Author Profile: Willa Cather

Willa Cather

BIO

Willa Sibert Cather was born in the home of her maternal grandmother in 1873 in the bluegrass region of western Virginia. Cather’s name was originally Willela (after her father’s younger sister who died in childhood), but the family always called her "Willie." They did this because as a child Willa altered her name in the family Bible and insisted that she was named after her uncle William Sibert Boak.

In the spring of 1883, when Willa was nine, the Cathers moved to a farm near Red Cloud, Nebraska. They came to Nebraska by train because the journey by wagon was so tedious. Cather’s first home in the state of Nebraska was with her Grandfather on the Divide. However, a year later the Cather’s left the farm to live in the town of Red Cloud, so the children could attend school. Red Cloud was a town of 2,500 people. It was a busy place that saw the passing of eight passenger trains a day. The people of Red Cloud played an important part in the life and work of Willa Cather. Two of Red Cloud’s doctors became her friends and allowed her to tag along on their calls, where once she assisted in giving chloroform to a boy who was about to have his leg amputated. Cather also medically experimented on animals with a set of medical instruments, this disgusted and outraged some of the townspeople. In high school Willa Cather's greatest ambition was to become a doctor, a profession few women practiced.

Cather was also inspired by the actors and actresses who came to perform at the town's Opera House, a place she adored. The children of Red Cloud would put on their own shows where Willa proved to be an "accomplished actress," but she always played a boy. This was no surprise because Cather was a nonconformist who preferred to dress as a boy and wear her hair shorter than most boys of her day. She expressed a "vast contempt for skirts and dresses," and later when she attended the University of Nebraska she continued to dress in a masculine way. She wore suspenders, starched shirts and insisted while in college to continue pursuing the male roles in theater productions. However, she finally let her hair grow, only to please the mother of a friend.

Cather graduated from high school in June of 1890, at the age of 16. She was the only student of the three who graduated who intended to pursue college. She would enter the University of Nebraska at Lincoln the following September. Cather went to Lincoln with the intent of studying science. She was very interested in botany, astronomy and chemistry. However, the event that changed her heart toward writing occurred in March 1891. A professor of Cather’s assigned a theme to be written and the professor was so impressed with Cather’s work that without telling her, he sent the essay to The Journal, the town's paper. He also sent it to the student literary magazine, The Hesperian. Cather opened the Sunday paper to find her essay in print and from that time on she forgot about medicine and concentrated on writing.

Throughout her college years Cather continued to write for The Journal and whenever the chance to earn money writing for the paper arose, Cather would put aside her school work to fill the pages of the paper. In the two years she wrote for The Journal she produced over 300 pieces, many essay length. Cather became The Journal’s drama critic and she "quickly made a name for herself." In addition to her school work and writing for the paper, Cather also did some practice teaching during her senior year. By the time Cather graduated from the University in 1895, she had a plethora of experience in the writing field.

Cather returned home to Red Cloud after graduation and began to write for The Courier. However, her break came when she was offered a job at Home Monthly, a magazine in Pittsburgh. Cather was 22 when she left home to go east and begin the start of her professional career as a writer. In addition to writing stories for Home Monthly, Cather also helped with editing, writing editorials and also nonfiction work. Plus, she continued to send her column to The Journal. After a year of writing for Home Monthly, Cather was offered a job at The Pittsburgh Leader. She took the job, but continued to write for Home Monthly under a pseudonym. At this time Cather was entering a very "marriageable age" however, she enjoyed her liberty and wanted to remain free.

There is no proof that Cather ever came close to marriage. The men she loved the most were her father and brothers. In her book WILLA CATHER: The Emerging Voice, Sharon O’Brien discusses Cather’s sexuality. She dwells predominantly on Cather’s relationship with her beloved friend Louise Pound. After her affair with Pound ended, Cather found "more enduring and supportive relationships" with Isabelle McClung and later with Edith Lewis, yet she never declared publicly that she was in fact a lesbian.

Cather’s newspaper career ended in 1901. Her last years at The Leader produced little work, and therefore when she returned from a visit with her brother she became a Latin teacher at Central High School in Pittsburgh. She later taught English and then transferred to Allegheny High School across the river where she taught for three years. Cather did not have a natural teaching talent, but her classes "were not dull." In 1903, McClure's began soliciting Cather’s stories. McClure offered to publish her stories in book form. He told her that he wanted to publish everything she wrote. After 5 years of teaching, Cather moved to New York to work full time at McClure's. At that time, McClure’s had a reputation for muckraking. Cather, who had no interest in muckraking was obviously involved with the magazine because of its literary content. Cather’s duties included reading the manuscripts that came in and also whipping into shape article sent in by "semiliterate" people who knew a lot about the copper mines in the West, but didn't write well. During the years that Cather helped to edit the magazine she had very little time to write. During her time at McClure's she worked in Boston, Europe, and wrote McClure’s biography.

Cather worked for McClure's from 1906-1912 and became the leading magazine editor of her day. Working at the magazine changed her life, and the experience was important to her. "She had been a good editor, as she had been a good critic and a good teacher. Now she wanted one thing only, to be a writer, a good one." She resigned as editor in order to devote all her time to writing and in 1912 her first novel, ALEXANDER'S BRIDGE, was published. From that point on, Willa Cather became a great American novelist. Willa Cather died in 1947 at the age of 70.

Vital Stats

--- Willa Cather was born on December 7, 1873, near Winchester, Virginia.

--- Her name was originally Willela (after her father's younger sister who died in childhood) but the family always called her "Willie."

--- To the outrage of the townspeople of Red Cloud, Nebraska, Willa used to medically experiment on animals with a set of medical instruments.

--- In high school her greatest ambition was to become a doctor.

--- Willa was a nonconformist who chose to dress as a boy and wear her hair shorter than most boys of her day.

--- She entered the University of Nebraska at Lincoln after graduating high school.

--- Her intent was to study science, however she changed her focus to writing after a professor sent an essay of hers to the town's paper, The Journal, and it got published.

--- During her years at the University she wrote over 400 pieces for The Journal and quickly made a name for herself.

--- After graduation, Cather was offered a job at Home Monthly, a magazine in Pittsburgh; in addition to writing stories for them, she also helped with editing, writing editorials, and nonfiction.

--- Although Cather was at an "eligible" marriage age during her years after college, she never even came close to marriage.

--- She never publicly declared her sexuality, but many believed she might have been a lesbian.

--- Cather's newspaper career ended in 1901 and she then became a Latin and English teacher.

--- After teaching for a few years, Cather went to work for McClure's in New York from 1906-19

--- Her first novel, ALEXANDER'S BRIDGE was published in 1912, from that point on Cather became a great American novelist.

--- She died on April 24, 1947 at the age of 70.

ARTICLE

Willa's wonderful women are what I like to call them --- those creative, visionary, substantial women who populate the pages of Willa Cather's novels and short stories.

Consider just a few of them. Alexandra Bergson, the protagonist of OH PIONEERS, single-handedly manages a farm and raises a family on the wind-blasted Nebraska prairie. Nancy Till, the abused slave in SAPPHIRA AND THE SLAVE GIRL, escapes from her tormentors and finds her way to Canada. Antonia Shimerda, the heroine of MY ANTONIA, helps settle the Nebraska frontier. Wondrous women all, women with stories to tell that will enthrall you.

Willa Cather was born in 1875 in Virginia. When she was nine years old, her father bought a farm in Nebraska and moved his family there. Life on the Nebraska plains was harsh, and she said once, "I felt a good deal as if we had come to the end of everything." She came to love that part of the country, however, and almost all of her novels are set in the West.

She began writing when she was in college, publishing short stories and articles in local magazines and newspapers. She continued her career in journalism in Pittsburgh, where she lived for approximately 10 years, writing reviews and articles and editing the Home Monthly, a magazine for homemakers.

A chance meeting with novelist Sarah Orne Jewett persuaded her to try her hand at fiction, and in 1913 she published OH PIONEERS, her first novel. That novel was followed by THE SONG OF THE LARK, MY ANTONIA, and SAPPHIRA AND THE SLAVE GIRL.

Willa Cather writes with passion and lyricism about women and the choices they make to fulfill their hopes and dreams. These are women whose stories will linger in your heart and mind.

--- Judith Handschuh