Literature Page

Author: Willa Cather

Age: High school and up.

Genre: General fiction, classics (Some may also classify this as historical fiction, though when it was written, the content was fairly contemporary.)

Topics for Discussion: war, idealism

Summary: Claude is an idealist who is disillusioned with life as a farmer. Marriage and a home of his own do little to assuage his discontent, but When World War I begins, he sees his chance for a more exciting, memorable life. As the reader may anticipate, Claude finds little comfort in the realities of war.

Book Review: It's about time that I reviewed one of Cather's books, considering I wrote my senior paper on her for my BA. When I first started working on my paper, I'd never heard of this particular novel; Cather seems to be remembered only for My Antonia and O Pioneers!, but this Pulitzer Prize winning novel is often overlooked or completely forgotten. An unfortunate state of affairs, as I truly feel this is her finest work. Cather develops a complex character that has much more depth and real humanity than any of Cather's previous characters.

Multimedia:

Christian Perspectives: There is very little in this novel that I found objectionable, which is not the case with Cather's other works. The only slight criticism I have is that religion is shown in a very specific light in order to generate disapproval for extremism. Claude's mother is shown to be overly strict and pious, and later his wife is more interested in missionary endeavors than in her husband and home. It's unfortunate that these are the only Christian depictions in the novel; while they are valid depictions, they speak of stereotypes that many Christians would not agree with or live up to.