Understanding O Pioneers! and My Ántonia: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents

by Sheryl Meyering

Overview

Willa Cather's novels Oh Pioneers! and My Ántonia are at once accurate representations of life on the midwestern prairies in the era of their first settlement and continuations of a literary tradition that stretches back to Virgil and other classical writers who celebrated nature and pondered humanity's place within it. Both novels are given full literary treatment here with close examination of the timeless themes of love, loss, the transience of youth, and the influence of the land itself on people's lives. For readers who want to go beyond the subjects of these novels, to enter the places and eras Cather immortalized in her writing, this casebook also situates the two novels within their historical contexts with a rich array of documentation. Letters and jourbanals from the late 1800s and early 1900s help readers understand the hardships and rewards of everyday life on the plains. Poignant personal accounts as well as government reports document the special challenges women and immigrants faced on the frontier. Readers will also be able to explore how the issues in Cather's novels continue to shape American culture today. Reports from congressional hearings and personal interviews give varied perspectives on the disappearance of the family farm and an USDA timeline chronicles the causes and ongoing ramifications of this important issue.

Students and their teachers will find a wealth of valuable information for their classroom discussions and research projects in this interdisciplinary casebook. Each topic chapter offers ideas for oral and written exploration as well as lists of further suggested readings. Students will not only gain a better understanding of Cather's novels here, but will be able to make connections between their thematic concerns and contemporary social issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313313905
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/30/2002
Series:	The Greenwood Press "Literature in Context" Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

SHERYL L. MEYERING is Professor of English at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville and associate editor of the literary jourbanal Papers on Language and Literature. She is the editor of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Woman and Her Work (1989), Sylvia Plath: A Reference Guide (1990), and A Reader's Guide to the Short Stories of Willa Cather (1994). She has also written extensively on Nathaniel Hawthorne as well as on several 19th-century women writers.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Fleeting Moments of Beauty: A Literary Analysis of O Pioneers! and My Ántonia
Everyday Life on the Plains
The Coming of the Railroad
Another Country, Another Language: Foreign Born Pioneers
Women on the Frontier
The Disappearance of the Family Farm
Index

Editorial Reviews

Gr 9 Up-In addition to critique, students will find period and modern selections on topics related to the American frontier. This accessible volume will help readers place Willa Cather's work in the context of her time and appreciate her continuing relevance. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Though the two novels by American writer Willa Cather (1873-1947) deal with universal themes of human hopes and disappointments, says Meyering (English, Southern Illinois U.-Edwardsville), readers can appreciate them more by understanding the specific time and place they are set in: the US prairie the generation after European settlement. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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