Willa Cather Remembered

Book excerpt: The Willa Cather whom friends and acquaintances knew is not well known to contemporary readers. Bourgeois and midwestern, she was not a member of the Social Registerøsociety like Edith Wharton nor of the avant-garde or expatriate circles, as was Gertrude Stein, nor was she a member of the "lost generation" of the younger F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. In the 1920s Cather turned fifty and was intent on fully developing her talent, writing six major novels during that decade. Willa Cather Remembered comprises reminiscences of the author written between the 1920s and 1980s by people ranging from close friends to journalistic observers and acquaintances. The materials are drawn from newspapers and journals, portions of books, and a few previously unpublished personal letters or reflections. Many of the writers knew Cather for many years; others knew her at a particular time and place, and a few only saw her in passing. Some are celebrities, such as Truman Capote; others are lesser-known but important names, such as Henry Seidel Canby, editor of the Saturday Review of Literature, and Fanny Butcher, editor of the Chicago Tribune book section. A few of the commentators, though they may have respected Cather in one way or another, are highly critical of her; others are unabashed admirers. All, however, present Cather as a memorable character with an unmistakable presence. These recollections by people who knew Cather throughout the course of her professional life will acquaint readers with the woman who incited one classmate at the University of Nebraska to say, "I don't know if I like Willie, but she's never dull."