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Willa Cather's My Antonia
- Critical essays reflecting a variety of schools of criticism
- Notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index
- An introductory essay by Harold Bloom.
- Notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index
- An introductory essay by Harold Bloom.
182 pages, Library Binding
First published May 1, 1987
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174 people want to read
About the author
Harold Bloom
1,717 books2,033 followersHarold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
November 4, 2014
Acclaimed to be one of the most beautiful and defining of American novels, My Antonia by Willa Cather is the romantic story of a pioneer’s perseverance in the worst of circumstances, and of a blossoming relationship between two highly spirited people. My Antonia is the story of how Jim Burden, an orphan just moved to Nebraska, meets and soon adores Bohemian immigrant, Antonia Shimerda. Told in Jim’s first person perspective, the reader is soon captivated by Jim’s recounts of lively farm-girl Antonia, and how she takes her future upon herself and, in the process, slowly captures Jim’s heart. Faced with family tragedy, poverty, and running a farm without her father, Antonia soon becomes a defining character that captures the essence of American determination and perseverance. Known for her novels about American farm life, Willa Cather turns the attention of the reader away from the high-class setting that was so common in novels of the time, and instead to the daily goings in the lives of American pioneers, and in doing so, demonstrates how these people shape a culture not found anywhere else, and how it is that said culture that defines the American farmlands. By writing My Antonia, Cather demonstrates how women can play an important part in farm life and society, and uses Antonia as a representative for all pioneer women to convey that a women can be a hero in her own right, and in doing so is just equally essential as a man.
Having no prior knowledge of late nineteenth century farm life, this book not only served as an enticing story, but also as a source for historic insight as well. One of the factors I liked most about this novel was the long descriptions of the prairie that made me picture the scene in my mind. Cather usually wrote of the prairie in Autumn, using colorful language and simile’s that reinforced the prairie setting. One of these descriptions is written in the book as: “As far as we could see, the miles of copper red grass were drenched in sunlight that was stronger and fiercer than at any other time of day…The whole prairie was like the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed.” (30). These detailed descriptions throughout the book allowed me to picture the setting more clearly in my mind, and added a dimension of realism to the book. Perhaps the most thought arousing factor of this novel was that while Antonia and Jim’s romance lacked the usual factors such as kissing, dating, and eventually marriage that readers normally associate with classic romantic tales, their romance was still intense and heartwarming in a more disconnected way, and it is this fact that perhaps makes the book as a whole more meaningful and memorable. Though in telling the story, it is apparent that Jim’s affection for Antonia is very deep, he never really expresses his emotions to Antonia herself, and it is only towards the end of the book that the two lovers have a deep emotional conversation that allows Jim to put his inner thoughts into words. He says, “‘The idea of you is a part of my mind; you influence my likes and dislikes, all my tastes, hundreds of times when I don’t realize it. You really are a part of me.” (192). What Jim is saying here goes beyond a feeling of love, meaning that by telling Antonia she is a part of him, Jim is saying that she is closer to him than anyone else in his life, so close, in fact, that parts of her persona have rubbed off onto his. This is Cather’s way of telling the reader that a romantic relationship does not need to be physically intimate, but rather needs to consist of an intense emotion that will be sure to imprint itself on the two lovers for the rest of their lives. This proves to be true, for only moments after saying this Jim and Antonia depart and do not see each other for twenty years, a time span in which they both create lives of their own and marry other people. However, when they reunite, they still have an intense connection that verifies that their relationship has withstood the test of time. Upon leaving Antonia’s house after their reunion, Jim reflects that it was fate that he and Antonia have a close relationship and it is their destiny that they saw each other again. It is stated in the book as: “For Antonia and me, this had been the road of Destiny...” (222). This can be interpreted in a metaphorical stance that conveys that while they did not marry, Jim and Antonia will always be there in spirit for one another. As well as the concept that there connection runs so deep, Jim can compare it with an unearthly occurrence, such as destiny, that ensures their relationship prevails. My Antonia is a blend of American prairie life, the perseverance of women, and the revelation that it is not the level or intimacy of a relationship that counts, but rather the degree of emotion the two people involved feel towards each other.
Having no prior knowledge of late nineteenth century farm life, this book not only served as an enticing story, but also as a source for historic insight as well. One of the factors I liked most about this novel was the long descriptions of the prairie that made me picture the scene in my mind. Cather usually wrote of the prairie in Autumn, using colorful language and simile’s that reinforced the prairie setting. One of these descriptions is written in the book as: “As far as we could see, the miles of copper red grass were drenched in sunlight that was stronger and fiercer than at any other time of day…The whole prairie was like the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed.” (30). These detailed descriptions throughout the book allowed me to picture the setting more clearly in my mind, and added a dimension of realism to the book. Perhaps the most thought arousing factor of this novel was that while Antonia and Jim’s romance lacked the usual factors such as kissing, dating, and eventually marriage that readers normally associate with classic romantic tales, their romance was still intense and heartwarming in a more disconnected way, and it is this fact that perhaps makes the book as a whole more meaningful and memorable. Though in telling the story, it is apparent that Jim’s affection for Antonia is very deep, he never really expresses his emotions to Antonia herself, and it is only towards the end of the book that the two lovers have a deep emotional conversation that allows Jim to put his inner thoughts into words. He says, “‘The idea of you is a part of my mind; you influence my likes and dislikes, all my tastes, hundreds of times when I don’t realize it. You really are a part of me.” (192). What Jim is saying here goes beyond a feeling of love, meaning that by telling Antonia she is a part of him, Jim is saying that she is closer to him than anyone else in his life, so close, in fact, that parts of her persona have rubbed off onto his. This is Cather’s way of telling the reader that a romantic relationship does not need to be physically intimate, but rather needs to consist of an intense emotion that will be sure to imprint itself on the two lovers for the rest of their lives. This proves to be true, for only moments after saying this Jim and Antonia depart and do not see each other for twenty years, a time span in which they both create lives of their own and marry other people. However, when they reunite, they still have an intense connection that verifies that their relationship has withstood the test of time. Upon leaving Antonia’s house after their reunion, Jim reflects that it was fate that he and Antonia have a close relationship and it is their destiny that they saw each other again. It is stated in the book as: “For Antonia and me, this had been the road of Destiny...” (222). This can be interpreted in a metaphorical stance that conveys that while they did not marry, Jim and Antonia will always be there in spirit for one another. As well as the concept that there connection runs so deep, Jim can compare it with an unearthly occurrence, such as destiny, that ensures their relationship prevails. My Antonia is a blend of American prairie life, the perseverance of women, and the revelation that it is not the level or intimacy of a relationship that counts, but rather the degree of emotion the two people involved feel towards each other.
January 1, 2020
Harold Bloom, who died two months ago, edited and provided the introduction for this helpful volume of literary criticism on the works of Willa Cather and, specifically, the novel My Antonia. Recently I met a lively 96-year-old visitor from Nebraska at the Milwaukee Public Museum who had read all the works of Cather. We visited together about the lovely, detailed descriptions of the praire and the immigrants and agreed that just as Nebraskans reverently read their heroine, so should we all. However, Bloom's edited work takes the reader in deeper and in some of the chapters involves a Freudian analysis of Cather and her characters that is so profound that one easily forgets the lovely descriptions and the nostalgic reminiscence about Bohemians and other ethnic groups. Not that the Bloom tome should be ignored. It is a helpful analysis of great literature and its authors, but my reflections on Cather will forever be complicated by this reading. If you want more from Cather than a nostalgic, powerful and lovely reminder of America's pioneer era, you should read this book.
December 15, 2014
Not only a beautiful portrait of Antonia, but a love letter to America's Great Plains. Vivid, lyrical, and evocatively poetic. Makes me wish I had grown up in Nebraska.
October 12, 2018
There's a reason Cather's work is a part of every good American literature program: her writing is exquisite, warm, evocative, and regional (in a very good way). Anyone who wants to know what it feels like to live out in the open regions of the Midwest may either go there or read her trilogy. Highly recommend!
September 27, 2014
Wonderful story of immigrants in the plains win the 1800's with well-developed characters and suspense.
April 20, 2020
I have an old copy of this book and someone took a blue marker and highlighted all the flowers mentioned. It certainly made them all stand out....lots of flowers. I love this boy version of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE set in Nebraska. Watch for the veiled sexual references like when the maid/housekeepers need to leave town because their employers got them pregnant. Scandals.
My old copy has the beginning where Jim is mentioned and he is in a childless/loveless marriage. This was removed in further additions. I am not certain if I like this intro or if it makes me sad. You really come to love JIM.
My old copy has the beginning where Jim is mentioned and he is in a childless/loveless marriage. This was removed in further additions. I am not certain if I like this intro or if it makes me sad. You really come to love JIM.
March 13, 2020
Whenever I think of the mention of My Antonia, I remember reading that My Antonia was poet, Jane Kenyon's favorite book. Not sure why that is important to me except that I loved Jane Kenyon and why would I not cherish her opinion. After all these years, I have finally finished this classic. All I can say is I can easily understand why the superior writing skills of Willa Cather. I know that for me the characters that Willa Cather engraved onto my psyche will live there for a long time. I am sad not to be able to hear more of their wonderful adventures tonight.
April 23, 2023
Cather's novel of coming of age in the American frontier asks — and answers — so many important questions about identity and nationality and gender. It's also a tour-de-force of nature writing, as Cather brings the land alive: instead of being just a place where things happen, the land speaks as a vital character, an essential part of how the characters discover and create their lives. It's a great story, and it's also just beautiful.
January 29, 2018
Great plotline, interesting ending that Cather gives. Insanely irritating, and slightly boring. Would recommend to adults. Too boring for kids or teens. Gives a very interesting perspective change through the narrator.
March 21, 2022
Though it was a requirement for school, I do like all of the symbolism within the novel, and it was interesting, however it just was not my favorite of the classics.
Willa Cather is a phenomenal writer, nonetheless, and the detailed characterization is amazing.
Willa Cather is a phenomenal writer, nonetheless, and the detailed characterization is amazing.
January 31, 2024
It took a while to get invested in this book, but once I did I really enjoyed it. As always, I enjoy reading books that give perspective to life in different eras. As this one was first published in 1918, it does exactly that.
July 1, 2022
Beautiful writing
July 26, 2022
To eloquent. No child talks this way. The whole book tries too hard with unending adjectives. Insufferable reading. A story to nowhere. After 50% I gave up.
Read
January 5, 2023It the kind of story you read every few decades
January 17, 2023
Naturalism and Realism at it's best
March 14, 2015
This book is about a young boy the age of 10 Jim Burden. He lived in Virginia with his parents. They both passed and he ends up being shipped to Nebraska by train to live with his grandparents. Jim adjusts quickly to his new life. He meets a neighbor girl who originates from Bohemia, Antonia. They end up becoming fast friends. Jim has what I call his initiation into man hood by killing an enormous rattle snake instead of running. Antonia had great pride in him for protecting her. Life is hard and Antonia's family did not know how to prepare for the winter and without Jim's grandparents help none would have survived the hard cold winter. They did not realize that the area of the house they were using to sleep is where they were supposed to store their food, so they had none. Antonia's father committed suicide in the middle of the harsh winter. There was a long discussion on where he could be buried, no one would take him since he was a suicide. I was not sure how the family would survive without the male figure, but the next season they built a new house and used their old place for food storage. The family seemed to recover from the tragedy.
I really enjoyed the Russians, they told the story of the bride being tossed from the carriage to save them from being eaten by the wolves. I would never want to be in that situation when it the load has to be lightened to save everyone’s life. The fact that the story followed the two young Russians all the way to America was unbelievable.
This story has Austrians, Russians and Bohemians trying to start a new life in a harsh unrelenting life in Nebraska. Was it worth all the hell they go through to chase a dream, I do not know? I could not imagine leaving everything I know to start a new life in the middle of nowhere. To just be sent off like that would have scarred me to death.
The story takes a turn when they hit their teenage years. The farm work gets too hard for Jims grandparents so they move into town and rent their farm. The young folks start to develop into young men and women and start to notice each other. Jim starts to notice that all the girls are changing. He begins to show his feelings towards Antonia.
Antonia is developing into a fine young women and she loves to dance. When the tent comes to town she is there every night. She cannot stop herself. From the minute she gets there until she leaves she never leaves the floor. All the young men line up to dance with her. One night Jim walks her home and kisses her. She scolds him. I have my guesses on how it ends, won’t know until tomorrow.
This is as far as I have gotten, I will come back after I finish it to tell you how it ends.
I really enjoyed the Russians, they told the story of the bride being tossed from the carriage to save them from being eaten by the wolves. I would never want to be in that situation when it the load has to be lightened to save everyone’s life. The fact that the story followed the two young Russians all the way to America was unbelievable.
This story has Austrians, Russians and Bohemians trying to start a new life in a harsh unrelenting life in Nebraska. Was it worth all the hell they go through to chase a dream, I do not know? I could not imagine leaving everything I know to start a new life in the middle of nowhere. To just be sent off like that would have scarred me to death.
The story takes a turn when they hit their teenage years. The farm work gets too hard for Jims grandparents so they move into town and rent their farm. The young folks start to develop into young men and women and start to notice each other. Jim starts to notice that all the girls are changing. He begins to show his feelings towards Antonia.
Antonia is developing into a fine young women and she loves to dance. When the tent comes to town she is there every night. She cannot stop herself. From the minute she gets there until she leaves she never leaves the floor. All the young men line up to dance with her. One night Jim walks her home and kisses her. She scolds him. I have my guesses on how it ends, won’t know until tomorrow.
This is as far as I have gotten, I will come back after I finish it to tell you how it ends.
June 7, 2015
I honestly don't understand how anyone could like this book. Granted, when I read it, we had to take about five annotations per page, but yet I think I would have found it innumerably dull either way. The simple lack of plot is what makes it largely unappealing to me, and most everyone I've talked too about the book. Except for my English teacher. For some reason, he insists that this is a great book, but has yet to read Harry Potter. I don't know, perhaps I was not in the right frame of mind to appreciate the supposed "beauty of the language" or whatever else people are saying; after all it was a required summer read, which always seem to be somewhat tainted in my mind by the sheer principal of it being work for school over the summer.
Now that I think about it, maybe I really am holding out an unjust grudge against it. Perhaps this is a book I should revisit sometime on my own inclination.
Now that I think about it, maybe I really am holding out an unjust grudge against it. Perhaps this is a book I should revisit sometime on my own inclination.
October 15, 2016
This book was personally recommended to me by a professor I met with when I was looking at Virginia Tech's MFA lit program. We spent a long time discussing our favorite books and personal interests, and he really seemed to "get" me so I was pretty disappointed that this fell flat. I wanted to love it, and have been savoring the recommendation for like 2 years haha. But if you're looking for a sweeping yet simple salt-of-the-earth story of generations then pick up John Steinbeck's East of Eden. And if you want edible literature written by a woman with a hell of a tongue, then pick up Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence. This didn't hit on either of my go-to literary interests... poetic storytelling OR strong female voice. What am I missing here? Anyway, three stars for historical value, general readability (I mean she did win a Pulitzer at one point) and her being an awesomely independent ladywriter.
August 30, 2014
I loved this, and I'm still trying to put my finger on exactly why. I don't think I've ever read a novel that seems (at least superficially) to lack a central conflict; you get glimpses of one here, but that's all. And yet, this book so successfully takes you to this specific geographical place--and so deeply into the thoughts, emotions, and memories of its protagonist, Jim--that it proved difficult to put down. It's been a long time since I've read such achingly beautiful descriptions of the natural world, too. I'm going to be thinking about this novel for some time. Much of it was incredibly moving. I can't wait to read more of Cather's work, and I'm only sorry I've waited this long.
April 1, 2010
I very much enjoyed this book. Willa Cather has the gift of weaving all of sensations into finely crafted words. It was a beautiful book about simpler times and human connections. Her descriptive passages are ones that make me stop to simply savor her use of words. This is what I look for in a good book. I'm sorry I've had this book on my shelves for so long and have waited until now to read.
February 2, 2015
Loved it. So evocative of a different time. I felt as though I was peering into a past that we don't have access to anymore. The sense of place was so strong... I have never been to the Great Plains but I saw it as our earlier settlers saw it- vast, unbroken, wild and gentle at the same time. The language was very modern and modern concepts about love, family,modes tiny etc, but written in the early 1900s so you were definitely hearing from a different time. An American classic.
November 17, 2014
Jim is definitely the perfect man -- whose character could only be written by a woman! God does not make men like Jim in nature, I don't think. . . And I think Antonia is the paradoxical potential lost/potential fulfilled. . . So Slavic and bittersweet. I really loved this book and I am glad that I finally read it.
January 17, 2015
When I first started this book, I wasn't sure of it. It seemed as if it would be a little boring and drawn-out, but I soon found myself mesmerized by Cather's storytelling. I wanted Jim and Antonia to fall in love but at the same time, I felt it just couldn't be. I truly enjoyed this and hope to read other works by Cather.
February 21, 2015
For landscape descriptions that add to theme and character, this is a wonderful study. I watched the movie, with Doogie Howser in it..., and had to read the book. It's satisfying to read after living in Iowa and driving through Nebraska - seeing the landscape change. Cather's characters reflect and act with the land. Cather's descriptions are subtly negative. Very hard to accomplish.
August 31, 2009
Liked this much better when I first read it at the age of 14 or 15. Now, the overly romanticized description of early farm life on the Praire and the idealized characters made my teeth hurt with the amount of sugar.
April 17, 2012
This book was very well written. Her descriptions of landscapes, people, homes etc. were wonderful. I liked how I got to know the people in the book to the point that I felt sad when I finished it because I would miss them.
September 3, 2012
When I read this book I had to think about my mother who was self sacrificing and a very hard worker. Actually she relished hard work. And she was Czech, but not Bohemian. On reading some of the reviews, I realize there is a lot that I have either forgotten or missed, so a re-read is a possibility.
May 25, 2013
i didnt really like that book becasue it didnt really pull my attention very well. i just didnt think that book was well written, when i was reading that book all i could think about is "when does the chapter end" and that is the worst felling you could have when reading book
November 24, 2014
Intriguing, but a little slow at times. Was lucky enough to travel to Nebraska while reading this book a couple years ago. The heat, smells, scenery really came to life. Reminded me a lot of East Oregon, except without the humidity. Great little story, keeping it on my bookshelf.
February 23, 2015
How did it take me so long to discover this masterpiece? So beautiful. Perfect really, in the same way Walden is perfect. Poetic, nostalgic, historic. This takes me back to childhood, teen years, young adulthood, and it captures the passion of youth. One of my new favorites of all time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews