My Ántonia

“My Ántonia” evokes the Nebraska prairie life of Willa Cather’s childhood, and
commemorates the spirit and courage of immigrant pioneers in America. One of
Cather’s earliest novels, written in 1918, it is the story of Ántonia
Shimerda, who arrives on the Nebraska frontier as part of a family of Bohemian
emigrants. Her story is told through the eyes of Jim Burden, a neighbor who
will befriend Ántonia, teach her English, and follow the remarkable story of
her life. Working in the fields of waving grass and tall corn that dot the
Great Plains, Ántonia forges the durable spirit that will carry her through
the challenges she faces when she moves to the city. But only when she returns
to the prairie does she recover her strength and regain a sense of purpose in
life. In the quiet, probing depth of Willa Cather’s art, Ántonia’s story
becomes a mobbing elegy to those whose persistence and strength helped build
the American frontier. Willa Cather was a great artist. —Truman Capote No
romantic novel ever written in America, by man or woman, is one half so
beautiful as “My Ántonia”. —H. L. Mencken The time will come when Willa Cather
will be ranked above Hemingway. —Leon Edel