Willa Cather: Novels of the New World

About this course:

Willa Cather's unique literary voice took on the experience of American settlers in a new land with a passion and diversity no other writer has shown. In this course, we explore a variety of landscapes and histories, starting with her ground-breaking story of settlers in prairie Nebraska, My Antonia. From there we move to what is arguably her masterpiece, Death Comes for the Archbishop, a culturally complex and beautiful novel of the American Southwest, and end by joining French settlers in Quebec in Shadows on the Rock, going backwards in time as we read. Our discussions involve close reading (including readings by local actors) and historical context. Suggested book: My Antonia, Death, Comes for the Archbishop, and Shadows on the Rock. Students are expected to have read Book 1 of My Antonia for the first class meeting.