Willa Cather

One of Ours Willa Cather

An intimate story of young man's life. Claude Wheeler's stormy youth, his enigmatic marriage, and the final adventure which releases the baffled energy of the boy's nature, are told with almost epic simplicity. World War I offers him even more, but he may crave excitement more than life itself can allow. Wanting it as much as he does can't protect him from the consequences of personal bravado in an age of killing machines. But behind the personal drama there is an ever deepening sense of national drama, of national character, working itself our through individuals and their destiny. Willa Cather is among the most eminent female American authors. She is known for her depictions of U. S. prairie life in novels like O Pioneers, My Antonia, and Death Comes for the Archbishop. Cather was born in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley but her family relocated to Nebraska in 1883 and she spent the rest of her childhood in Red Cloud, Nebraska. She insisted on attending college, so her family borrowed money so she could enrol at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While there she became a regular contributor to the Nebraska State Journal. After failing to obtain a position at UNL, she moved to Pennsylvania, where she taught high school and worked for Home Monthly and McClure's Magazine. The latter publication serialized her first novel, Alexander's Bridge, which was heavily influenced by Henry James. For her novels she returned to the prairie for inspiration, and these works became popular and critical successes. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for One of Ours