tired men…
Sullen fires of sunset, fading,
The eternal, unresponsive sky.
Against all this, Youth,
Flaming like the wild roses…
Flashing like a star out of the twilight...”
Part I – The Wild Land
At barely twenty, Alexandra Bergson takes over her late father’s land, aided by hard-working but risk-averse brothers Lou and Oscar (aged 17 and 19). She has big plans to try new things, buy more land, employ farmhands, and get little Emil (aged 5) educated.
Alexandra is the leading person, but the landscape is the main character. Everyone in The Divide is an outsider, identified by their heritage (Swedish, French, Bohemian etc), as they strive to survive and conquer the harsh and unfamiliar soil and climate, while battling blizzards, prairie dogs, snakes, cholera, and debt. Many cling to “the Old-World belief that land, in itself, is desirable. But this land was an enigma” and there is the constant fear that “men were too weak to make a mark here”. But Alexandra is a woman.
First impressions are conjured by short plain words: gray, anchored, haphazard, howling wind, frozen, straying, straggled, open plain, impermanence, tough prairie sod.... The simple, but carefully chosen language of landscape reminds me of Kent Haruf’s Colorado high plains (see my reviews of Plainsong and Eventide).
The vast, bleak, and beautiful place, whose capricious moods both give and take life, reminds me of Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s Iceland (see my reviews HERE).
Part II – Neighboring Fields
Sixteen years later and the writing style is the same, but the landscape is transformed: checker-board fields, white roads at right angles, telephone cables, steel windmills, gaily painted farmhouses (rather than being made of sod), and gilded weather vanes.
“The brown earth, with such a strong, clean smell, and such a power of growth and fertility in it” now “It gives itself ungrudgingly to the moods of the season, holding nothing back.” Humans have won, Alexandra chief among them. “The land… had its little joke. It pretended to be poor because nobody knew how to work it right”.
Freed from the stress of basic survival, pleasure can sometimes be indulged: friendships and marriages formed, children born, the adventure of university. But it’s the tentative relationships that quietly dominate in the shadows, the ones that society can’t condone.
The soil of success can also nourish discord, greed and jealousy.
“People have to snatch happiness when they can… It’s always easier to lose than to find.” The second half is undoubtedly true, but the first half ignores the possible price paid by others.
Part III – Winter Memories
“The season in which Nature recuperates, in which she sinks to sleep between the fruitfulness of autumn and the passion of spring.” Just as the frozen ground hides and protects, those mourning loss, absence, and what cannot be feel comfort that deep down, “the secret of life was still safe, warm as the blood in one’s heart; and the spring would come again!”
Part IV – The White Mulberry Tree
“The sun was hanging low over the wheatfield. Long fingers of light reached through the apple branches as though a net; the orchard was riddled and shot with gold; light was the reality, the trees were merely interferences that reflected and refracted light.”
There’s an idyllic veneer (white mulberries: how succulent, beautiful, and pure - but they’re next to the cherries). However, many of the characters are hurting, longing, trying to suppress things, and there is a sense of possible doom.
“Always the same yearning, the same pulling the chain - until the instinct to live had torn itself and bled and weakened for the last time, until the chain secured a dead woman.”
Part V – Alexandra
Thirteen pages of betrayal. Betrayal in the story, but I felt betrayed as a reader.
For the first four sections, I was in awe of Alexandra: intelligent, practical, principled, loyal, generous, and determined, but “armoured in calm” and with charm and persuasiveness. Somehow, Cather makes this admirable woman entirely believable and likeable.
Alexandra is never passive (nor even deferential), never aggressive, and not even passive-aggressive - except when a man makes an unwelcome compliment on her hair, to which “she stabbed him with a glance of Amazonian fierceness”. She just does the research, takes calculated risks, and firmly but gently demonstrates the best way to do things, getting her way, without pressuring anyone.
She is aspirational for her family, especially Emil and niece Molly, but loves her land more than any possessions. She is conventional enough to attend church regularly, and although “She liked plain things”, she bows to “the general conviction that the more useless and utterly unusable objects were, the greater their virtue as ornament.”. But she fiercely defends the rights of others to live, dress, and think differently, even to the detriment of her own relationships and reputation, most notably by taking in Ivar, a barefoot, Bible-loving, bird-loving, vegetarian, and amateur veterinarian who has visions.
In this final section, everything changes. I try not to judge an old book solely by my own times, but how Alexandra reacts, over several months, to the dramatic end of the previous section, doesn’t fit with how Cather had portrayed her thus far. To get to this ending, Alexandra should have been a different person all along; not radically different, but different.
BIG spoilers
I don't crave happy or even tidy endings. I've read books where I've been stunned in a positive way (Stoner, and Stefansson's Heaven and Hell triptych, and Toibin's Testament of Mary come to mind), and others where I've felt the last few pages unnecessary, and perhaps diluted the force of the main narrative (Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible). But this just jarred. It tainted the preceding sections. What would have been a 5* book only just scrapes 4*.
Quotes
No plot spoilers; they’re hidden for brevity.
Image of Nebraskan prairie:
https://thecalloftheland.files.wordpr...
The title of this novel is a nod to Walt Whitman’s poem, Pioneers! O Pioneers, published in Leaves of Grass in 1865 (Cather’s novel was published in 1913).
March 7, 2021
“Marie stole slowly, flutteringly, along the path, like a white night-moth out of the fields. The years seemed to stretch before her like the land...always the same patient fields, the patient little trees, the patient lives; always the same yearning, the same pulling at the chain - until the instinct to live had torn itself and bled and weakened for the last time, until the chain secured a dead woman, who might cautiously be released...When she reached the stile she sat down and waited. How terrible it was to love people when you could not really share their lives…”
- Willa Cather, O Pioneers!
“All the hapless silent lovers,
All the prisoners in the prisons, all the righteous and the wicked,
All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living, all the dying,
Pioneers! O pioneers!”
- Walt Whitman, Pioneers! O Pioneers!
Willa Cather's opening description of Nebraska in O Pioneers! is unlikely to find its way into the Cornhusker State's tourism bureau pamphlets. With a sharp particularity that is present throughout the novel, she describes the fictional town of Hanover as near to being blown away by a howling wind. The town itself consists of low drab buildings beneath a gray sky, clinging to a gray prairie. The Nebraska of O Pioneers! is hard, unforgiving, yet tempting; it is a land that is waiting to be tamed, though it will break many dreams before giving its reward.
Having lived in Nebraska many years, I can say one thing about this portrait: she is right about that wind.
Less important than windblown Hanover is the people who call it home. Among those are the Bergson family, in particular Alexandra and Emil, who are the two wildly-beating hearts of Cather’s prairie-set classic.
Alexandra is the beloved daughter of John Bergson, a failed farmer who is dying as the novel begins. Unlike My Antonia, where the central female character is as elusive as a breeze, Alexandra holds center stage. She is tough-minded, gutsy, and beautifully described by Cather, who has a way of making her characters real, in just a few lines:
When John Bergson passes away, he leaves the homestead in Alexandra’s charge, which proves to be a good choice. Betting everything on the land – and herself – Alexandra proves herself as able as anyone.
From there, O Pioneers! takes on the form of a family epic, though at just over three-hundred pages, it is an efficient saga. To facilitate matters, O Pioneers! is divided into five parts, often with some big chronological leaps involved, as the decades slip away.
Without delving too much into plot points, it suffices to say that Cather’s story coalesces around two different love stories.
One belongs to Alexandra, who begins the novel as a sixteen year-old, and soon finds herself married to her farm and looking out for Emil. The man who catches her eye is Carl Linstrum, a sensitive soul who drifts in and out of Alexandra’s life, which makes him a bit tough to define. Many of the book’s grace notes, however, come from these two talking to each other at different stages in their lives:
The second love story is Emil's. He is the youngest of the Bergson brood, a golden child of sorts, charismatic and a dreamer. He goes to college, to Omaha, to Mexico, all the time nurturing his love for Marie.
Unfortunately, for Emil, the beautiful, vibrant Marie is married to a fellow named Frank Shabata. Frank, a former dandy, has made it his goal in life to make Marie suffer. The lovelessness of this situation provides Emil with a dangerous sliver of hope.
I won’t say more, because despite a bit of meandering, and despite the temporal leaps, O Pioneers! is definitely going somewhere, and it has some genuine surprises along the way. For me, at least, this was one of those rare classics whose ending has not been widely trumpeted, discussed, filmed, or parodied. Unless, of course, you count the 1992 television movie of the week starring Jessica Lange, David Strathairn, Anne Heche, and Heather Graham. It is online – in dubious quality – if you care to search for it.
Even with its twists, the plot is not really the thing. For me, the calling card of O Pioneers! is the prose. Cather is a wonderful writer, whether she is tracing the outlines of a person’s character, creating dialogue between two lovers, or simply showing us the land:
Atmosphere and sense of place are important to me when I read fiction. I like the sensation of being immersed in different worlds. Cather accomplishes this, even though that world happens to be Nebraska.
O Pioneers! is often packaged together with My Antonia and The Song of the Lark as the so-called “Great Plains Trilogy.” This is a thematic linking, not a genuine series connected by plot and character. Having read the first two books, it’s hard to say which one I like more. Both have the ability to hit you with an elemental force. Both use words to paint images that shimmer before your eyes.
What stands out with O Pioneers! is the passion it contains, and its depiction of how that passion changes as we age. There are scenes of young love that marvelously capture the raging emotional wildfire, that temporary madness when nothing else seems to have worth. And there are scenes of a different, more refined kind of love, hardened a bit by the pragmatic realities of accumulated years. “People have to snatch at happiness when they can, in this world,” Alexandra observes. It is a good lesson, a simple lesson, and – at times – a hard one to remember.
- Willa Cather, O Pioneers!
“All the hapless silent lovers,
All the prisoners in the prisons, all the righteous and the wicked,
All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living, all the dying,
Pioneers! O pioneers!”
- Walt Whitman, Pioneers! O Pioneers!
Willa Cather's opening description of Nebraska in O Pioneers! is unlikely to find its way into the Cornhusker State's tourism bureau pamphlets. With a sharp particularity that is present throughout the novel, she describes the fictional town of Hanover as near to being blown away by a howling wind. The town itself consists of low drab buildings beneath a gray sky, clinging to a gray prairie. The Nebraska of O Pioneers! is hard, unforgiving, yet tempting; it is a land that is waiting to be tamed, though it will break many dreams before giving its reward.
Having lived in Nebraska many years, I can say one thing about this portrait: she is right about that wind.
Less important than windblown Hanover is the people who call it home. Among those are the Bergson family, in particular Alexandra and Emil, who are the two wildly-beating hearts of Cather’s prairie-set classic.
Alexandra is the beloved daughter of John Bergson, a failed farmer who is dying as the novel begins. Unlike My Antonia, where the central female character is as elusive as a breeze, Alexandra holds center stage. She is tough-minded, gutsy, and beautifully described by Cather, who has a way of making her characters real, in just a few lines:
There was about Alexandra something of the impervious calm of the fatalist, always disconcerting to very young people, who cannot feel that the heart lives at all unless it is still at the mercy of storms; unless its strings can scream to the touch of pain.
When John Bergson passes away, he leaves the homestead in Alexandra’s charge, which proves to be a good choice. Betting everything on the land – and herself – Alexandra proves herself as able as anyone.
From there, O Pioneers! takes on the form of a family epic, though at just over three-hundred pages, it is an efficient saga. To facilitate matters, O Pioneers! is divided into five parts, often with some big chronological leaps involved, as the decades slip away.
Without delving too much into plot points, it suffices to say that Cather’s story coalesces around two different love stories.
One belongs to Alexandra, who begins the novel as a sixteen year-old, and soon finds herself married to her farm and looking out for Emil. The man who catches her eye is Carl Linstrum, a sensitive soul who drifts in and out of Alexandra’s life, which makes him a bit tough to define. Many of the book’s grace notes, however, come from these two talking to each other at different stages in their lives:
“Yes, sometimes… I think about father and mother and those who are gone; so many of our old neighbors.” Alexandra paused and looked up thoughtfully at the stars. “We can remember the graveyard when it was wild prairie, Carl, and now – ”
“And now the old story has begun to write itself over there,” Carl said softly. “Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same notes over for thousands of years…”
The second love story is Emil's. He is the youngest of the Bergson brood, a golden child of sorts, charismatic and a dreamer. He goes to college, to Omaha, to Mexico, all the time nurturing his love for Marie.
Unfortunately, for Emil, the beautiful, vibrant Marie is married to a fellow named Frank Shabata. Frank, a former dandy, has made it his goal in life to make Marie suffer. The lovelessness of this situation provides Emil with a dangerous sliver of hope.
I won’t say more, because despite a bit of meandering, and despite the temporal leaps, O Pioneers! is definitely going somewhere, and it has some genuine surprises along the way. For me, at least, this was one of those rare classics whose ending has not been widely trumpeted, discussed, filmed, or parodied. Unless, of course, you count the 1992 television movie of the week starring Jessica Lange, David Strathairn, Anne Heche, and Heather Graham. It is online – in dubious quality – if you care to search for it.
Even with its twists, the plot is not really the thing. For me, the calling card of O Pioneers! is the prose. Cather is a wonderful writer, whether she is tracing the outlines of a person’s character, creating dialogue between two lovers, or simply showing us the land:
Alexandra rose and looked about. A golden afterglow throbbed in the west, but the country already looked empty and mournful. A dark moving mass came over the western hill, the Lee boy was bringing in the herd from the other half-section. Emil ran from the windmill to open the corral gate. From the log house, on the little rise across the draw, the smoke was curling. The cattle lowed and bellowed. In the sky the pale half-moon was slowly silvering.
Atmosphere and sense of place are important to me when I read fiction. I like the sensation of being immersed in different worlds. Cather accomplishes this, even though that world happens to be Nebraska.
O Pioneers! is often packaged together with My Antonia and The Song of the Lark as the so-called “Great Plains Trilogy.” This is a thematic linking, not a genuine series connected by plot and character. Having read the first two books, it’s hard to say which one I like more. Both have the ability to hit you with an elemental force. Both use words to paint images that shimmer before your eyes.
What stands out with O Pioneers! is the passion it contains, and its depiction of how that passion changes as we age. There are scenes of young love that marvelously capture the raging emotional wildfire, that temporary madness when nothing else seems to have worth. And there are scenes of a different, more refined kind of love, hardened a bit by the pragmatic realities of accumulated years. “People have to snatch at happiness when they can, in this world,” Alexandra observes. It is a good lesson, a simple lesson, and – at times – a hard one to remember.
June 26, 2024
Alexandra Bergson at a young age , has to take care of her family and farm, in Nebraska, with the untimely death of their father John, he wished his oldest child, ( and smartest ) to guide the poor immigrants from Sweden in the 1880's, everyone agrees at first, struggling on the harsh prairie, are also brothers Lou, Oscar and five year old Emil, her pet, the mother knows little about farming... An endless drought soon after begins , the Sun baking the soil , the crops withering for lack of rain, year after year, fail, many farmers give up and leave for the cities, but the Bergson's endure, because of the wise and strong leadership that Alexandra brings ( the people around there, recognize that fact ). The little town of Hanover, a short distance away takes care of the needs of the local farmers, she Alexandra often meets her only friend Carl Linstrum there, from a neighboring farm, still he doesn't have a clue what to do in life, moody, always daydreaming, unsure, the obvious is in front of his eyes but he cannot focus... 16 years have passed , the land becomes prosperous, prices are skyrocketing, farmers becoming well off, some even rich, the old evil days long forgotten, the Bergson family farm has been divided between Alexandra, Lou, the intelligent brother and Oscar, the harder worker, thus makes more money to the chagrin of Lou, politics is his passion, not farming . The aimless Carl has left, and lonely Alexandra has many Swedish female servants to take care of the new house, and enjoys their company, no log cabin like the old one, even old Crazy lvar works for her, he has occasional spells, nothing to worry about ( as does Lou and Oscar), a man who loves animals better than he does humans, neglected his farm and loses it. Emil has graduated from the University of Nebraska, at Lincoln, he is thinking about becoming a lawyer, a profession that doesn't appeal to him ( or anybody else), he secretly falls in love with a married woman, effervescent Marie Shabata, her brooding, jealous husband Frank treats her badly, no love between the two has existed for years, something will happen soon, that will cause a scandal, so the naive Emil goes to Mexico City. To forget his troubles, have fun and adventures, meet new exciting people, a different society far away from Nebraska, however you can't escape your destiny. Beneath the surface there is a smothering darkness, a black cloud, a cruel spirit, a thing that can't be touched or smelled, it scares yet remains hidden, ready to strike, they all know this truth, nothing will stop, the coming of that ominous force... the cold wind stirs.
June 16, 2010
Alexandra looked at him mournfully. “I try to be more liberal about such things than I used to be. I try to realize that we are not all made alike.”
Everything in O Pioneers! is beauty to me. I am so in love with this book. Maybe it is because I have it in my brain that pioneers by definition suck that Willa Cather always catches me by surprise and turns me upside down. It’s like walking through an alien landscape and then running into my best friend. I thought what I would find was Michael Landon crying into a butter churn, and here you are, everything that is wonderful about humans. Still, I never know whether to recommend that other people read this book, or whether it is better to just keep it to myself. As Alexandra says, we are not all made alike, and maybe what is beauty and revelation to me is Michael Landon crying into a butter churn to you.
It’s so easy to say why I hate writing and difficult to say why I love it. I want to compare Cather to Hemingway because of how steady and careful their writing is, because of how speculation about their lives cheapens conversations about their stories, but no. I want to say Cather writes what is in my soul, but that’s not right either. What she writes is as much her own world as it is my reality, but that doesn’t make her wisdom easy or her power arrogant. She is not looking for my approval, but she is looking outside herself for some kind of truth.
At a particularly conflicted time in my life, I went to a club with some friends and I saw a girl dancing like I have never seen anyone dance in my life. She had cleared out as space for herself to the side of the stage, and it was like every part of her body was electric. It was not only beautiful, it was also full of life. Where I didn’t know which way to turn, this girl was in the Place, doing the Thing. Reading O Pioneers! is like watching that girl. Everything is alive in this book.
But, again, I’m struck by the feeling that it may not be alive to you as it is to me. I’ll give you a few descriptions as objectively as I can, and you can judge for yourself. It is about contrasts: country and city, speed and slowness, youth and age, passion and steadiness, inspiration and hard work, deprivation and entitlement. It is operatic. It is kooky at times and kind, but not funny. It is understated and even-handed. It is written by a woman. It is about women and men, who are all sometimes as passionate as people are, and other times as wise as people should be. It is specific, but not petty. There are awkward parts (specifically book 2, chapter 9, though I even think that scene is beautiful).
It’s difficult to talk about this book without spoiling it, and I think a spoiler would really spoil the story. So, I’ll just say one last thing that I hope won’t be a spoiler, but might, so be warned. People get angry with authors who won’t let their characters die and see it as a sign of accomplished writing to kill a character. I think, because of that, I see a lot of bad storytelling mistaken for good storytelling if the author tortures or kills the characters. I really hate when people think character abuse is maturity. At the same time, though, I think there is something right about trusting an author more if the author allows unhappiness into the story. Authors are writing to an audience, and I think they should be writing to entertain, so there is value to me in making stories better than life. At the same time, there is truth in sadness, and if a writer can’t look at sadness, she has sacrificed truth to entertainment. Cather balances truth and entertainment in a way that is completely devastating. She loves her characters, and lets every one of them grow as humans grow, with human joys and human tragedies. It is painful and beautiful to watch.
I almost want to read this book again right away, but too much wisdom in one month can’t be good for my health. I’ll take a little break first and watch some reality TV to balance out my wisdom intake. Just, you know, for my health.
Everything in O Pioneers! is beauty to me. I am so in love with this book. Maybe it is because I have it in my brain that pioneers by definition suck that Willa Cather always catches me by surprise and turns me upside down. It’s like walking through an alien landscape and then running into my best friend. I thought what I would find was Michael Landon crying into a butter churn, and here you are, everything that is wonderful about humans. Still, I never know whether to recommend that other people read this book, or whether it is better to just keep it to myself. As Alexandra says, we are not all made alike, and maybe what is beauty and revelation to me is Michael Landon crying into a butter churn to you.
It’s so easy to say why I hate writing and difficult to say why I love it. I want to compare Cather to Hemingway because of how steady and careful their writing is, because of how speculation about their lives cheapens conversations about their stories, but no. I want to say Cather writes what is in my soul, but that’s not right either. What she writes is as much her own world as it is my reality, but that doesn’t make her wisdom easy or her power arrogant. She is not looking for my approval, but she is looking outside herself for some kind of truth.
At a particularly conflicted time in my life, I went to a club with some friends and I saw a girl dancing like I have never seen anyone dance in my life. She had cleared out as space for herself to the side of the stage, and it was like every part of her body was electric. It was not only beautiful, it was also full of life. Where I didn’t know which way to turn, this girl was in the Place, doing the Thing. Reading O Pioneers! is like watching that girl. Everything is alive in this book.
But, again, I’m struck by the feeling that it may not be alive to you as it is to me. I’ll give you a few descriptions as objectively as I can, and you can judge for yourself. It is about contrasts: country and city, speed and slowness, youth and age, passion and steadiness, inspiration and hard work, deprivation and entitlement. It is operatic. It is kooky at times and kind, but not funny. It is understated and even-handed. It is written by a woman. It is about women and men, who are all sometimes as passionate as people are, and other times as wise as people should be. It is specific, but not petty. There are awkward parts (specifically book 2, chapter 9, though I even think that scene is beautiful).
It’s difficult to talk about this book without spoiling it, and I think a spoiler would really spoil the story. So, I’ll just say one last thing that I hope won’t be a spoiler, but might, so be warned. People get angry with authors who won’t let their characters die and see it as a sign of accomplished writing to kill a character. I think, because of that, I see a lot of bad storytelling mistaken for good storytelling if the author tortures or kills the characters. I really hate when people think character abuse is maturity. At the same time, though, I think there is something right about trusting an author more if the author allows unhappiness into the story. Authors are writing to an audience, and I think they should be writing to entertain, so there is value to me in making stories better than life. At the same time, there is truth in sadness, and if a writer can’t look at sadness, she has sacrificed truth to entertainment. Cather balances truth and entertainment in a way that is completely devastating. She loves her characters, and lets every one of them grow as humans grow, with human joys and human tragedies. It is painful and beautiful to watch.
I almost want to read this book again right away, but too much wisdom in one month can’t be good for my health. I’ll take a little break first and watch some reality TV to balance out my wisdom intake. Just, you know, for my health.
December 31, 2017
Can we even imagine what it was like for the early homesteaders and pioneers, arriving (most likely) from somewhere in Europe in a last-ditch effort to make something out of nothing? There it is before them – a vast, lonely, rolling plain of earth meeting a vast, lonely, infinite sky. Where does one even begin?
In this novel, Willa Cather takes us on a journey where we see exactly where it begins – with sod huts or log cabins or some form of shelter. Then comes the dawn to dark labour of breaking the ground to plant seeds to feed themselves and their animals, if they have any.
And through this novel, we are also introduced to people who have a vision broader than just survival. A vision that eventually bears fruit as the earth begins to give back rather than just take. And so the cycle of life begins where people and animals give to the earth and the earth produces for the people and animals, gradually rewarding each other for mutual benefit.
This is part of the story in this book, but only a part. Wherever there are human beings, they bring their stories and they create and re-create their stories. As with all human stories over time, there is great joy accompanied by great sorrow, and tragedy sits next to both temptation and triumph.
What I appreciate most deeply in reading Willa Cather’s writing is the poetic flow that feels as natural as the wind rustling through a field of wheat. While I paused many times to allow her words to sink in as deeply as possible, the narrative was only enhanced by those reflective moments.
This is the first part of Willa Cather’s Great Plains Trilogy and I look forward to reading the next one as soon as possible.
In this novel, Willa Cather takes us on a journey where we see exactly where it begins – with sod huts or log cabins or some form of shelter. Then comes the dawn to dark labour of breaking the ground to plant seeds to feed themselves and their animals, if they have any.
And through this novel, we are also introduced to people who have a vision broader than just survival. A vision that eventually bears fruit as the earth begins to give back rather than just take. And so the cycle of life begins where people and animals give to the earth and the earth produces for the people and animals, gradually rewarding each other for mutual benefit.
This is part of the story in this book, but only a part. Wherever there are human beings, they bring their stories and they create and re-create their stories. As with all human stories over time, there is great joy accompanied by great sorrow, and tragedy sits next to both temptation and triumph.
What I appreciate most deeply in reading Willa Cather’s writing is the poetic flow that feels as natural as the wind rustling through a field of wheat. While I paused many times to allow her words to sink in as deeply as possible, the narrative was only enhanced by those reflective moments.
This is the first part of Willa Cather’s Great Plains Trilogy and I look forward to reading the next one as soon as possible.
June 30, 2018
I read this book many times. Why? Its a beautiful book (and georgous stage play).
This was the first professional-'Equity'- play our daughter was in (at the age of 9).
I want to read another Willa Cather book soon.
"My Antonia" was also wonderful.
A book I haven't read yet ---and would like to is: "The Professor's House".
Willa Cather is a beautiful writer!
This was the first professional-'Equity'- play our daughter was in (at the age of 9).
I want to read another Willa Cather book soon.
"My Antonia" was also wonderful.
A book I haven't read yet ---and would like to is: "The Professor's House".
Willa Cather is a beautiful writer!
September 21, 2019
Published in 1913, this novel brings the harsh Nebraska prairie to life. To the ones who farm it, the sensible ones, the dreamers, and the ones who recognize the value of mending other people's fences. A pure love and belief of the land, those who are content with their lot, and those who are unable to contemplate a lifetime of the backbreaking labor that is demanded. How much easier it is to lose happiness than it is to find it. Simple, full of life, loves, and regrets.
July 7, 2020
O Pioneers (Great Plains Trilogy #1), Willa Cather
O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel, by American author Willa Cather, written while she was living in New York. It is the first novel of her Great Plains trilogy, followed by The Song of the Lark (1915), and My Ántonia (1918).
O Pioneers! tells the story of the Bergsons, a family of Swedish-American immigrants in the farm country, near the fictional town of Hanover, Nebraska, at the turn of the 20th century.
The main character, Alexandra Bergson, inherits the family farmland, when her father dies, and she devotes her life, to making the farm a viable enterprise at a time, when many other immigrant families, are giving up, and leaving the prairie.
The novel is also concerned with two romantic relationships, one between Alexandra and family friend Carl Linstrum, and the other between Alexandra's brother Emil and the married Marie Shabata. ...
O pioneers!, Willa Cather ; edited by Susan J. Rosowski, Charles W. Mignon with Kathleen Danker; historical essay and explanatory notes by David Stouck, Lincoln: University Of Nebraska Press, 1992 = 1371. ISBN: 080321457X, XI, 391 Pages.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و پنجم ماه آوریل سال 1994 میلادی
عنوان: اوه!، پیشگامان - کتاب اول از سه گانه چمنزار؛ نویسنده: ویلا سیلبرت کاذر (کاتر)؛ موضوع: داستان خواهران و برادران - زنان کشاورز - سده 20م
سه گانه چمنزار: کتاب نخست: «اوه!، پیشگامان! (1913 میلادی)»؛ کتاب دوم: «آهنگ لارک (1915 میلادی)»؛ کتاب سوم: «آنتونیای من (1918 میلادی)»؛
روانشاد بانو «ویلا کاتر (زاده روز هفتم ماه دسامبر سال 1873میلادی - درگذشته بیست و چهارم ماه آوریل سال 1947میلادی)، نویسنده زن آمریکایی برنده ی جایزه «پولیتزر» برای داستان بودند؛ این نویسنده آمریکایی، بیشتر شهرت خود را از طریق خلق رمانهایی به دست آوردند که به زندگی نخستین مهاجرین اروپایی، ساکن در ایالات غربی آمریکا میپرداختند، و از شیوه های زندگی در دشتهای بزرگ حکایت داشتند؛ آثاری همانند: «اوه پیشگامان!»، «آنتونیای من»، و «نغمهٔ لارک (آهنگ لارک)»، از جمله ی این قبیل آثار ایشان بشمار میآیند؛ در سال 1923میلادی ایشان برای نگارش رمان «یکی از ما، انتشارات ماهی، برگردان: نسرین شیخ نیا»، که در سال 1922میلادی نگاشته شده بود، موفق به دریافت جایزه «پولیتزر» گردیدند؛ ایشان همچنین مجموعه رمانهایی نیز در ارتباط با جنگ جهانی نخست آفریده اند
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 17/04/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel, by American author Willa Cather, written while she was living in New York. It is the first novel of her Great Plains trilogy, followed by The Song of the Lark (1915), and My Ántonia (1918).
O Pioneers! tells the story of the Bergsons, a family of Swedish-American immigrants in the farm country, near the fictional town of Hanover, Nebraska, at the turn of the 20th century.
The main character, Alexandra Bergson, inherits the family farmland, when her father dies, and she devotes her life, to making the farm a viable enterprise at a time, when many other immigrant families, are giving up, and leaving the prairie.
The novel is also concerned with two romantic relationships, one between Alexandra and family friend Carl Linstrum, and the other between Alexandra's brother Emil and the married Marie Shabata. ...
O pioneers!, Willa Cather ; edited by Susan J. Rosowski, Charles W. Mignon with Kathleen Danker; historical essay and explanatory notes by David Stouck, Lincoln: University Of Nebraska Press, 1992 = 1371. ISBN: 080321457X, XI, 391 Pages.
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و پنجم ماه آوریل سال 1994 میلادی
عنوان: اوه!، پیشگامان - کتاب اول از سه گانه چمنزار؛ نویسنده: ویلا سیلبرت کاذر (کاتر)؛ موضوع: داستان خواهران و برادران - زنان کشاورز - سده 20م
سه گانه چمنزار: کتاب نخست: «اوه!، پیشگامان! (1913 میلادی)»؛ کتاب دوم: «آهنگ لارک (1915 میلادی)»؛ کتاب سوم: «آنتونیای من (1918 میلادی)»؛
روانشاد بانو «ویلا کاتر (زاده روز هفتم ماه دسامبر سال 1873میلادی - درگذشته بیست و چهارم ماه آوریل سال 1947میلادی)، نویسنده زن آمریکایی برنده ی جایزه «پولیتزر» برای داستان بودند؛ این نویسنده آمریکایی، بیشتر شهرت خود را از طریق خلق رمانهایی به دست آوردند که به زندگی نخستین مهاجرین اروپایی، ساکن در ایالات غربی آمریکا میپرداختند، و از شیوه های زندگی در دشتهای بزرگ حکایت داشتند؛ آثاری همانند: «اوه پیشگامان!»، «آنتونیای من»، و «نغمهٔ لارک (آهنگ لارک)»، از جمله ی این قبیل آثار ایشان بشمار میآیند؛ در سال 1923میلادی ایشان برای نگارش رمان «یکی از ما، انتشارات ماهی، برگردان: نسرین شیخ نیا»، که در سال 1922میلادی نگاشته شده بود، موفق به دریافت جایزه «پولیتزر» گردیدند؛ ایشان همچنین مجموعه رمانهایی نیز در ارتباط با جنگ جهانی نخست آفریده اند
تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 17/04/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
August 22, 2023
With a title of O, Pioneers! I anticipated a prairie setting with people and place a major component of the story, but it's more character and vignette oriented rather than prairie-life focused. A disappointment for me, as I really enjoy books set in homesteading times and watching characters succeed through their own hard work and determination.
Unfortunately, as with many classics, this was not a story I particularly enjoyed. I always feel like classics are classics for a reason, yet that reason seems to be out of reach for this pleasure reader. O, Pioneers! is light on action and a bit dull at times, which only intensifies the idea that I should be taking away something of literary merit but it's sure hard to know precisely what that is.
The takeaway for me is that being different is okay. It's not a bad thing to see things from a different perspective, or to have a different personality. In fact, a different perspective can often lead to greater success and happiness. Live life on your own terms and not by a prescribed notion that someone else has set out. Characters like Alexandra, Carl, Emil, Marie, and even Frank show conservative and progressive, positive and negative thinking, and how our viewpoints and thought processes lead us down alternate courses than we may have first imagined, or even now imagine for ourselves.
We should believe in ourself and others, and strive to make something of ourself and be someone to admire. There's even a hint of the thought that you make your own destiny, good and bad. So choose to pursue that which you desire so that you don't end up with that which you don't. And hopefully you've figured out what you want before you've wandered too far down the wrong course.
Now is any of that what the author intended for me to realize? I don't know. All I can do is share what I got out of the writing and hope that my thoughts can be understood and confirmed by other readers.
A monochrome-feeling read that in spite of its self-confidence message left me feeling sedate and melancholic.
Unfortunately, as with many classics, this was not a story I particularly enjoyed. I always feel like classics are classics for a reason, yet that reason seems to be out of reach for this pleasure reader. O, Pioneers! is light on action and a bit dull at times, which only intensifies the idea that I should be taking away something of literary merit but it's sure hard to know precisely what that is.
The takeaway for me is that being different is okay. It's not a bad thing to see things from a different perspective, or to have a different personality. In fact, a different perspective can often lead to greater success and happiness. Live life on your own terms and not by a prescribed notion that someone else has set out. Characters like Alexandra, Carl, Emil, Marie, and even Frank show conservative and progressive, positive and negative thinking, and how our viewpoints and thought processes lead us down alternate courses than we may have first imagined, or even now imagine for ourselves.
We should believe in ourself and others, and strive to make something of ourself and be someone to admire. There's even a hint of the thought that you make your own destiny, good and bad. So choose to pursue that which you desire so that you don't end up with that which you don't. And hopefully you've figured out what you want before you've wandered too far down the wrong course.
Now is any of that what the author intended for me to realize? I don't know. All I can do is share what I got out of the writing and hope that my thoughts can be understood and confirmed by other readers.
A monochrome-feeling read that in spite of its self-confidence message left me feeling sedate and melancholic.
October 16, 2019
I just want to say that the last 15 pages of this book are for me worth 50 of the most important and significant books of this century...
I don’t have much to say, except that the greatest grace that a person can live and experience today is surely forgiveness, knowing how to love, leaving the life of others free, even though it is not corresponding to our projects.
Alexandra is a rigid woman, firm and integral in her thought and love... but has been able despite experiencing pain and tragedy, how to be reborn and resurrected to new life. Her sins did not comdemned to a claustrophobic life or left her to a unuseful morality. Her greatest pain has been transformed to a capacity to spread love, even to the man that created that tragedy and killed in her family.
Needless to say... our beloved Willa Cather, is definitely an author who shows you the way, the tiring but wonderful path that is the everyday life...
Dico solo che le ultime 15 pagine di questo libro valgono come 50 libri tra i piu importanti e significativi di questo secolo....
non ho molto da dire, se non che la grazia piu' grande che un uomo possa vivere e provare al giorno d'oggi è sicuramente quella del perdono, del saper amare lasciano libera la vita degli altri nonostante non sia corrispondente ai nostri progetti.
Alexandra è una donna rigida, ferma e integra nel suo pensiero e amore... ma che ha saputo, nel dolore e nella tragedia saper rinascere e risorgere a vita nuova.
non c'è bisogno di dire altro... e la nostra amatissima Willa Cather, è sicuramente un'autrice che ti indica la strada, il cammino faticoso ma stupendo che è la vita di ogni giorno....
I don’t have much to say, except that the greatest grace that a person can live and experience today is surely forgiveness, knowing how to love, leaving the life of others free, even though it is not corresponding to our projects.
Alexandra is a rigid woman, firm and integral in her thought and love... but has been able despite experiencing pain and tragedy, how to be reborn and resurrected to new life. Her sins did not comdemned to a claustrophobic life or left her to a unuseful morality. Her greatest pain has been transformed to a capacity to spread love, even to the man that created that tragedy and killed in her family.
Needless to say... our beloved Willa Cather, is definitely an author who shows you the way, the tiring but wonderful path that is the everyday life...
Dico solo che le ultime 15 pagine di questo libro valgono come 50 libri tra i piu importanti e significativi di questo secolo....
non ho molto da dire, se non che la grazia piu' grande che un uomo possa vivere e provare al giorno d'oggi è sicuramente quella del perdono, del saper amare lasciano libera la vita degli altri nonostante non sia corrispondente ai nostri progetti.
Alexandra è una donna rigida, ferma e integra nel suo pensiero e amore... ma che ha saputo, nel dolore e nella tragedia saper rinascere e risorgere a vita nuova.
non c'è bisogno di dire altro... e la nostra amatissima Willa Cather, è sicuramente un'autrice che ti indica la strada, il cammino faticoso ma stupendo che è la vita di ogni giorno....
September 11, 2013
"The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman."
I don't know why I haven't read this before -- it seems like the kind of novel I should have been assigned in 9th grade -- but I'm glad I read it as an adult because I wouldn't have appreciated it as much when I was younger. I am from the Midwest and my grandparents were farmers, and I loved Willa Cather's stories about what it was like for the pioneers in Nebraska. I liked Cather's spare writing style; she gives just the right amount of description and action, and then moves on to the next chapter. In this way we get a complete picture of the whole life of Alexandra Bergson without the story ever dragging.
"His sister was a tall, strong girl, and she walked rapidly and resolutely, as if she knew exactly where she was going and what she was going to do next."
Alexandra is such a strong character -- she was as defiant as the land she was trying to tame. At one point I got so angry when some men tried to bully her that I slammed the book shut in frustration. My break didn't last long, and I should have known that Alexandra would get her way in the end.
"We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it -- for a little while."
I think I reacted so strongly to "O Pioneers!" because it reminded me of the stories my grandmother would tell about running a farm during the Depression. It is easy to romanticize this time period and to forget the backbreaking work that went into taming the land to grow crops and support a family. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an appreciation for the land or who likes strong female characters.
Update September 2013: I am rereading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, which are about another pioneering American family, and it reminded me of how much I loved this Willa Cather novel. I have thought about "O Pioneers" many times since I read it a year ago -- I would put it on a list of Books To Read To Understand America. Perhaps this is my background in sociology talking, but I like stories that show how a country was formed. Aside from the politics and the war, you still need families who are doing the hard work to build homes and grow food and create new towns. You can't have a nation without everyday people. Here's to all the pioneers of the world!
I don't know why I haven't read this before -- it seems like the kind of novel I should have been assigned in 9th grade -- but I'm glad I read it as an adult because I wouldn't have appreciated it as much when I was younger. I am from the Midwest and my grandparents were farmers, and I loved Willa Cather's stories about what it was like for the pioneers in Nebraska. I liked Cather's spare writing style; she gives just the right amount of description and action, and then moves on to the next chapter. In this way we get a complete picture of the whole life of Alexandra Bergson without the story ever dragging.
"His sister was a tall, strong girl, and she walked rapidly and resolutely, as if she knew exactly where she was going and what she was going to do next."
Alexandra is such a strong character -- she was as defiant as the land she was trying to tame. At one point I got so angry when some men tried to bully her that I slammed the book shut in frustration. My break didn't last long, and I should have known that Alexandra would get her way in the end.
"We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it -- for a little while."
I think I reacted so strongly to "O Pioneers!" because it reminded me of the stories my grandmother would tell about running a farm during the Depression. It is easy to romanticize this time period and to forget the backbreaking work that went into taming the land to grow crops and support a family. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an appreciation for the land or who likes strong female characters.
Update September 2013: I am rereading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, which are about another pioneering American family, and it reminded me of how much I loved this Willa Cather novel. I have thought about "O Pioneers" many times since I read it a year ago -- I would put it on a list of Books To Read To Understand America. Perhaps this is my background in sociology talking, but I like stories that show how a country was formed. Aside from the politics and the war, you still need families who are doing the hard work to build homes and grow food and create new towns. You can't have a nation without everyday people. Here's to all the pioneers of the world!
Read
February 12, 2023I've circumvented Willa Cather's works my entire reading life, and I don't know, at this moment if I was wrong, because I didn't much care for this novel. Rather than the "spare prose and brutal story lines" that I was promised, I found uneven prose and a story that bordered on tediousness. It danced so close to downright boring, that I found myself skipping entire passages, and then forcing myself to go back, just to be fair. At best, I would rate this one as a "good enough" story for young adults who might wish to move on to a grown-up version of Little House. I may, or may not, finish this trilogy -- and may skip ahead to see if there is anything worth reading in her later fiction.
Cather delivers some beautiful, descriptive passages on the land itself, but her characters are weak, annoying and frustrating. I feel that "in no place on earth" or in history, have people ever talked this way; their actions are somewhat more believable, if predictable, (and once again, annoying.)
She also has an irritating way of glossing over entire months, years in a story line: almost as if she, herself got bored with what she was saying and skipped over to something more interesting.
I seem to have disabused myself of the notion of Willa Cather as an iconic female writer of the early 20th century. There is nothing in this work that couldn't have been accomplished with equal proficiency by a fourteen-year-old girl writing her overly-romanticized version of early prairie life. Laura Ingalls Wilder's children's book Little House on the Prairie has more depth and perception on pioneer life than this one, in fact, and is delivered with real heart.
I cannot imagine caring less for any characters in fiction than those that people O Pioneers!, coming ready-made with its own exclamation mark.
[Conrad Richter's Ohio trilogy is superlative frontier/pioneer story telling. If you dare to compare, do yourself a favour and read Richter's work. ]
Cather delivers some beautiful, descriptive passages on the land itself, but her characters are weak, annoying and frustrating. I feel that "in no place on earth" or in history, have people ever talked this way; their actions are somewhat more believable, if predictable, (and once again, annoying.)
She also has an irritating way of glossing over entire months, years in a story line: almost as if she, herself got bored with what she was saying and skipped over to something more interesting.
I seem to have disabused myself of the notion of Willa Cather as an iconic female writer of the early 20th century. There is nothing in this work that couldn't have been accomplished with equal proficiency by a fourteen-year-old girl writing her overly-romanticized version of early prairie life. Laura Ingalls Wilder's children's book Little House on the Prairie has more depth and perception on pioneer life than this one, in fact, and is delivered with real heart.
I cannot imagine caring less for any characters in fiction than those that people O Pioneers!, coming ready-made with its own exclamation mark.
[Conrad Richter's Ohio trilogy is superlative frontier/pioneer story telling. If you dare to compare, do yourself a favour and read Richter's work. ]
May 3, 2020
This was a lot like O Klahoma! but without those catchy songs. "O! what a Beautiful Morning" would have slotted right into O Pioneers! on page 14, 29, 47, 83 and 112. Right in there. There are a lot of beautiful mornings in these pages. Maybe in those days you said everything with an exclamation mark. “O breakfast!” “O horse!” “O my head!”.
Or in my case “O how many pages are left… O no…”
This was dull.
Our lives are like the years, all made up of weather and crops and cows.
Yeah, that’s about right. In this novel there was one pretty good argument and one evil deed. But Willa, darling, it wasn’t enough. All this waffling about larkspur, hoarhound, foxtail, apricots and alfalfa. It’s like a catalogue at times or maybe a press release from the Nebraskan Chamber of Rural Commerce.
Okay, I did find one slightly saucy moment, but I don’t think it was intentional :
He thrust his hand into the pocket of his velvet trousers and brought out a handful of uncut turquoises, as big as marbles. Leaning over the table he dropped them into her lap. “There, will those do? Be careful, don't let any one see them. Now, I suppose you want me to go away and let you play with them?”
Marie was gazing in rapture at the soft blue color of the stones. “Oh, Emil! Is everything down there beautiful like these? ”
It’s possible she’s referring here to Mexico, where he’s just come from, rather than his trousers, but I think it’s ambiguous.
This novel is worthy. If it could, this novel would sell slab cake at a church bring-and-buy sale in aid of blind donkeys.
I don’t want to put the boot into Willa Cather too much, but if she calls round here again, give her a fiver and tell her I’m out.
A farm
Or in my case “O how many pages are left… O no…”
This was dull.
Our lives are like the years, all made up of weather and crops and cows.
Yeah, that’s about right. In this novel there was one pretty good argument and one evil deed. But Willa, darling, it wasn’t enough. All this waffling about larkspur, hoarhound, foxtail, apricots and alfalfa. It’s like a catalogue at times or maybe a press release from the Nebraskan Chamber of Rural Commerce.
Okay, I did find one slightly saucy moment, but I don’t think it was intentional :
He thrust his hand into the pocket of his velvet trousers and brought out a handful of uncut turquoises, as big as marbles. Leaning over the table he dropped them into her lap. “There, will those do? Be careful, don't let any one see them. Now, I suppose you want me to go away and let you play with them?”
Marie was gazing in rapture at the soft blue color of the stones. “Oh, Emil! Is everything down there beautiful like these? ”
It’s possible she’s referring here to Mexico, where he’s just come from, rather than his trousers, but I think it’s ambiguous.
This novel is worthy. If it could, this novel would sell slab cake at a church bring-and-buy sale in aid of blind donkeys.
I don’t want to put the boot into Willa Cather too much, but if she calls round here again, give her a fiver and tell her I’m out.
A farm
May 16, 2019
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐s for quality of writing and descriptions
⭐ because it turned out to be a fricking romance novel
Averages out to 3 stars
(May classic of the month for 2019)
⭐ because it turned out to be a fricking romance novel
Averages out to 3 stars
(May classic of the month for 2019)
January 3, 2016
Once again, a second time, I was at the mercy of Willa Cather's writing, and closed this book with a feeling of accomplishment: as a reader as well as a human being.
In my world, more than a century after this novel was written, we still battle nature on a daily basis and we are aware that nature will return the moment we leave this little piece of earth for a respite. With seed, roots and rain, the stories of ages of human history will be covered in an instant, wiped away as though we never walked these paths a few million times through the slow passing of time.
Willa Cather gloriously painted the lives of pioneers in the unforgiving virginal wilderness at the turn of the 20th century, somewhere between 1883 and 1890, by describing the toughness and resilience of a group of immigrants in surviving the harshness of life on the prairies of Nebraska. The Bergsons children and their neighbors established a strong community through stubborn pride and dreams. It was their dreams, after all, that kept hope alive and celebrated the good times when it finally arrived. However, tragic love, diverse opinions, and hard manual labor drove those who preferred to stay behind, when the less experienced farmers were forced to leave.
Alexandra Bergson instinctively took the road less traveled, the one on which love took a second place, and meticulous learning challenged old ideas, and the less brave combatants against nature preferred to leave. She compassionately took care of neighbors, family and friends, by making choices that left herself devoid of love and allowed loneliness to become her a life companion. The ones who benefited the most appreciated her the least, but her promise, as well as understanding of her father's insight into the land and its possibilities, made her stick to her dreams and decisions.
The most important theme in the novel starts out in the beginning of the book, in the little town Hanover, Nebraska, in the bitterly cold winter, when Alexandra's little brother Emil's little kitten got chased up a telephone pole by stray dogs. He is waiting for her at the store while she is at the doctor's office. Carl Linstrum, a neighbor, arrives to rescue the little kitten on Alexandra's request for help. In the store where they try to warm up again, they meet the exotic Bohemian little girl Marie Tovesky who, with her sunny disposition, brown curly hair like a brunette doll's, her coaxing little red mouth, and round, yellow -brown eyes, with their golden glints like the Colorado mineral called tiger-eye, attracts men like flies even as a toddler.
The plot centers around the strong bonds of friendships, which pushes love aside for most of the book, yet cannot manage to deny this strong attraction between humans in the best and worst of ways. Two love stories, with two different endings, snake through the tale. Two relationships are tested by different rules. Perseverance nestles itself in different situations leaving the people involved exhausted or dead.
This book is so rich in emotional ironies, that I sat back afterwards and wondered why it was banned numerous times by the American Library Society. The kaleidoscope of human activities, driven by strong emotional intensity portrayed people in all their splendor. What part of this masterful text of human nature in all its intricate ways insulted some readers enough to have it banned?
The major focus, in my humble opinion, is the relationship between the different role players and their land.
This was a magnificent read. The prose lends itself to numerous memorial quotes. Willa Cather knew how to sell this part of the Divide to her readers with her poetic descriptions of the land and the people who conquered it.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
In my world, more than a century after this novel was written, we still battle nature on a daily basis and we are aware that nature will return the moment we leave this little piece of earth for a respite. With seed, roots and rain, the stories of ages of human history will be covered in an instant, wiped away as though we never walked these paths a few million times through the slow passing of time.
Willa Cather gloriously painted the lives of pioneers in the unforgiving virginal wilderness at the turn of the 20th century, somewhere between 1883 and 1890, by describing the toughness and resilience of a group of immigrants in surviving the harshness of life on the prairies of Nebraska. The Bergsons children and their neighbors established a strong community through stubborn pride and dreams. It was their dreams, after all, that kept hope alive and celebrated the good times when it finally arrived. However, tragic love, diverse opinions, and hard manual labor drove those who preferred to stay behind, when the less experienced farmers were forced to leave.
Alexandra Bergson instinctively took the road less traveled, the one on which love took a second place, and meticulous learning challenged old ideas, and the less brave combatants against nature preferred to leave. She compassionately took care of neighbors, family and friends, by making choices that left herself devoid of love and allowed loneliness to become her a life companion. The ones who benefited the most appreciated her the least, but her promise, as well as understanding of her father's insight into the land and its possibilities, made her stick to her dreams and decisions.
The most important theme in the novel starts out in the beginning of the book, in the little town Hanover, Nebraska, in the bitterly cold winter, when Alexandra's little brother Emil's little kitten got chased up a telephone pole by stray dogs. He is waiting for her at the store while she is at the doctor's office. Carl Linstrum, a neighbor, arrives to rescue the little kitten on Alexandra's request for help. In the store where they try to warm up again, they meet the exotic Bohemian little girl Marie Tovesky who, with her sunny disposition, brown curly hair like a brunette doll's, her coaxing little red mouth, and round, yellow -brown eyes, with their golden glints like the Colorado mineral called tiger-eye, attracts men like flies even as a toddler.
The plot centers around the strong bonds of friendships, which pushes love aside for most of the book, yet cannot manage to deny this strong attraction between humans in the best and worst of ways. Two love stories, with two different endings, snake through the tale. Two relationships are tested by different rules. Perseverance nestles itself in different situations leaving the people involved exhausted or dead.
This book is so rich in emotional ironies, that I sat back afterwards and wondered why it was banned numerous times by the American Library Society. The kaleidoscope of human activities, driven by strong emotional intensity portrayed people in all their splendor. What part of this masterful text of human nature in all its intricate ways insulted some readers enough to have it banned?
“And now the old story has begun to write itself over there," said Carl softly. "Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes for thousands of years.”Since love does not form the center of the plot, although many readers probably wanted it to do so, it does play out in the hearts of lonely, often desperate people. It becomes a secondary, underlying force in the book.
The major focus, in my humble opinion, is the relationship between the different role players and their land.
Alexandra: "The land belongs to the future, Carl; that's the way it seems to me. How many of the names on the county clerk's plat will be there in fifty years? I might as well try to will the sunset over there to my brother's children. We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it--for a little while."Love becomes the third member of the marriage between humans and nature, resulting in an overcrowding of the relationship. Tears of joy and sorrow follows, as can be expected.
This was a magnificent read. The prose lends itself to numerous memorial quotes. Willa Cather knew how to sell this part of the Divide to her readers with her poetic descriptions of the land and the people who conquered it.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
February 16, 2017
Beginning with simplicity, innocence and hope, Willa Cather runs her pioneers through the ring of fire that is the hallmark of the pioneer's life and only some of them survive.
Perhaps I've made that sound more exciting than O Pioneers! actually is. There are far too many dull scenes in this book for me to call it a perfect classic, but it is a solid addition to American western frontier literature.
Writing from her experiences, Cather populated her novel with Scandinavian immigrants, gave them backbones and leathery hides, and set them upon the fields of Nebraska. Their characters bloomed into an organic array of flowers, weeds, fruit, and prickly briars. What she sacrifices in the way of drama and action, she more than compensates in personality and the study of human behavior.
The central figure is a strong-willed and whip-smart young woman, who grows into a successful lady of the land. Our heroine is also good-natured, well-loved and kindly even to killers. If it weren't for the slightest of faults, her named could be Mary Jane. However, she is too real to be thought of as some caricature of saintliness.
Cather's My Antonia outshines this novel in its stark-yet-evocative descriptions of immigrant life on the prairie, but this is a damn fine book and worthy of the accolades it has received.
Perhaps I've made that sound more exciting than O Pioneers! actually is. There are far too many dull scenes in this book for me to call it a perfect classic, but it is a solid addition to American western frontier literature.
Writing from her experiences, Cather populated her novel with Scandinavian immigrants, gave them backbones and leathery hides, and set them upon the fields of Nebraska. Their characters bloomed into an organic array of flowers, weeds, fruit, and prickly briars. What she sacrifices in the way of drama and action, she more than compensates in personality and the study of human behavior.
The central figure is a strong-willed and whip-smart young woman, who grows into a successful lady of the land. Our heroine is also good-natured, well-loved and kindly even to killers. If it weren't for the slightest of faults, her named could be Mary Jane. However, she is too real to be thought of as some caricature of saintliness.
Cather's My Antonia outshines this novel in its stark-yet-evocative descriptions of immigrant life on the prairie, but this is a damn fine book and worthy of the accolades it has received.
December 20, 2015
Isn't it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years.
If you've read Willa Cather's famous My Antonia, you're already aware of the Bohemian community, those farming pioneers of the American frontier she writes about. The young Swede protagonist of this novel, Alexandra Bergson, is familiar; she grows up to become a fearless business owner and woman of the land. Though she finds her best expression within the soil (in so many orchards and cornfields she brings to life), she is also intrigued by the world beyond her country home.
We grow hard and heavy here. We don't move lightly and easily as you do, and our minds get stiff. If the world were no wider than my cornfields, if there were not something beside this, I would n't feel that it was much worth while to work.
In Cather's The Professor's House, Professor Godfrey was just as distraught and unsatisfied as John Bergson, the opening 'voice' of this novel and the dying father of the family; both men relied heavily upon the heiresses of their family. Getting to know Alexandra brings back memories of Thea in Song of the Larks, except that unlike Thea who leaves to become a consumed and indifferent artist, Alexandra finds purpose at home, alongside jealous brothers who refuse to compliment her on her successful endeavors, yet still want to share in the "family's" wealth.
Alexandra makes her father a promise to keep the land that he'd struggled with unsuccessfully, for he believed in her mental girth. She takes a plot of unsuccessful land and turns it into a farming empire, buying a few farms while the price is low, and extending her property. She doesn't know much about love or companionship, and expressive thinking isn't her strong suit so I never got too close to the beat of her thought, but she feels the land in her very waking breath, and through her I saw beauty in toiling the soil:
The air and the earth are curiously mated and intermingled, as if the one were the breath of the other. You feel in the atmosphere the same tonic, puissant quality that is in the tilth, the same strength and resoluteness.
Willa Cather writes about the common lives of farmers, and yet she gracefully paints beautifully serene portraits of the countryside which governs each life, the country which drives the small town drama some characters endure. Her heroines are free thinkers influenced by the liberties of the wild land. She writes of the brown earth, of bitter winters, of flower-laden Springs, and of the Divide: houses tucked low into the ground and made of sod. Her female characters are strong-minded, rough-handed, and hard-working - it's rare that she spends time discussing beauty or attire. Marriage appears in between dialogue, as an afterthought. Work, purpose, artistry, or career, takes precedence with the females of her novels, and yet you don't notice this until you really take a minute to consider it, because of how subtly she infuses this within plot - since Cather disagreed with the feministic approach of some of her female peers, this is not surprising.
This was her second novel, her first, Alexander's Bridge, I have yet to read, and I'm not sure which Cather book I'll try next year. In each of her novels I've read, I've found that there is something intentionally different about the character positioning. One would say that this is the case with all writers who have composed quite a few novels, but there is something affecting about these similar-minded, similarly-situated, yet opposing characters that makes me interested in exploring these books again. In any case, it's not often that you see such a profound defense of the American midlands through aptly descriptive and moving prose.
September 15, 2017
This book gets high marks from the critics, and One of Ours won the Pulitzer Prize, but of all her prairie novels, My Ántoniais my favorite. But they are all well written, all very readable, all worth reading.
October 1, 2015
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Publisher Says: Set on the Nebraska prairie where Willa Cather (1873–1947) grew up, this powerful early novel tells the story of the young Alexandra Bergson, whose dying father leaves her in charge of the family and of the lands they have struggled to farm. In Alexandra's long flight to survive and succeed, O Pioneers! relates an important chapter in the history of the American frontier.
Evoking the harsh grandeur of the prairie, this landmark of American fiction unfurls a saga of love, greed, murder, failed dreams, and hard-won triumph. In the fateful interaction of her characters, Willa Cather compares with keen insight the experiences of Swedish, French, and Bohemian immigrants in the United States. And in her absorbing narrative, she displays the virtuoso storytelling skills that have made her one of the most admired masters of the American novel.
My Review: Simple, unadorned prose gets very wearing when it's also missing some basic character-building. In 122pp, it's not possible to do a Proustian job of lovingly explaining why people are who they are. But [The Picture of Dorian Gray], also a shortie, has the most gorgeously subtle character-building; [Mrs. Dalloway] is another example; so one concludes that Cather just wasn't interested in Lou or Oscar or the French neighbors.
As a moment in time, the book is invaluable. A concise slice of the life led by the crazy dreamers who decided the Old Country was no longer enough for them and their kids, packed what they could afford to carry, and vamoosed for the New World.
There is a private society that's trying to get together a colony of people with all the talents necessary to keep themselves alive on Mars. It's a one-way ticket...just like the pioneers of old.
How I wish I was young and healthy. I'd be on that rocket in a heartbeat.
The Publisher Says: Set on the Nebraska prairie where Willa Cather (1873–1947) grew up, this powerful early novel tells the story of the young Alexandra Bergson, whose dying father leaves her in charge of the family and of the lands they have struggled to farm. In Alexandra's long flight to survive and succeed, O Pioneers! relates an important chapter in the history of the American frontier.
Evoking the harsh grandeur of the prairie, this landmark of American fiction unfurls a saga of love, greed, murder, failed dreams, and hard-won triumph. In the fateful interaction of her characters, Willa Cather compares with keen insight the experiences of Swedish, French, and Bohemian immigrants in the United States. And in her absorbing narrative, she displays the virtuoso storytelling skills that have made her one of the most admired masters of the American novel.
My Review: Simple, unadorned prose gets very wearing when it's also missing some basic character-building. In 122pp, it's not possible to do a Proustian job of lovingly explaining why people are who they are. But [The Picture of Dorian Gray], also a shortie, has the most gorgeously subtle character-building; [Mrs. Dalloway] is another example; so one concludes that Cather just wasn't interested in Lou or Oscar or the French neighbors.
As a moment in time, the book is invaluable. A concise slice of the life led by the crazy dreamers who decided the Old Country was no longer enough for them and their kids, packed what they could afford to carry, and vamoosed for the New World.
There is a private society that's trying to get together a colony of people with all the talents necessary to keep themselves alive on Mars. It's a one-way ticket...just like the pioneers of old.
How I wish I was young and healthy. I'd be on that rocket in a heartbeat.
January 11, 2017
Este es otro libro para sentir más que para dejarse llevar por la trama, es muy cortito, sencillo pero TAN evocador. Habla de gente corriente, de trabajadores y de mujeres emprendedoras a más no poder. El final me ha desconcertado un poco pero en general me ha parecido una delicida de lectura (y además me ha enganchado muchísimo, justo lo que necesitaba).
April 18, 2013
Willa Cather appears to write so effortlessly or, perhaps, I should say, her prose reads so effortlessly. Her characters ring true and the land looms over them all. Of course Cather lived on that prairie and knew that land. Cather knew farm families like the Bergsons and possibly a woman like Alexandra Bergson, whose life was fully formed and influenced by the land.
There are different views of the land's influence on its people:
"John Bergson had the Old-World belief that land, in
itself, is desirable. but this land was an enigma. It was
like a horse that no one knows how to break to harness,
that runs wild and kicks things to pieces. He had an idea
that no one understood how to farm it properly, and this
he often discussed with Alexandra. Their neighbors,
certainly, knew even less about farming than he did."(p 14)
It would fall to Alexandra to lead her family in taming the land as best she could, trying to keep the promise made to her father. After a trip to look at land in another area, Alexandra rides home with her young brother Emil.
"When the road began to climb the first long swells of
the Divide, Alexandra hummed an old Swedish hymn, and Emil
wondered why his sister looked so happy. Her face was so
radiant that he felt shy about asking her. For the first time,
perhaps, since that land emerged from the waters of geologic
ages, a human face was set toward it with love and yearning.
It seemed beautiful to her, rich and strong and glorious. Her
eyes drank in the breadth of it, until her tears blinded her.
Then the Genius of the Divide, the great, free spirit which
breathes across it, must have bent lower than it ever bent
to a human will before. The history of every country begins
in the heart of a man or a woman." (p 35)
Alexandra and her brothers work tirelessly, as do their neighbors. This story is an anthem to those farmers who gave everything to the land, some loving it, some despising it. They are the forerunners of the remaining family farms of today.
One last quote just because I like it's picture of the season:
"Winter had settled down over the Divide again; the season
in which Nature recuperates, in which she sinks in sleep
between the fruitfulness of autumn and the passion of spring.
The birds have gone. The teeming life that goes on down
in the long grass is exterminated. The prairie-dog keeps
to his hole. The rabbits run shivering from one frozen
garden patch to another and are hard put it to find frost-
bitten cabbage stalks. At night the coyotes roam the wintry
waste, howling for food. The variegated fields are all one
color now; the pastures, the stubble, the roads, the sky
are the same leaden gray...One could easily believe that in
that dead landscape the germs of life and fruitfulness
were extinct forever." (p 97)
But formidable people such as Alexandra saw the possibility of spring returning.
Highly recommended
There are different views of the land's influence on its people:
"John Bergson had the Old-World belief that land, in
itself, is desirable. but this land was an enigma. It was
like a horse that no one knows how to break to harness,
that runs wild and kicks things to pieces. He had an idea
that no one understood how to farm it properly, and this
he often discussed with Alexandra. Their neighbors,
certainly, knew even less about farming than he did."(p 14)
It would fall to Alexandra to lead her family in taming the land as best she could, trying to keep the promise made to her father. After a trip to look at land in another area, Alexandra rides home with her young brother Emil.
"When the road began to climb the first long swells of
the Divide, Alexandra hummed an old Swedish hymn, and Emil
wondered why his sister looked so happy. Her face was so
radiant that he felt shy about asking her. For the first time,
perhaps, since that land emerged from the waters of geologic
ages, a human face was set toward it with love and yearning.
It seemed beautiful to her, rich and strong and glorious. Her
eyes drank in the breadth of it, until her tears blinded her.
Then the Genius of the Divide, the great, free spirit which
breathes across it, must have bent lower than it ever bent
to a human will before. The history of every country begins
in the heart of a man or a woman." (p 35)
Alexandra and her brothers work tirelessly, as do their neighbors. This story is an anthem to those farmers who gave everything to the land, some loving it, some despising it. They are the forerunners of the remaining family farms of today.
One last quote just because I like it's picture of the season:
"Winter had settled down over the Divide again; the season
in which Nature recuperates, in which she sinks in sleep
between the fruitfulness of autumn and the passion of spring.
The birds have gone. The teeming life that goes on down
in the long grass is exterminated. The prairie-dog keeps
to his hole. The rabbits run shivering from one frozen
garden patch to another and are hard put it to find frost-
bitten cabbage stalks. At night the coyotes roam the wintry
waste, howling for food. The variegated fields are all one
color now; the pastures, the stubble, the roads, the sky
are the same leaden gray...One could easily believe that in
that dead landscape the germs of life and fruitfulness
were extinct forever." (p 97)
But formidable people such as Alexandra saw the possibility of spring returning.
Highly recommended
October 22, 2017
I was enraptured by Cather's smooth prose, the beautifully woven descriptions of the land with its double facet; hostile wilderness and source of livelihood; I warmed to all the characters, who were exquisitely painted in relation to the different degrees of understanding of the land, I fell prey to the nostalgic hues that tinted the story, its cinematic texture; but when I turned the last page of the book, I felt part of the magic disappeared by Alexandra's conservative morals.
The writing is undeniably delightful, the impression of real life happening through the eyes of very well developed characters straddling three generations and the land finally arising as the sole "winner" in the story tugged at my heartstrings in a cannon of voices, but I also felt the need to substract a star as homage for those two white butterflies fluttering under the canopy of the mulberry tree, which still remains impassible to the ailments of men under the gibbon moon.
I will be looking forward to reading The Song of the Lark and confirm whether My Ántonia is my favorite of the Great Plains Trilogy.
The writing is undeniably delightful, the impression of real life happening through the eyes of very well developed characters straddling three generations and the land finally arising as the sole "winner" in the story tugged at my heartstrings in a cannon of voices, but I also felt the need to substract a star as homage for those two white butterflies fluttering under the canopy of the mulberry tree, which still remains impassible to the ailments of men under the gibbon moon.
I will be looking forward to reading The Song of the Lark and confirm whether My Ántonia is my favorite of the Great Plains Trilogy.
November 19, 2020
The area called "The Divide" and the Nebraska landscape figure almost as characters in Cather's novel, O Pioneers! just as the Mississippi River does in Mark Twain's works. Willa Cather has a wonderfully wistful sense of the land & its importance. Beyond that however, there are pulls & tugs, as some of Cather's characters portray a keen sense of the need to expand their horizons, to explore the world beyond. The focal point in the novel, "Alex" (Alexandra Bergson), while very rooted in the land she occupies in Nebraska, states at one point that It's what goes on in the (outside) world that reconciles me. Meanwhile, regarding another character, a rather worldly Carrie Jensen, it is said that her despondence abated just as soon as she left the prairie.
While not a native of Nebraska, Willa Cather embraced the soil and conveyed Midwestern roots but it seemed only by leaving Nebraska for points much farther east could the author fully appreciate her connection to the area of "The Divide" that is at the the core of this & some of her other memorable tales.
Oddly enough, Willa Cather, who for a fair stretch of time saw herself as William Cather & dressed in men's clothes at a time when few women wore trousers & similar garb, seems to cast characters in O Pioneers! who often seem androgynous.
This is especially true of the main character, Alexandra Bergson. For in a way, "Alex" serves as a model or herald for a robust late 19th Century woman & a vision of what a truly independent woman might become, though someone who is indifferent to romance & sexuality, married to the land as if it were her husband rather than being open to suitors, though the very meek but supportive Carl Lindstrom is definitely more than a casual friend. After Carl's return from Alaska where opportunity failed to surface for him, a meaningful partnership with Alexandra seems in the offing.
The author's 1st novel was in the style of Henry James, an author Willa Cather very much admired but fellow writer Sarah Jewitt emphatically encouraged Cather to write about what she knew best and her subsequent & very successful novels did just that. While there is more than a bit of ambiguity about a few of the characters, I hold with a Cather biographer, Sharon O'Brien, who comments
I don't wish to reveal the plotline in greater detail or the novel's concluding event but this is a book full of well-crafted prose that wraps around the concept of the immigrant experience in rural America and the relationship to the land of people who were not born caring for it but who had to to develop their methods of stewardship one step at a time. Just one example:
Upon returning to Nebraska years later, Cather reckoned that the days of the pioneer were at an end, at least with regard to the Nebraska the author remembered fondly. The various ethnic & religious communities had seemed to lose their distinct qualities, as some folks intermarried, while others moved away & blended in to the fabric of American life elsewhere.
However, in reading about the author's sense of nostalgia for earlier times, I was confronted with the comment from the film Nebraska where one of the characters remarks, "My folks are over there in the Catholic cemetery. Catholics wouldn't be caught dead in this cemetery around all these damned Lutherans!" Some traditions die hard, so to speak...
*1st photo image within my review of a young Willa Cather; 2nd=of the author's childhood home; 3rd= Cather later in life; the last= a landscape in "Willa Cather country", Red Cloud, Nebraska.
While not a native of Nebraska, Willa Cather embraced the soil and conveyed Midwestern roots but it seemed only by leaving Nebraska for points much farther east could the author fully appreciate her connection to the area of "The Divide" that is at the the core of this & some of her other memorable tales.
Oddly enough, Willa Cather, who for a fair stretch of time saw herself as William Cather & dressed in men's clothes at a time when few women wore trousers & similar garb, seems to cast characters in O Pioneers! who often seem androgynous.
This is especially true of the main character, Alexandra Bergson. For in a way, "Alex" serves as a model or herald for a robust late 19th Century woman & a vision of what a truly independent woman might become, though someone who is indifferent to romance & sexuality, married to the land as if it were her husband rather than being open to suitors, though the very meek but supportive Carl Lindstrom is definitely more than a casual friend. After Carl's return from Alaska where opportunity failed to surface for him, a meaningful partnership with Alexandra seems in the offing.
The author's 1st novel was in the style of Henry James, an author Willa Cather very much admired but fellow writer Sarah Jewitt emphatically encouraged Cather to write about what she knew best and her subsequent & very successful novels did just that. While there is more than a bit of ambiguity about a few of the characters, I hold with a Cather biographer, Sharon O'Brien, who comments
To argue that most of Cather's male characters engaged in love affairs are not really male but female, as some of her readers have done, is to question the writer's ability to transcend self, gender & sexuality by adopting other selves and to assume that because Willa Cather was lesbian, she was encoding a lesbian attachment whenever writing of heterosexual love, a rigid view of her fiction.O Pioneers! represents a novel rich in detail and full of memorable characters. Among them is Alexandra Bergson's brother Emil, a college man with a fascination for scientific method and seemingly torn between two worlds. Emil serves as a considerable support for Alexandra, encouraging her entrepreneurial spirit & reflecting her view of nature. Alexandra seems a more than competent administrator of the property she manages and which had been in the care of her late father, from whom she gained an avid respect for the land. Her ability to take risks, unlike two other brothers who were bequeathed land of their own, seems fueled in equal parts by her own imagination but also by her brother Emil's exposure to new ideas while at university, even though he is less than inclined to spend a lifetime as a farmer.
I don't wish to reveal the plotline in greater detail or the novel's concluding event but this is a book full of well-crafted prose that wraps around the concept of the immigrant experience in rural America and the relationship to the land of people who were not born caring for it but who had to to develop their methods of stewardship one step at a time. Just one example:
We hadn't any of us much to do with it, Carl. The land did it. It had its little joke. It pretended to be poor because nobody knew how to work it right; and then, all at once, it worked itself. It woke up out of its sleep & stretched itself, and it was so big, so rich, that we suddenly found we were rich, just from sitting still.
As for me, I began to buy land. For years after that, I was always squeezing & borrowing until I was afraid to show my face at the banks. And then, all at once, men began to come to me offering to lend me money--and I didn't need it! Then I moved ahead & built this house. And now the old story has begun to write itself over there. Isn't it queer: there are only two or three human stories and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years.
Upon returning to Nebraska years later, Cather reckoned that the days of the pioneer were at an end, at least with regard to the Nebraska the author remembered fondly. The various ethnic & religious communities had seemed to lose their distinct qualities, as some folks intermarried, while others moved away & blended in to the fabric of American life elsewhere.
However, in reading about the author's sense of nostalgia for earlier times, I was confronted with the comment from the film Nebraska where one of the characters remarks, "My folks are over there in the Catholic cemetery. Catholics wouldn't be caught dead in this cemetery around all these damned Lutherans!" Some traditions die hard, so to speak...
*1st photo image within my review of a young Willa Cather; 2nd=of the author's childhood home; 3rd= Cather later in life; the last= a landscape in "Willa Cather country", Red Cloud, Nebraska.
April 15, 2020
“She had never known before how much the country meant to her.The chirping of the insects down in the long grass had been like the sweetest music. She had felt as if her heart were hiding down there, somewhere, with the quail and the plover and all the little wild things that crooned or buzzed in the sun. Under the long shaggy ridges, she felt the future stirring.”
This book is as much about the landscape as it is about Alexandra Bergson, an intelligent selfless woman, whose father has entrusted with his land. Working the tough prairie land is difficult, but Alexandra has a love of the land and the determination to follow it through. Her spirit and love of the land reminded me of Scarlett O’Hara (although not as ruthless) and So Big by Edna Ferber.
Willa Cather is a lovely writer who brought the time and the place to life- 1880’s Nebraska, where many of the farmers were immigrants. The melodic flow of her writing was a joy to read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to read more by the author.
This book is as much about the landscape as it is about Alexandra Bergson, an intelligent selfless woman, whose father has entrusted with his land. Working the tough prairie land is difficult, but Alexandra has a love of the land and the determination to follow it through. Her spirit and love of the land reminded me of Scarlett O’Hara (although not as ruthless) and So Big by Edna Ferber.
Willa Cather is a lovely writer who brought the time and the place to life- 1880’s Nebraska, where many of the farmers were immigrants. The melodic flow of her writing was a joy to read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to read more by the author.
July 12, 2024
2024/39
Cather:
The more I read your stories, the more I fall in love with your narrative. The first time I picked up one of your novels seems too far away, let's be honest, a quite short story called A Lost Lady. I remember reading one of the first chapters with my mother, being both of us very fond of birds, especially those that every morning come by the window at home and sing their mellow, pleasant melody; I remember looking at her in horror, with sadness in my eyes, as one of your characters, a hideous monster, was being cruel to a poor, little bird. I might have forgotten the rest of the story—except for the ending—but that scene, a scene that made me cry immediately afterward, is still (sadly) vividly in my mind. Let me tell you that you were too kind to that wicked, heartless boy. Once I finished that book, I knew I would keep visiting you now and then. Two other novellas were my next companions: one of them about an engineer that reminded me a lot of a guy I met in college: a sturdy fellow of few words with the broadest smile I have ever seen; no, it wasn't because of the traits of your character, or because his (your character) fate was the same as my classmate's, but because he, too, is a civil engineer who, in my view, engineers with passion, so to speak. The last time we talked—a very long time ago—he told me he was working on an enormous project, his first important work, or so he said; ironically for you, it was a bridge. I wonder if he knew I had a crush on him back in those days.
The other novella—did you truly believe I forgot about it?—My Mortal Enemy, taught me a good lesson on love (relationships) and friendship. The former, I'll have to pass—you know me, it ain't for me. As for the latter, you taught me right: friendship is the most valuable treasure anyone can have, so when you finally find it, the last thing you want to do is let it go. You must cherish it, and nurture it, as true friendship is as palpable and healthy as it can be. A ubiquitous component of human life.
Let's move on to the thick of this letter. Before O Pioneers!—we'll talk about it later—came Death Comes for the Archbishop. Of course, I don't mean the publication order, but rather my next step on this journey. Let's be real: it is your masterpiece, and please don't get me wrong, I genuinely believe the rest of your works will be as thought-provoking and incredibly written as Death Comes for the Archbishop, and yet I'm afraid to say that, experience-wise, there won't be anything like this (hopefully I am mistaken). Reading the story of an archbishop who had to take over his day-to-day responsibilities for decades was at the same time a journey to the inner life of a man who had to overcome too many changes and obstacles in his surroundings so that he could become a "whole person." Thus, when I was finished with the audiobook, I left my phone on the desk, ready to go to bed, and my great-grandfather was the first person that came to mind before doing so. To tell you the truth, I never met him; he passed away a long time ago—my grandpa turned 97 years old this April, can you believe it?—and the only things about him that came to my ears were told by my grandfather more than a decade ago. Surprisingly and, perhaps, mysteriously, my grandpa hasn't mentioned anything about his father to me again in all these years. He (his father) was a very tall man, almost 1.90 m, taller than anyone in my family that I am aware of, dark-haired, had a thick moustache, and a little scar under his lips. My grandpa never knew why his father got a scar in the first place, but he believed he got it because of a fight; 'he was a man of few friends, reserved yet impulsive, usually having trouble with someone else, despite being a very religious man. He made us go to church every Sunday, and regardless of the weather, regardless of me or my brothers being sick, we had to go to church. It was more likely than not that we, humans, would go extinct than missing a day of church—you can say that,' he chuckled. 'Was it nice, grandpa? Going to church, and overall your daily life, despite your father's stiffness?' I asked, a little bit afraid to bring back possible nostalgic memories in my grandfather's mind. He said his father was not a bad man, he was a working man, but he was by no means a loving father. 'He would spend his days working hard, and going to church not only on Sundays but during the week too, you know, when there was no need,' my grandpa laughed, 'but aside from that, we scarcely saw him at home. He barely talked to us, let alone taking care of us—that was my mother's work. We always had food on the table though, you can be sure of that. He was very strict, yet absent.'
One day he decided it was time to move. It was a very unexpected, sudden decision—there was a tiny place (it can't be called a town as there were less than thirty people already living there) where his father took his family and all their belongings with them. Apparently, there would be better opportunities for him there. My grandpa reminisced about that time, a slight smile appeared on his face: 'We had to walk six kilometers to go to school, around seven kilometers to go to church; there was absolutely nothing around us, just our little home, a small, rustic shelter where my two brothers, my parents, and I used to live, nature, nature, and more nature, and the land that my father was working. Then, as time passed, I vividly remember how new people started to come.' My grandfather said, slightly tired, partly because of his age—I thought—partly because of my inquiries. 'My father passed away shortly after that, if I remember right, he fell off a roof while working as a mason and never recovered from that fall entirely. He was always helping "his neighbor," as he used to call other people,' said he, holding his Bible that he took from his bookcase, as if willing to read it immediately after I leave, ‘man of God he was. A man who knew where to start a new life, for the sake of his family.'
Cather, as you can tell, your novel O Pioneers! reminded me a little of my great-grandfather's story. I do believe when, for such-and-such circumstances, you must leave your place of origin and move to your next destination, at times unwillingly, stubbornly, and other times fearfully, is a sacrifice you must make for the sake of yourself, but most importantly, for the sake of others, usually your loved ones. Maybe my great-grandfather was not the best father according to his son; however, he looked after his family as much as he could, put food on the table and a roof over their heads so that they could have a decent life, despite it all. O Pioneers! is about people making a living while trying to survive and prevail despite the adversities they are facing at the places where they go, but you already know that. I must finally thank you for all these years of enjoyment while reading your books; part of my experience has been about this, reading novels that have changed the way I perceive these little, yet meaningful events in some people's lives. I must confess I'm not only grateful but happy.
Yours sincerely, Axl Ramírez.
My rating on a scale of 1 to 5:
Quality of writing [4.5/5]
Pace [4/5]
Plot development [4.5/5]
Characters [4/5]
Enjoyability [4.5/5]
Insightfulness [4/5]
Easy of reading [4/5]
Photos/Illustrations [N/A]
Total [29.5/7] = 4.21
Cather:
The more I read your stories, the more I fall in love with your narrative. The first time I picked up one of your novels seems too far away, let's be honest, a quite short story called A Lost Lady. I remember reading one of the first chapters with my mother, being both of us very fond of birds, especially those that every morning come by the window at home and sing their mellow, pleasant melody; I remember looking at her in horror, with sadness in my eyes, as one of your characters, a hideous monster, was being cruel to a poor, little bird. I might have forgotten the rest of the story—except for the ending—but that scene, a scene that made me cry immediately afterward, is still (sadly) vividly in my mind. Let me tell you that you were too kind to that wicked, heartless boy. Once I finished that book, I knew I would keep visiting you now and then. Two other novellas were my next companions: one of them about an engineer that reminded me a lot of a guy I met in college: a sturdy fellow of few words with the broadest smile I have ever seen; no, it wasn't because of the traits of your character, or because his (your character) fate was the same as my classmate's, but because he, too, is a civil engineer who, in my view, engineers with passion, so to speak. The last time we talked—a very long time ago—he told me he was working on an enormous project, his first important work, or so he said; ironically for you, it was a bridge. I wonder if he knew I had a crush on him back in those days.
The other novella—did you truly believe I forgot about it?—My Mortal Enemy, taught me a good lesson on love (relationships) and friendship. The former, I'll have to pass—you know me, it ain't for me. As for the latter, you taught me right: friendship is the most valuable treasure anyone can have, so when you finally find it, the last thing you want to do is let it go. You must cherish it, and nurture it, as true friendship is as palpable and healthy as it can be. A ubiquitous component of human life.
Let's move on to the thick of this letter. Before O Pioneers!—we'll talk about it later—came Death Comes for the Archbishop. Of course, I don't mean the publication order, but rather my next step on this journey. Let's be real: it is your masterpiece, and please don't get me wrong, I genuinely believe the rest of your works will be as thought-provoking and incredibly written as Death Comes for the Archbishop, and yet I'm afraid to say that, experience-wise, there won't be anything like this (hopefully I am mistaken). Reading the story of an archbishop who had to take over his day-to-day responsibilities for decades was at the same time a journey to the inner life of a man who had to overcome too many changes and obstacles in his surroundings so that he could become a "whole person." Thus, when I was finished with the audiobook, I left my phone on the desk, ready to go to bed, and my great-grandfather was the first person that came to mind before doing so. To tell you the truth, I never met him; he passed away a long time ago—my grandpa turned 97 years old this April, can you believe it?—and the only things about him that came to my ears were told by my grandfather more than a decade ago. Surprisingly and, perhaps, mysteriously, my grandpa hasn't mentioned anything about his father to me again in all these years. He (his father) was a very tall man, almost 1.90 m, taller than anyone in my family that I am aware of, dark-haired, had a thick moustache, and a little scar under his lips. My grandpa never knew why his father got a scar in the first place, but he believed he got it because of a fight; 'he was a man of few friends, reserved yet impulsive, usually having trouble with someone else, despite being a very religious man. He made us go to church every Sunday, and regardless of the weather, regardless of me or my brothers being sick, we had to go to church. It was more likely than not that we, humans, would go extinct than missing a day of church—you can say that,' he chuckled. 'Was it nice, grandpa? Going to church, and overall your daily life, despite your father's stiffness?' I asked, a little bit afraid to bring back possible nostalgic memories in my grandfather's mind. He said his father was not a bad man, he was a working man, but he was by no means a loving father. 'He would spend his days working hard, and going to church not only on Sundays but during the week too, you know, when there was no need,' my grandpa laughed, 'but aside from that, we scarcely saw him at home. He barely talked to us, let alone taking care of us—that was my mother's work. We always had food on the table though, you can be sure of that. He was very strict, yet absent.'
One day he decided it was time to move. It was a very unexpected, sudden decision—there was a tiny place (it can't be called a town as there were less than thirty people already living there) where his father took his family and all their belongings with them. Apparently, there would be better opportunities for him there. My grandpa reminisced about that time, a slight smile appeared on his face: 'We had to walk six kilometers to go to school, around seven kilometers to go to church; there was absolutely nothing around us, just our little home, a small, rustic shelter where my two brothers, my parents, and I used to live, nature, nature, and more nature, and the land that my father was working. Then, as time passed, I vividly remember how new people started to come.' My grandfather said, slightly tired, partly because of his age—I thought—partly because of my inquiries. 'My father passed away shortly after that, if I remember right, he fell off a roof while working as a mason and never recovered from that fall entirely. He was always helping "his neighbor," as he used to call other people,' said he, holding his Bible that he took from his bookcase, as if willing to read it immediately after I leave, ‘man of God he was. A man who knew where to start a new life, for the sake of his family.'
Cather, as you can tell, your novel O Pioneers! reminded me a little of my great-grandfather's story. I do believe when, for such-and-such circumstances, you must leave your place of origin and move to your next destination, at times unwillingly, stubbornly, and other times fearfully, is a sacrifice you must make for the sake of yourself, but most importantly, for the sake of others, usually your loved ones. Maybe my great-grandfather was not the best father according to his son; however, he looked after his family as much as he could, put food on the table and a roof over their heads so that they could have a decent life, despite it all. O Pioneers! is about people making a living while trying to survive and prevail despite the adversities they are facing at the places where they go, but you already know that. I must finally thank you for all these years of enjoyment while reading your books; part of my experience has been about this, reading novels that have changed the way I perceive these little, yet meaningful events in some people's lives. I must confess I'm not only grateful but happy.
Yours sincerely, Axl Ramírez.
My rating on a scale of 1 to 5:
Quality of writing [4.5/5]
Pace [4/5]
Plot development [4.5/5]
Characters [4/5]
Enjoyability [4.5/5]
Insightfulness [4/5]
Easy of reading [4/5]
Photos/Illustrations [N/A]
Total [29.5/7] = 4.21
March 14, 2014
Where has Willa Cather been all my reading life? Until fairly recently, I'd never heard of her. Now that I've read just one of her novels, I want to read more.
This short novel is centred on Alexandra Bergson, the daughter of Swedish immigrants whose intelligence and hard work brings her success as a farmer in a rural area of early 20th century Nebraska. It's a deceptively simple novel, with a third person narrative progressed in chronological order. However, even though Cather's narrative style is straightforward, economical and without artifice, her descriptions of landscape are deeply poetic and her characters are created with great compassion. Cather made me feel her connection to the time, the place and the people and there is something about her writing which rings true. I'm very happy to have become acquainted with her work.
August 7, 2017
Alexandra Bergson may just be my favorite female protagonist. Holy Moly was I impressed with the strength of this book - considering the time period that it was crafted in.
The Bergson's own a farm in Hanover, Nebraska and while most of the world is moving away from farmland and towards the new technology and quite literally moving closer to the river. Alex puts her foot down and takes control of her family's farm. Despite having 2 older brothers (Lou & Oscar- dimwits!) and 1 younger brother- Emil, she stands up for herself and the future of her land. The novel opened with Emil & Alex playing with a kitten, I knew at once that the descriptions of the prairie lands would hold me captive. Enter a few orchards and sweeping trees and a horse or two and I'm completely "IN" with the setting of this book.
My heart frequently rose and fell over the coarse of this short novel, and the characters held me captive. I grew to love Alex and Marie Shabata (her darling neighbor). The compassion that this novel shows was far ahead of its time. No idea what took me quite so long to pick up a book by Ms. Cather- but I'm so glad I did. Looking forward to more of her work.
The Bergson's own a farm in Hanover, Nebraska and while most of the world is moving away from farmland and towards the new technology and quite literally moving closer to the river. Alex puts her foot down and takes control of her family's farm. Despite having 2 older brothers (Lou & Oscar- dimwits!) and 1 younger brother- Emil, she stands up for herself and the future of her land. The novel opened with Emil & Alex playing with a kitten, I knew at once that the descriptions of the prairie lands would hold me captive. Enter a few orchards and sweeping trees and a horse or two and I'm completely "IN" with the setting of this book.
My heart frequently rose and fell over the coarse of this short novel, and the characters held me captive. I grew to love Alex and Marie Shabata (her darling neighbor). The compassion that this novel shows was far ahead of its time. No idea what took me quite so long to pick up a book by Ms. Cather- but I'm so glad I did. Looking forward to more of her work.
September 30, 2024
“But you show for it yourself, Carl. I’d rather have had your freedom than my land.”
Carl shook his head mournfully. “Freedom so often means that one isn’t needed anywhere. Here you are an individual, you have a background of your own, you would be missed. But off there in the cities there are thousands of rolling stones like me. We are all alike; we have no ties, we know nobody, we own nothing. When one of us dies, they scarcely know where to bury him. Our landlady and the delicatessen man are our mourners, and we leave nothing behind us but a frock-coat and a fiddle, or an easel, or a typewriter, or whatever tool we got our living by. All we have ever managed to do is to pay our rent, the exorbitant rent that one has to pay for a few square feet of space near the heart of things. We have no house, no place, no people of our own. We live in the streets, in the parks, in the theatres. We sit in restaurants and concert halls and look about at the hundreds of our own kind and shudder.”
This book made me feel things😢
(Spoiler)I adore Alexandra, but Frank deserves some consequences for what he did; you don't just shoot people and say oopsie.
Carl shook his head mournfully. “Freedom so often means that one isn’t needed anywhere. Here you are an individual, you have a background of your own, you would be missed. But off there in the cities there are thousands of rolling stones like me. We are all alike; we have no ties, we know nobody, we own nothing. When one of us dies, they scarcely know where to bury him. Our landlady and the delicatessen man are our mourners, and we leave nothing behind us but a frock-coat and a fiddle, or an easel, or a typewriter, or whatever tool we got our living by. All we have ever managed to do is to pay our rent, the exorbitant rent that one has to pay for a few square feet of space near the heart of things. We have no house, no place, no people of our own. We live in the streets, in the parks, in the theatres. We sit in restaurants and concert halls and look about at the hundreds of our own kind and shudder.”
This book made me feel things😢
(Spoiler)I adore Alexandra, but Frank deserves some consequences for what he did; you don't just shoot people and say oopsie.
September 5, 2021
[4.5] Cather left me cold when I read her a few decades ago. I'm so glad I re-visited her! I love so much about this book. I'm not a fan of descriptive prose but Cather's words succinctly placed me in the Nebraska farmland. I understood how the power of the land motivated and inspired Alexandra.
O Pioneers is set in the late 19th and early 20th century and Alexandra, who grows to become an independent and intelligent businesswoman, has to fight against the restraints of her time. One of the most stunning scenes in the novel is a conversation about her future with her brothers, who dismiss her because of her sex. I also liked the unusual development of her relationship with Carl. I am looking forward to returning to more Cather!
O Pioneers is set in the late 19th and early 20th century and Alexandra, who grows to become an independent and intelligent businesswoman, has to fight against the restraints of her time. One of the most stunning scenes in the novel is a conversation about her future with her brothers, who dismiss her because of her sex. I also liked the unusual development of her relationship with Carl. I am looking forward to returning to more Cather!
April 23, 2014
The prairie land of Nebraska, many immigrants from other countries flocked to the wide open spaces and land for the taking, many were defeated by the harsh conditions. Where the weather could make or break one, were intakes were most often re-paid in misfortune. Many would leave, go back to the cities and jobs in factories, but for those who stayed, made wise decisions the land would yield much.
A wonderful story, beautiful but plain prose, descriptive writing, one can feel the beauty and alternately the loneliness of the plains. The people and their ties to the churches of their choice where they found solace and companionship. Alexandra is a very strong woman, but I just loved Ivor with his many flaws, but quiet knowledge of the animals.
Their are tragedies of course, love, and always a need to move forward, to give and retain for future generations.
Loved this simple but brilliant story.
A wonderful story, beautiful but plain prose, descriptive writing, one can feel the beauty and alternately the loneliness of the plains. The people and their ties to the churches of their choice where they found solace and companionship. Alexandra is a very strong woman, but I just loved Ivor with his many flaws, but quiet knowledge of the animals.
Their are tragedies of course, love, and always a need to move forward, to give and retain for future generations.
Loved this simple but brilliant story.
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