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497th out of 1,617 books
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3,823 voters
My Mortal Enemy
by
Willa Cather
First published in 1926, this book is Cather's sparest and most dramatic novel, a dark and oddly prescient portrait of a marriage that subverts our oldest notions about the nature of happiness and the sanctity of the hearth.
Paperback, 112 pages
Published
October 31st 1990
by Vintage
(first published 1926)
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Mar 09, 2013
Vale
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Vale by:
Piperitapitta
Shelves:
north-american-literature
O antica, solitaria lacrima!
Si può al contempo amare e odiare la stessa persona? Lo scriveva già Catullo nel suo famoso epigramma Odi et amo e il tema è antichissimo, ma in questo racconto lungo di Willa Cather c’è qualcosa in più. La scrittrice scava nel passato portando alla luce resti di una vita che non è stata, rimpianti che con il passare degli anni hanno perso la malinconica evanescenza per marmorizzarsi in un cupo astio.
Conosci quella poesia Heine in cui l'autore scopre nei propri occhi...more
Si può al contempo amare e odiare la stessa persona? Lo scriveva già Catullo nel suo famoso epigramma Odi et amo e il tema è antichissimo, ma in questo racconto lungo di Willa Cather c’è qualcosa in più. La scrittrice scava nel passato portando alla luce resti di una vita che non è stata, rimpianti che con il passare degli anni hanno perso la malinconica evanescenza per marmorizzarsi in un cupo astio.
Conosci quella poesia Heine in cui l'autore scopre nei propri occhi...more
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Bitter and quiet. Willa Cather's novella tells the story of Myra Henshawe (sp?) who marries for love, only to find the marriage unfulfilling despite the decency and devotion of her husband. While finely wrought and thematically complex, I was never really absorbed by the story or the plight of its characters.
Cather’s dark novella was probably terribly shocking and disturbing in her day, and would probably be so even to many readers now. However, if you’ve read very widely the morbid themes here won’t likely distinguish the story from everything else in our contemporary “sea of cynicism.” The prose, though, is terrific and the characters vividly drawn. I look forward to reading more Cather.
Also, the passage below sticks with me. How sobering to think that the New York of about a century ago could be...more
Also, the passage below sticks with me. How sobering to think that the New York of about a century ago could be...more
Very interesting to see other readers' responses to this book. It seems we sometimes begin a new work by an author we've read with an expectation that can be almost a limitation in our reading of the new work. If you've read My Antonia or Song of the Lark, and hold an expectation of the radiant hopefulness, the wide western landscape, of those other works by Cather, then My Mortal Enemy might disappoint you. If you can put those other books out of your mind, you may find My Mortal Enemy truly wo...more
This was a very easy to read short novel (only 100 or so pages). It was simple and bitter, and due to a time gap that was never explained, one goes from one end of the spectrum to the other with no documentation of the journey.
The language is hard and clipped, much like the main character herself, Myra Henshawe. She is bitter about everything in her life, even in the first part of the book when she fully makes her own decisions and lives in splendor and riches with her wealthy husband, who by qu...more
The language is hard and clipped, much like the main character herself, Myra Henshawe. She is bitter about everything in her life, even in the first part of the book when she fully makes her own decisions and lives in splendor and riches with her wealthy husband, who by qu...more
This short book about love/money/the passing of time was a very nice read. I haven't read much Willa Cather, but the smattering of things I have read seem to follow the same pattern- a decidedly normal first person narrator writes a sort of elegy about someone unconventional and sparkling s/he has known, but then there turns out to be something sad, tragic, maybe bitter that comes out as lives unfold and we find out about the repercussions of choices. I like this format, maybe because it seems l...more
What a meaty role the tragic heroine of this novella would make for a great actress! Willa Cather has crafted a sharp portrait of another "Lost Lady." This time the lady in question is Myra Driscoll Henshawe, a cynical, opinionated, and delusional woman who casts away a fortune for love and then claws her way through her remaining unsatisfactory life. A "country mouse" narrator named Nellie Birdseye tells Myra's sad story, focusing harshly on the aging woman's wicked smiles, fierce laughter, and...more
There's a hidden authorial pain and anguish laced through this book and hidden in the character of Myra. Having read through Cather's works chronologically to this point, I sense an underlying conflict and despair that is somewhat obfuscated by the plot in this love/fate/hate story. It is short and succinct like Alexander's Bridge, and it is about a strong woman who forges her own trail like A Lost Lady, but even though it reads simply and holds you at a distance from its characters, this book g...more
This might be the fastest I've ever read a book. It's not so much that this is a page turner as it is a tiny novella. I never read Willa Cather and just snagged it at the library on my way to grab The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I browsed a few pages and got sucked in to this short little novel about a young woman who gives up a life of wealth to marry her romantic love-- and lives to regret the decision. Not exactly happy times, but Cather has a way of pointing out the decency in everyday people. L...more
Myra e le altre.
Willa Cather è una consolazione: è la prova che nell'infinito mondo della letteratura c'è ancora tanto da leggere e da scoprire.
La sua scrittura pulita e diretta, sospesa tra le descrizioni dei salotti della raffinata borghesia statunitense alla Henry James (amato e preso a modello dalla Cather all'inizio della sua produzione letteraria), della vacua e superficiale atmosfera delle feste del Grande Gatsby e l'introspezione e la durezza d'animo di certi personaggi di Irène Némirovs...more
Willa Cather è una consolazione: è la prova che nell'infinito mondo della letteratura c'è ancora tanto da leggere e da scoprire.
La sua scrittura pulita e diretta, sospesa tra le descrizioni dei salotti della raffinata borghesia statunitense alla Henry James (amato e preso a modello dalla Cather all'inizio della sua produzione letteraria), della vacua e superficiale atmosfera delle feste del Grande Gatsby e l'introspezione e la durezza d'animo di certi personaggi di Irène Némirovs...more
This is my first readings of Willa Cather, so I'm not sure if this is usually her writing style. I was a little disappoint reading 'My Mortal Enemy'. The storyline and message was well thought of, but I didn't like reading through Nellie. Her being the narrator, I was expecting to get to know Nellie more. I felt as if Nellie was a stranger and it was hard to imagine how she was like especially with the time difference in the story. Other than the narrator, I did enjoy the twist in the story. Ins...more
At first I expected this to be a turn-of-the-century indictment of marriage. It appears now to be more of an psychological study of a unique case of bipolar character. Myra, in fact, demonstrates mood shifts from humble to disdainful, amorous to jealous, etc., intensifying as she grows old. I wish the novella were long enough to draw out her husband Oswald's story and thoughts. Perhaps I am too "male" a reader to appreciate My Mortal Enemy.
I do appreciate the parallels between the two parts – th...more
I do appreciate the parallels between the two parts – th...more
I have been talking about how much I admire and enjoy Willa Cather's writing. And this small novel does not give me any reason to rescind anything I have said earlier about her prowess as a writer.
My Mortal Enemy is almost a novella, at just over 100 pages. But it is powerful. Cather again explores themes looking at loss: loss of principles, loss of honor and how the world seems to deplete these attributes simply by a person living.
Similar to A Lost Lady, but even sparer and more direct, this bo...more
My Mortal Enemy is almost a novella, at just over 100 pages. But it is powerful. Cather again explores themes looking at loss: loss of principles, loss of honor and how the world seems to deplete these attributes simply by a person living.
Similar to A Lost Lady, but even sparer and more direct, this bo...more
Cather is such an extraordinarily gifted writer. Her words are as smooth as cold steel - but her intensions and meaning are razor sharp (as if you were gliding a finger down a sharp knife and accidentally slit the top portion of your finger). The only major complaint I can consider is I wanted more in this story and in her characters.
Amounting to an approximate one-hundred pages, Cather strikes swift like a bee sting, with the stinger still remaining after you set down the book.
Her closing line...more
Amounting to an approximate one-hundred pages, Cather strikes swift like a bee sting, with the stinger still remaining after you set down the book.
Her closing line...more
This is a very lovely, short, and well-written novella. I'm used to a cathartic & intense ending in short stories and novellas- they usually pack an emotional punch at the very end. Rather than knocking you out, Cather subtly wrings you out instead. This story is sad and unsettling, but also beautiful and well-worth the read. I wasn't ready to stop hearing the author's voice. "My Mortal Enemy" has whet my appetite for more Willa Cather. I'm really looking forward to my book club meeting to d...more
The author writes well, descriptive and clear. However this book just seemed to serve no purpose. . . it didn't entertain, it didn't educate, inform, teach or moralize. There was no symbolism. It didn't evoke any kind of emotion from the reader. You have absolutely no feelings for the narrator or the characters in the story, and when tragedy hits the characters, you honestly don't care. Luckily it only took about an hour to read, so it didn't waste my time that much.
Almost all of Cather's books center around characters who part ways and meet again in different circumstances, in a far different stage of life. My Mortal Enemy is no exception. Cather writes like Joan Didion. She says so much in so few words. She is a flawless storyteller. My mortal enemy is much more dark than other Cather novels, and there is no real backdrop in the sense that the land or setting exist in her other novels. This is a tightly, yet well written little read.
Short, strong, solid novella. Beautifully written and yet-again tragic. Cather follows the downward slide of a woman who was meant for heroics, and eventually swallowed by a mundane life that rested on the money that she originally despised. Very thought-provoking and full of internal conflict. I liked it more than I expected to, since Myra's struggle between beauty and money is one that I abhor -- but inhabit, just like the rest of us.
How can I say I "really liked it" in choosing a rating option for this book, though the characters are, as usual, intriguing. It features a woman some have said is hard to like, and I can't disagree. However, Cather has delved into this character's personality to reveal both attractive and ugly features that are admittedly recognizable. The portrayal is appealing because it doesn't look away.
I read this book in one night. Novellas are cool, they're like a novel condensed, or a short story with more development. My Mortal Enemy sticks with a couple themes, and a couple characters - there isn't space for any more. I was interested in the characters, though they weren't all that original. The things they said, however, are quite memorable.
Rare to find a Cather work I have not already read, although I'm missing a few short story collections, as well as this novella. It has Cather's lovely writing, and is a short novel almost ahead of its time in its portrait of the decline of a marriage as seen through the eyes of an innocent younger woman. Very modern in feel and outlook.
A nivel literario, esta historia está escrita reduciendo casi al mínimo la información no necesaria. No hay apenas descripciones ni acción. El relato trata, prácticamente en su totalidad, en mostrarnos la personalidad de uno de sus protagonistas, Myra Driscroll, para que comprendamos el desenlace final, que se resume en una frase. Como curiosidad destaca su estructura: no hay nudo, es una introducción larga y un desenlace.Falta de emoción y novela totalmente plana.
Very quick, but dark and depressing read. I did not like the main character; she seemed so self-absorbed and jaded. Yes, we make mistakes in life, but we can't spend our entire lives second guessing our decisions and wishing for a redo. I especiallyl liked the descriptions of New York life in the novella.
A very austere little novella (85 pages) in which the aptly named narrator, Nellie Birdseye, describes the life of a friend--a woman who gave up inheriting a fortune to marry the man she loved and came in later years very much to regret it. And not for the reasons you might expect.
My Mortal Enemy - Willa Cather
Another facet of the jewel of Willa Cather. Again she is exploring new things. This is a very short novel (novella), written between Professor's House and Death Comes to the Archbishop and is set mainly in NYC. It does touch on some aspects of the Catholicism, explored in depth in her next two books. It also is very much about 'abnormal psychology', or perhaps that's to strong a phrase, but certainly it looks at dynamics and psychology of human interaction. In this...more
Another facet of the jewel of Willa Cather. Again she is exploring new things. This is a very short novel (novella), written between Professor's House and Death Comes to the Archbishop and is set mainly in NYC. It does touch on some aspects of the Catholicism, explored in depth in her next two books. It also is very much about 'abnormal psychology', or perhaps that's to strong a phrase, but certainly it looks at dynamics and psychology of human interaction. In this...more
Nov 25, 2012
Lindsey
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
private-life
Great character study. Willa Cather consistently writes about the striving for greatness, and here she writes a bleak and pessimistic portrait of what happens when her character, Myra Henshawe, wants an extraordinary life and ends up with mediocrity. Myra sacrificed her inheritance for "love," and feels like her gesture should gain her greater happiness than most people. In fact, as a reader you never really even feel her love for her husband - it's more about the gesture and the striving for an...more
Myra Henshawe runs away from the fortune offered by her uncle opting instead for love. She marries her sweetheart, Oswald, and virtually turns her back on her family and upbringing. They live together, Oswald working to support them in style, yet she is jealous and unhappy most of her life. Sad, bitter, and selfish, she dies.
Cather's writing in this novella is excellent as always, but I found it my least favorite Cather piece of the seven I've read so far this year.
Cather's writing in this novella is excellent as always, but I found it my least favorite Cather piece of the seven I've read so far this year.
Well-written look into the marriage of Myra, who gives up her inheritance to marry for love. It doesn't turn out to be the fairy tale marriage she hoped for. Short (only about 100 pages) format doesn't really give enough space for real character development.
Cather is such a provocative writer. This is the only thing I have read by her and to tell the truth, it caused me to dream such disturbing dreams, I am afraid to read anything else by her. I think she has a way of getting in my head and in my emotions.
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Wilella Sibert Cather is an eminent author from the United States. She is perhaps best known for her depictions of U.S. life in novels such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and Death Comes for the Archbishop.
More about Willa Cather...
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“It's all very well to tell us to forgive our enemies; our enemies can never hurt us very much. But oh, what about forgiving our friends?”
—
84 people liked it
“People can be lovers and enemies at the same time, you know.”
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26 people liked it
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Ma lo sai che quasi quasi me lo rileggo?
Mar 10, 2013 08:36am
Ma lo sai che quasi quasi me lo rileggo?"
Mi sembrava doveroso ;)
Mar 10, 2013 10:08am