71 Willa Cather Facts That You Should Know About The American Author

Willa Cather was known for her descriptions of life on the American frontier as an immigrant through her novels, a collection of short stories, essays, and poems.

'Alexander's Bridge', published in 1912, was Cather's first novel and a true narrative of cosmopolitan life. 'Sapphira and the Slave Girl', Cather's last novel, was published in 1940, and it was harsher in tone and subject matter than her other works.

During the course of her life, Cather wrote 12 novels, six collections of short stories, and two poetry anthologies, along with numerous works of nonfiction, letters, articles, and speeches. Willa Cather died of a brain hemorrhage on April 24, 1947, at the age of 73, in her Manhattan residence at 570 Park Avenue.

Continue reading to learn more information about Willa Cather and her writings. After this, you may also look at other fun fact articles like Will Roger facts and William Faulkner facts.

Fun Facts About Willa Cather

Wilella was Cather's given name, but she was addressed by her family as 'Willa' or, more commonly, 'Willie,' a traditional Southern pronunciation. For most of her life, she signed herself 'Willie' or 'Aunt Willie' in many of her family correspondence.

Despite her mother's efforts to convert her into a 'woman,' young Willa cut her hair and wore trousers, contrary to the time's traditions. During her time at the University of Nebraska, Willa Cather disguised herself as a male and went by the name 'William,' her mythical twin brother.

Willa Sibert Cather as she appears in her books might not be the actual Willa Cather. She did not, like Ántonia, live her life on the Great Plains farm raising a large family, commit herself to the Catholic Church like Bishop Latour, or enchant a succession of beautiful men like Mrs. Forrester.

She was a fiercely independent, opinionated, extremely brilliant, practical, frequently affectionate, and occasionally cantankerous writer in New York City throughout the last four decades of her life.

Willa Sibert Cather was raised as a Baptist and subsequently became an Episcopalian, yet two of her most popular books were so immersed in Catholicism that many mistook her for a Catholic.

Willa Cather's identity as a lesbian is now accepted far and wide. She resided in New York City for 38 years in a relationship with a professional editor, Edith Lewis. Lewis' editorial abilities are likely to have contributed to her exquisite writing style.

Facts About Willa Cather's Writing Career

Willa Cather published her first book, 'April Twilights', with a high-end vanity press in 1903, which was a volume of poetry, not a novel or a collection of short stories, and she continued to produce poetry for the rest of her life.

Much of Cather's literary life was influenced by her admiration for immigrant families establishing their lives and overcoming the hardships of the Nebraska plains. She used to visit immigrant families of her neighborhood as a child and would return home giddy with the sentiment that she got into another person's skin.

Cather chose to create a novel revolving around the events of her childhood friend Annie Sadilek Pavelka's life. She was a Bohemian girl, forming the basis for the titular character of My Ántonia, after a vacation to Red Cloud in 1916.

Cather was enthralled by French-Canadian pioneers of Quebec that landed in Red Cloud during the time she was a young woman and tries to portray that in her writing.

Cather's work is known for its nostalgic tone and themes, which are based on memories of her childhood on the American prairies. As a result, a feeling of location is central to her work, with references to land, the frontier life, pioneering, and ties with western landscapes.

In 1944, the National Institute of Arts and Letters awarded Cather the gold medal for fiction, a distinguished prize given for an author's complete accomplishments.

Facts About Willa Cather's Stories

'O Pioneers!', released in 1913, was Cather's second novel. Previously, Cather wrote a novel set in Pittsburgh called 'Fanny,' but it was never published.

Cather's very well-known and praised work, 'My Antonia', was nominated for the first Pulitzer Prize but didn't win. 'One of Ours', for which she eventually earned a Pulitzer Prize, was widely regarded as a poorer work.

Although it follows its protagonist, Claude Wheeler, through the battlefields of World War I, she urged it not to be read like a war novel and had to be persuaded to change the title to just 'Claude'.

Cather drew on her own life frequently in her writings, but she always hid her presence. She didn't want to write about herself in a way that was overt or evident although 'Sapphira and the Slave Girl', her most recent novel, ends with a first-person recollection of her youth.

Facts About Willa Cather's Childhood

Cather was born in 1873 in Virginia on her grandmother's estate. Charles Cather was her father, and Mary Virginia Boak, a former schoolteacher, was her mother.

Cather moved to Willow Shade along with her family. It was a Greek Revival-style house built upon 130 acres (0.5 sq.km.) that was handed down by her paternal grandparents when she was 12 months old.

Even though she was born in Nebraska, Cather was essentially a Virginian. Only a few of her books take place in the plains, others take place in New York, San Francisco, New Mexico, Quebec, France, and, in the case of her last novel, 'Sapphira and the Slave Girl', Virginia.

In the early 1890s, while a student of the University of Nebraska, Willa Sibert Cather began writing theatre and music reviews for the Nebraska State Journal newspaper that were so harsh in their criticism that she earned a reputation among touring performers as a true 'meat ax' critic.

Before becoming a famous novelist, Cather was one of America's most accomplished female journalists. Her first job out of university was as the editor of The Home Monthly in Pittsburgh, and in 1906 she moved to New York to work for the tremendously successful McClure's Magazine, where she eventually rose to the position of managing editor.

She quit her job at McClure's in 1912 to pursue her dream of becoming a full-time writer.

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