My Ántonia (Willa Cather Scholarly Edition)

In this novel Willa Cather takes the stuff of everyday life and transforms it into epic literature by way of the alchemy of her style, her tone, and her characters who are completely alive. She sets a tone of nostalgia right away with a frame that describes the chance encounter on a passenger train out west between Jim Burden and an acquaintance where they share their common memories of a spirited young Bohemian woman on the plains. Then we have the finest thing ever written in American Literature: “All the years that have passed have not dimmed my memory of that first glorious autumn.” And we’re off.

The setting of Black Hawk, Nebraska at the end of the 1800s provides the background for the world of the small town growing up with a population of farmers and merchants, immigrants and itinerant cowboys. We witness throughout this largely plotless though riveting novel the joys and the heartbreaks in this world. The narrator, Jim Burden, is profoundly influenced by the community but he also is fated to depart for the East. A few subsequent visits to his hometown over the ensuing decades round out the stories of the characters who had such lively and eventful times growing up.

I don’t want to diminish Cather’s powerful imagination but I think one of the things that’s so wonderful about this novel is the way that she used her own experiences to help her tell this story. Two of the bulls in the novel are named Gladstone and Brigham Young and this apparently was what her father called his own bulls on account of the stubborn disposition in one and the physical adequacy in the other. This kind of true life inspiration didn’t go unnoticed in Cather’s lifetime. According to the footnotes of the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition one local immigrant’s obituary made the claim about a passage in ‘My Antonia’ that “There is no doubt that the inspiration for this sketch came from her acquaintance with Mr. Hansen.”

Cather quotes Virgil in saying “in the lives of mortals the best days are the first to flee” and this book is a profound exploration of this theme of the early formative influences of life and their effect on our characters and personalities. It can also be understood to show the way the character of a community or nation is formed by its past as well. Cather also wrote that “Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again” and I would say that this book, too, is a reality, and reading it is better than anything that can ever happen to one.

I read it in high school - what a waste - it was SO MUCH BETTER as an 'adult' !! ...PLEASE read it again, but buy an edition like the one I did (college/scholarly edition) as you'll get great footnotes and context for Willa Cather's life. I hope you read it - what an edification for us - our ancestors were beautiful people.

I first read this book when I was in junior high school. I admit that, at the time, I did not appreciate the strengths of the book and the quality of its writing. I am quite glad that I decided to give it another chance, as I now understand why it is considered to be a classic in literature. It is simply a beautifully written book, covering many of the themes that one stumbles across in life and coalescing them into a work of extraordinary breadth.

The book is the story of two young people, Jim Burden and Antonia Shimerda. They meet for the first time when Jim is ten years old and Antonia is fourteen. Recently orphaned, Jim has moved to the Great Prairie to live with his grandparents in Nebraska. Antonia, on the other hand, has been wrenched from her homeland in Bohemia, emigrating with her parents to the United States and finding herself in Nebraska. Jim and Antonia's chance encounter on a train sets the stage for the forging of a friendship and unconditional love that time will not diminish.

The book relates the harshness of immigrant life through the eyes of Jim, who narrates the events contained in the book. There is a relentless stoicism about the book, which is written in spare, clear prose. With intense imagery and descriptive exactitude, late nineteenth century Nebraska comes to life. It also relates the paths that each of the characters choose to follow, as well as the vicissitudes of life that mold and shape them in ways that no one would have imagined.

The focus of the book, which is also a coming of age tale, seems to be on the female characters and their strengths. Consequently, the book has a faintly feminist undercurrent to it, as all the women in it seem to be survivors, despite the hardships that they encounter. This is, without a doubt, a life affirming book, wrought with great feeling and a decided sense of time and place. Yet, despite its poignancy, the book is surprisingly unsentimental and straightforward. It is a testament to the author's literary talent that this book has emerged as a timeless classic. Bravo!