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Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather
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About This Book
A tender biography of one of the greatest authors of the twentieth century and an elegant exploration of artistic endurance, as told by a lifelong lover of Willa Cather's work The story of Willa Cather is defined by a lifetime of determination, struggle, and gradual emergence. Some show their full powers early; yet Cather was the opposite. She took her time and transformed herself by stages. The writer who leapt into the forefront of American letters with O Pioneers! (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915), and My Ántonia (1918) was already well into middle age. Through years of provincial journalism in Nebraska, brief spells of teaching, and editorial work on magazines, she persevered in pursuit of the ultimate goal—literary immortality. Unlike Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald, her idealism was unironic, and she stood alone among the great modern authors—at odds with the fashionable attitudes of her time. Combining intricate analysis with an empathetic, lyrical voice, Benjamin Taylor uncovers the reality of Cather's artistic development, from modest beginnings to the triumphs of her mature years. His book is simultaneously an homage to her character, a warm consideration of her work, and a case being made to read Cather with renewed vigor.
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Reviews
"Nevertheless, the author presents a rewarding and perceptive portrait, providing a valuable assessment of Cather's intriguing character and the enduring importance of her oeuvre."
"But Taylor knows when to bear down."
"With great feeling and deeply informed perception, Taylor helps us readers realize anew the sustained effort it took for Cather to meet 'the rest of herself,' in her novels and her life."
"Chasing Bright Medusas clocks in at just over 150 pages but it offers a fine introduction to one of the leading novelists of the American frontier ..."
"There have been a half dozen biographies of Willa Cather since her death in 1947, most notably substantial studies of the writer's life and work by James Woodress and Hermione Lee."
"It's a strong overview of Cather's bibliography that's as concise as her best novels."
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