Book Four: My Antonia by Willa Cather

This was a return to another favorite novel which I have not read in many years. It has been too many as I'm ready to read the book again next week (but I will resist). Cather creates characters which symbolize their surroundings and she creates landscapes that are as central as her characters. This is not a writer with a need for experimentation -- she tells seemingly straightforward stories which can be peeled back in countless ways. While the book title focuses your attention on the young "Bohemian" Antonia, it is the narrator, Jim Burden, that carries the weight of the book. (Yes, I get the "Burden" and weight connection. Cather is great with names, my favorite being Wick Cutter, a character of more than questionable honor).

This was the last of three "pioneer" books Cather wrote and through it we learn about the challenges of making it out West, which in this case is Nebraska. Her description of the landscape as a living entity is better than some of her minor characters, which at times could use some more depth. But we get to know Burden very well and Antonia is a foil for all that he goes through. She is the landscape which he returns to and finds weathered but still surviving.

Cather also celebrates the ordinary, knowing that every ordinary life contains much which is extraordinary if we make the effort to see it. Burden talks about meeting up with Lena, one of his small town friends, when he is in the city studying at the university. He says:
"...the Danish laundry girls and the three Bohemian Marys. Lena had brought them all back to me. It came over me, as it had never done before, the relation between girls like those and the poetry of Virgil. If there were no girls like them in the world, there would be no poetry."

Women in Cather's novel are usually strong, and much has been made of this "feminist" mode of writing. Actually, it is a realist mode that many realists could not fathom since realists are by nature confined by their own limits of reality. It is no secret that women in the developing areas took on several roles that were ordinarily reserved for men. With a limited amount of people the settlers had to overcome sexism and racism in order to survive -- in some ways those "isms" can been seen as the "luxury" of those with options. Without options, people drop the stereotypes and seek help from each other. Cather understands this, perhaps because she spent her formative years in the Nebraska prairies.

Cather's Nebraska prairies also provide a setting as remote as most science fiction novels; she uses that remoteness to magnify the human condition and character. Some are found wanting, some succeed beyond expectations, and many just meet their goals. But all of them find their condition and character challenged, and it is in the response that we get the story.

Finally, (and I have more to say but this is a blog, not a book) Cather knows how to write. Her words are well chosen, evoke strong images, and are worth a slow read.

Reading Challenges

Okay, I could go on about this book for a long time. It was good that I so thoroughly wanted to read more because this was a tough week. I'm a serious hockey fan and Red Wings fan, so that got in the way (and I'm accepting condolences on the Red Wings loss). I had another evening meeting this week, a few evening phone calls for work, and, oh yes, my wife's birthday and our 24th wedding anniversary. Plus, the two youngest provide plenty of opportunity for distraction and even my college-age daughter had to challenge me to Guitar Hero! Nothing extraordinary, but life is just busy. But the forced reading is truly proving to be a pleasure. It is a chance to shift gears and focus on something else, let my mind be challenged in new ways, and to slow down. I've made it through a month and am looking forward to moving forward.

I'm definitely giving up other things. My stamp collection is being ignored, but since I collect for fun that is okay. It is one thing I can work on to relax, and right now the books are doing that for me. I'm spending less time reading other blogs, responding to emails, and generally being on the computer -- all good. I'm even watching few movies, which were not all that many to begin with. Now, I might get one in on an off-reading night (and I do recommend "Frost/Nixon" as a great movie to watch).

So I read on with no regrets.

Next Up?

After posting this I'm going to look over Atul Gawande's "Better," which has been recommended to me by different people. I'm getting into a non-fiction, fiction rotation which is not all bad, but not at all intentional. I got a recommendation from a trusted literary friend to read Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." Rob is trying to keep a low profile on the internet so I said I would not use his name (oops!). I have a long list of books to read, but I love your suggestions.

I also have four "official" followers and several people have told me they are looking at this. So please, comment! Just say hi! Tell me to write more, write less, or learn to write. Just let me know you are out there (I feel like a late night radio DJ).

Happy reading!