![]() ![]() I don’t say this about very many books from this era but I enjoy her writing and I understand a little bit of that midwestern sensibility that I’ve found in some of her writing. I find Cather’s work to be very accessible. There’s not a lot of action in a book like this, but we do manage to get some romance – between Alexandra and her childhood friend Carl, and between Alexandra’s younger brother Emil and Marie Shabata … a married neighbor. But along with this almost bleak life, we also see the other side of what it takes to be a pioneer – a love of the land, a respect for neighbors and a simple belief in doing what’s right. The book was published in 1913, and really brings the harsh reality of pioneer life into focus. ![]() When the patriarch, John Bergson, dies, his daughter Alexandra inherits the farm and despite set-backs that have neighbors giving up and moving on, she is determined to make it work. Swedish immigrants, the Bergson’s, work a farm near Hanover, Nebraska. Willa Cather’s novel, O Pioneers! is a poetic look at the realities and struggles of these early pioneers – specifically the often unsung, over-looked women who fought and toiled in the country. It is a harsh and lonely life to be one of the pioneers in a young country. The American frontier … the prairie fields of Nebraska. ![]() I was impressed with the writing, but I never read anything else by Cather … until now. I first encountered Willa Cather’s work when I was in college and we read My Antonia for a modern lit class. ![]()
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