New Essays on My Ántonia

My Antonia is undoubtedly Willa Cather’s most famous novel. It is also her most autobiographical novel and her most aesthetically complex; it can be enjoyed both for its simple, pure prose and for its literary depth. The essays in this volume place the novel in the context of American literary history, African-American music, and Southern writing, and offer illuminating ways of reading Cather’s best-known work.

• Original essays by well-known scholars • Accessible, jargon-free prose • Essays attend to issues of gender, race, and sexuality

1. Introduction Sharon O’Brien; 2. My Antonia and African American art Elizabeth Ammons; 3. ‘It ain’t my prairie’: gender, power, and narrative in My Antonia Marilee Lindemann; 4. Time, change, and the burden of revision in My Ántonia Miles Orvell; 5. Displacing Dixie: the Southern subtext in My Antonia Anne Goodwyn Jones.

\' … the well-written essays on O\'Brien\'s collection approach Cather\'s novel from unconventional and even surprising angles. The readings presented here are welcome invitations to think about vital issues of the aesthetics as well as the politics of American literature. … a serious consideration of the vistas opened here will be necessary to gain a better understanding of the aesthetic and cultural complexity of Cather\'s novels\'. Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik