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Ο θανάσιμος εχθρός μου
Η ιστορία μιας ρομαντικής αγάπης που εξελίχθηκε σ' ένα θανάσιμο μίσος· μια λεπτή και διεισδυτική σπουδή στην γλυκύτατη αλλά και σκληρή τιμωρία που μπορεί να είναι ο έρωτας. Η μυθική ζωή της γοητευτικής Μάιρα, στην μυθιστορηματική Αμερική των αρχών του αιώνα μας, ιδωμένη μέσα από το βλέμμα της νεαρής, αθώας, αλλά ευαίσθητης Νέλλυ. Ένα δραματικό αριστούργημα, από τη λαμπερή του αρχή, ως το συγκλονιστικό, ανατρεπτικό του τέλος.
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1926
174 people are currently reading
3216 people want to read
About the author
Willa Cather
873 books2,760 followersWilella Sibert Cather was born in Back Creek Valley (Gore), Virginia, in December 7, 1873.
She grew up in Virginia and Nebraska. She then attended the University of Nebraska, initially planning to become a physician, but after writing an article for the Nebraska State Journal, she became a regular contributor to this journal. Because of this, she changed her major and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.
After graduation in 1894, she worked in Pittsburgh as writer for various publications and as a school teacher for approximately 13 years, thereafter moving to New York City for the remainder of her life.
Her novels on frontier life brought her to national recognition. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), set during World War I. She travelled widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada. In later life, she experienced much negative criticism for her conservative politics and became reclusive, burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript.
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943. In 1944, Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments.
She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 73 in New York City.
She grew up in Virginia and Nebraska. She then attended the University of Nebraska, initially planning to become a physician, but after writing an article for the Nebraska State Journal, she became a regular contributor to this journal. Because of this, she changed her major and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.
After graduation in 1894, she worked in Pittsburgh as writer for various publications and as a school teacher for approximately 13 years, thereafter moving to New York City for the remainder of her life.
Her novels on frontier life brought her to national recognition. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), set during World War I. She travelled widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada. In later life, she experienced much negative criticism for her conservative politics and became reclusive, burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript.
She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943. In 1944, Cather received the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, an award given once a decade for an author's total accomplishments.
She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 73 in New York City.
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December 14, 2022
AMORE E DISTANZA
Basilio Cascella: Timidezza (Donna abruzzese).
La storia è narrata attraverso gli occhi di un giovane che ammira la donna protagonista, e adulta, come accadeva già in A Lost Lady.
Qui, parlando in prima persona, la narratrice è Nellie, innocente quindicenne, che nella parte finale ha dieci anni di più.
La donna ammirata, apparentemente cuore del racconto, è Myra, all’inizio della storia già matura e sposata al grande amore della sua vita, Oswald, uomo di fascino, e alterna fortuna economica.
Myra è in anticipo sui tempi, sceglie l’amore, in un’epoca in cui una donna si sarebbe comportata in tutt’altro modo. Un gesto deciso, una ribellione che dimostra carattere e personalità.
Myra ha rinunciato a tutta la sua fortuna economica, è stata diseredata, perché ha sposato Oswald, l’amore della sua vita. E Myra è il grande amore nella vita di Oswald.
Cos’è che allora non funziona? Che spinge Myra in fin di vita a definire Oswald il mio mortale nemico? Chi è la vittima e chi è il carnefice tra loro?
New York, 1899.
Strana, insolita storia d’amore. Personaggi e relazioni che portano alla mente i teoremi psicologi di Henry James. Personaggi misteriosi sui quali i critici e gli studiosi si sono a lungo arrovellati: sembra che il modello ispiratore sia una coppia di amici che la Cather conobbe a New York, S. S. McClure e sua moglie Hattie (lui è quello in piedi nella foto in basso). Se così fosse, molto probabilmente la giovane Nellie sarebbe uno specchio della stessa Willa Cather.
Una donna capace di rinunciare a tutto per l’amore, pur essendo, per sua stessa ammissione, avida e legata ai piaceri materiali, quelli che derivano dall’agio e dalla ricchezza, questa donna consapevolmente sceglie di essere diseredata per seguire l’uomo di cui è innamorata. E vivono insieme tutta la vita, una vita che conosce un lungo periodo di splendore e ricchezza di beni, di incontri e piaceri, ma poi declina, li conduce alla povertà, e porta lei ad ammalarsi.
Però, rimangono insieme: lui sempre devoto e innamorato, lei a suo modo sempre fedele.
E allora perché lo definisce il mio mortale nemico?
Quasi che l’accusa fosse: mi hai portato ad amarti per tutta la vita, non ho potuto non amarti e di questo io ti accuso, perché infine questo amore mi ha reso povera infelice e sofferente.
Los Angeles, 1990.
Anche qui un ‘ritratto di signora’ (James ancora, e sempre), anche qui la donna al centro del racconto ha un fascino speciale: non si tratta di bellezza fisica, ma di spirito, di raffinatezza e gusto, della sua capacità di aggregare persone, di interessarsi al mondo dell’arte, prima di tutto agli stessi artisti.
Anche qui c’è una prima parte di benessere economico, durante la quale è facile vedere come il paese America (US) sia prospero, luminoso, in crescita. A cui segue la seconda parte, nella quale le sorti dei personaggi mutano in direzione della perdita, e la stessa nazione americana diventa ripiegata e indecifrabile.
Curioso che la prima parte, quella dedicata alla luce, sia ambientata nell’est, soprattutto a New York (Madison Square), mentre la seconda, quella che racconta la penombra e il buio finale, si sposti in California, posto che è immerso nella luce, dove il sole tramontando sull’oceano sembra chinarsi sulla terra e il mare, baciarli, in un gesto di clemenza, di perdono e assoluzione.
Vittorio Matteo Corcos: Sogni, 1896, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Roma.
La scrittura di Willa Cather colpisce per la sua essenzialità sia sintattica che formale, un lessico elegantemente spoglio che anticipa sia l’arte di Hopper che quella ben più posteriore di Carver.
Tanto più in una novella così breve che fa quasi credere che sia stato tagliato più di quanto sia stato lasciato.
Ciò nonostante, pur nella dimensione così compatta del racconto, gli spunti, i germogli sono davvero numerosi e notevoli.
Truman Capote fotografato all’epoca del suo incontro con Willa Cather.
Indimenticabile il racconto che Truman Capote fa del suo incontro con Willa Cather in “Musica per camaleonti”:
Un giorno di gennaio uscii dalla biblioteca al tramonto e mi trovai sotto una nevicata. La signora con gli occhi azzurri, che indossava un cappotto nero, di ottimo taglio, con il collo di ermellino, era in attesa sul marciapiede. Una mano era levata in aria, per chiamare un taxi, ma non c'era ombra di taxi. Mi guardò, sorrise, e disse: Crede che una tazza di cioccolata gioverebbe?
C'è un Longchamps dietro l'angolo." Lei ordinò una cioccolata calda; io chiesi un martini "molto" secco. Mi chiese, semiseria, "Ma è abbastanza grande?" "Bevo da quando avevo quattordici anni. E fumo, anche." "Non dimostra più di quattordici anni, ora." "Ne compio diciannove a settembre".
Poi le raccontai alcune cose: che ero di New Orleans, che avevo pubblicato diversi racconti, che volevo fare lo scrittore e stavo lavorando a un romanzo.
E lei volle sapere quali scrittori americani mi piacevano. "Hawthorne, Henry James, Emily Dickinson" "No, viventi." Ah, be', uhm, vediamo: molto arduo, dato il fattore rivalità, per un autore contemporaneo, o un potenziale autore, ammetterne di ammirarne un altro. Infine dissi: "Hemingway, non un uomo assolutamente disonesto, un velleitario in tutto. Thomas Wolfe, non tutto quel vomito violetto; e poi, certo, non è vivo. Faulkner, in certe cose: Luce d'agosto. Fitzgerald, in certe cose: Diamond as big as the Ritz, Tenera è la notte. Mi piace molto Willa Cather. Ha letto My mortal Enemy?" Senza un'espressione particolare rispose: "Per la verità l'ho scritto."
PS
Il mio commento è più lungo del romanzo di Cather, sigh.
Washington Square Park, New York City, 1924: da sinistra a destra, S. S. McClure, Willa Cather, Ida Tarbell, Will Irvin.
Basilio Cascella: Timidezza (Donna abruzzese).
La storia è narrata attraverso gli occhi di un giovane che ammira la donna protagonista, e adulta, come accadeva già in A Lost Lady.
Qui, parlando in prima persona, la narratrice è Nellie, innocente quindicenne, che nella parte finale ha dieci anni di più.
La donna ammirata, apparentemente cuore del racconto, è Myra, all’inizio della storia già matura e sposata al grande amore della sua vita, Oswald, uomo di fascino, e alterna fortuna economica.
Myra è in anticipo sui tempi, sceglie l’amore, in un’epoca in cui una donna si sarebbe comportata in tutt’altro modo. Un gesto deciso, una ribellione che dimostra carattere e personalità.
Myra ha rinunciato a tutta la sua fortuna economica, è stata diseredata, perché ha sposato Oswald, l’amore della sua vita. E Myra è il grande amore nella vita di Oswald.
Cos’è che allora non funziona? Che spinge Myra in fin di vita a definire Oswald il mio mortale nemico? Chi è la vittima e chi è il carnefice tra loro?
New York, 1899.
Strana, insolita storia d’amore. Personaggi e relazioni che portano alla mente i teoremi psicologi di Henry James. Personaggi misteriosi sui quali i critici e gli studiosi si sono a lungo arrovellati: sembra che il modello ispiratore sia una coppia di amici che la Cather conobbe a New York, S. S. McClure e sua moglie Hattie (lui è quello in piedi nella foto in basso). Se così fosse, molto probabilmente la giovane Nellie sarebbe uno specchio della stessa Willa Cather.
Una donna capace di rinunciare a tutto per l’amore, pur essendo, per sua stessa ammissione, avida e legata ai piaceri materiali, quelli che derivano dall’agio e dalla ricchezza, questa donna consapevolmente sceglie di essere diseredata per seguire l’uomo di cui è innamorata. E vivono insieme tutta la vita, una vita che conosce un lungo periodo di splendore e ricchezza di beni, di incontri e piaceri, ma poi declina, li conduce alla povertà, e porta lei ad ammalarsi.
Però, rimangono insieme: lui sempre devoto e innamorato, lei a suo modo sempre fedele.
E allora perché lo definisce il mio mortale nemico?
Quasi che l’accusa fosse: mi hai portato ad amarti per tutta la vita, non ho potuto non amarti e di questo io ti accuso, perché infine questo amore mi ha reso povera infelice e sofferente.
Los Angeles, 1990.
Anche qui un ‘ritratto di signora’ (James ancora, e sempre), anche qui la donna al centro del racconto ha un fascino speciale: non si tratta di bellezza fisica, ma di spirito, di raffinatezza e gusto, della sua capacità di aggregare persone, di interessarsi al mondo dell’arte, prima di tutto agli stessi artisti.
Anche qui c’è una prima parte di benessere economico, durante la quale è facile vedere come il paese America (US) sia prospero, luminoso, in crescita. A cui segue la seconda parte, nella quale le sorti dei personaggi mutano in direzione della perdita, e la stessa nazione americana diventa ripiegata e indecifrabile.
Curioso che la prima parte, quella dedicata alla luce, sia ambientata nell’est, soprattutto a New York (Madison Square), mentre la seconda, quella che racconta la penombra e il buio finale, si sposti in California, posto che è immerso nella luce, dove il sole tramontando sull’oceano sembra chinarsi sulla terra e il mare, baciarli, in un gesto di clemenza, di perdono e assoluzione.
Vittorio Matteo Corcos: Sogni, 1896, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Roma.
La scrittura di Willa Cather colpisce per la sua essenzialità sia sintattica che formale, un lessico elegantemente spoglio che anticipa sia l’arte di Hopper che quella ben più posteriore di Carver.
Tanto più in una novella così breve che fa quasi credere che sia stato tagliato più di quanto sia stato lasciato.
Ciò nonostante, pur nella dimensione così compatta del racconto, gli spunti, i germogli sono davvero numerosi e notevoli.
Truman Capote fotografato all’epoca del suo incontro con Willa Cather.
Indimenticabile il racconto che Truman Capote fa del suo incontro con Willa Cather in “Musica per camaleonti”:
Un giorno di gennaio uscii dalla biblioteca al tramonto e mi trovai sotto una nevicata. La signora con gli occhi azzurri, che indossava un cappotto nero, di ottimo taglio, con il collo di ermellino, era in attesa sul marciapiede. Una mano era levata in aria, per chiamare un taxi, ma non c'era ombra di taxi. Mi guardò, sorrise, e disse: Crede che una tazza di cioccolata gioverebbe?
C'è un Longchamps dietro l'angolo." Lei ordinò una cioccolata calda; io chiesi un martini "molto" secco. Mi chiese, semiseria, "Ma è abbastanza grande?" "Bevo da quando avevo quattordici anni. E fumo, anche." "Non dimostra più di quattordici anni, ora." "Ne compio diciannove a settembre".
Poi le raccontai alcune cose: che ero di New Orleans, che avevo pubblicato diversi racconti, che volevo fare lo scrittore e stavo lavorando a un romanzo.
E lei volle sapere quali scrittori americani mi piacevano. "Hawthorne, Henry James, Emily Dickinson" "No, viventi." Ah, be', uhm, vediamo: molto arduo, dato il fattore rivalità, per un autore contemporaneo, o un potenziale autore, ammetterne di ammirarne un altro. Infine dissi: "Hemingway, non un uomo assolutamente disonesto, un velleitario in tutto. Thomas Wolfe, non tutto quel vomito violetto; e poi, certo, non è vivo. Faulkner, in certe cose: Luce d'agosto. Fitzgerald, in certe cose: Diamond as big as the Ritz, Tenera è la notte. Mi piace molto Willa Cather. Ha letto My mortal Enemy?" Senza un'espressione particolare rispose: "Per la verità l'ho scritto."
PS
Il mio commento è più lungo del romanzo di Cather, sigh.
Washington Square Park, New York City, 1924: da sinistra a destra, S. S. McClure, Willa Cather, Ida Tarbell, Will Irvin.
April 7, 2018
oh Mother, oh Father! I sorta get you now, thanks to My Mortal Enemy. such a short little piece but such a powerful punch. I'd give this 5 stars for personal impact, but the impact was so painful and intense, I could never consider this a favorite.
once upon a time, Myra and Oswald eloped. they were, and are, the love of each other's life. such are the things of happily ever afters! but such is not reality; it is certainly not the reality I've experienced.
their lives are witnessed by a niece - initially impressionable, later a grown woman full of empathy and a desire to see life as it actually is - or as it could be, as it should be, if things could be perfect and people could be flawless. Cather does a superb job in characterizing this woman at two points in her life, and an equally excellent job at revealing all the different sides of both Myra and Oswald - how they appear to others, how they appear to each other, how they understand and misunderstand themselves. Cather's characterization is rich and deeply felt and real; it should also go without saying, given the author, that the prose itself is sublime. the ending is stark, sad, and beautiful.
can a vibrant, kindly, idiosyncratic, independent woman also be a cold-hearted, viciously critical bitch? can a sensitive, brave, strong, loving man also be a thoughtlessly straying rake who carelessly seeks comfort elsewhere? can all the disappointments in life that often have nothing to do with a shared love somehow accumulate enough so that those disappointments tarnish that love - make that love something strained, something that tastes both sweet and bitter? yes, yes and yes. I've seen it; I've experienced it firsthand. maybe I've had a block to understanding this, to understanding how my parents have acted, how I have acted, how people can be so full of love for each other yet also be the cause of so much needless pain. maybe it is something I've refused to understand because the understanding - the demystification - is too painful, so painful it becomes something to ignore and avoid. the wonderful painful thing about top tier literary fiction is that it forces the reader to look inside themselves as well - and to look at people through a different lens, one that is otherwise kept in a drawer somewhere, buried and unacknowledged. thanks, Willa Cather and My Mortal Enemy, for forcing me to look through that lens. for forcing me to understand my own parents and how their lives together have created something both glorious and completely awful. for forcing me to recognize how their lives have impacted what I have done in my own life - or what I have chosen not to do.
so yeah, thanks are definitely in order... but for some reason I am not feeling a whole lot of gratitude.
12 of 16 in Sixteen Short Novels.
once upon a time, Myra and Oswald eloped. they were, and are, the love of each other's life. such are the things of happily ever afters! but such is not reality; it is certainly not the reality I've experienced.
their lives are witnessed by a niece - initially impressionable, later a grown woman full of empathy and a desire to see life as it actually is - or as it could be, as it should be, if things could be perfect and people could be flawless. Cather does a superb job in characterizing this woman at two points in her life, and an equally excellent job at revealing all the different sides of both Myra and Oswald - how they appear to others, how they appear to each other, how they understand and misunderstand themselves. Cather's characterization is rich and deeply felt and real; it should also go without saying, given the author, that the prose itself is sublime. the ending is stark, sad, and beautiful.
can a vibrant, kindly, idiosyncratic, independent woman also be a cold-hearted, viciously critical bitch? can a sensitive, brave, strong, loving man also be a thoughtlessly straying rake who carelessly seeks comfort elsewhere? can all the disappointments in life that often have nothing to do with a shared love somehow accumulate enough so that those disappointments tarnish that love - make that love something strained, something that tastes both sweet and bitter? yes, yes and yes. I've seen it; I've experienced it firsthand. maybe I've had a block to understanding this, to understanding how my parents have acted, how I have acted, how people can be so full of love for each other yet also be the cause of so much needless pain. maybe it is something I've refused to understand because the understanding - the demystification - is too painful, so painful it becomes something to ignore and avoid. the wonderful painful thing about top tier literary fiction is that it forces the reader to look inside themselves as well - and to look at people through a different lens, one that is otherwise kept in a drawer somewhere, buried and unacknowledged. thanks, Willa Cather and My Mortal Enemy, for forcing me to look through that lens. for forcing me to understand my own parents and how their lives together have created something both glorious and completely awful. for forcing me to recognize how their lives have impacted what I have done in my own life - or what I have chosen not to do.
so yeah, thanks are definitely in order... but for some reason I am not feeling a whole lot of gratitude.
12 of 16 in Sixteen Short Novels.
January 18, 2021
A nice Virago edition with a patterned border surrounding the page numbers, little pencil illustrations at the start of each chapter, and an introduction by AS Byatt. A serendipitous bargain at a charity shop in a gap between lockdowns.
But the writing, characters, setting, and plot… ugh. I don't believe it, and don't care about any of them (which isn't dependent on liking them). The only saving grace was that it was very short.
Previously, I loved the rural landscape and strong female lead in Cather’s O Pioneers! (see my review HERE), until the betrayal of its out-of-character ending. This was different in almost every way and an out-of-character ending might have improved it: in particular, I was thinking the titular “mortal enemy” was going to be more interesting than was the case.
But I don’t even hate it with enough passion to explain in detail why. Just meh. CBA. Whatevs.
So here’s the full version of the rather lovely painting that graces the cover. I assume it’s cropped to the woman’s face because she’s clearly in Venice, which has nothing to do with the story.
Image: Young Girl on a Balcony, Venice, Italy, by Pierre Franc Lamy
The full canvas is also used for an edition of Henry James’ The Wings of the Dove (which is set in Venice).
But the writing, characters, setting, and plot… ugh. I don't believe it, and don't care about any of them (which isn't dependent on liking them). The only saving grace was that it was very short.
Previously, I loved the rural landscape and strong female lead in Cather’s O Pioneers! (see my review HERE), until the betrayal of its out-of-character ending. This was different in almost every way and an out-of-character ending might have improved it: in particular, I was thinking the titular “mortal enemy” was going to be more interesting than was the case.
But I don’t even hate it with enough passion to explain in detail why. Just meh. CBA. Whatevs.
So here’s the full version of the rather lovely painting that graces the cover. I assume it’s cropped to the woman’s face because she’s clearly in Venice, which has nothing to do with the story.
Image: Young Girl on a Balcony, Venice, Italy, by Pierre Franc Lamy
The full canvas is also used for an edition of Henry James’ The Wings of the Dove (which is set in Venice).
March 27, 2018
PAZZESCA.
Una tragedia che vi renderà inconsolabili, scritta con l'eleganza e la squisitezza di una donna capace di rievocare lo spirito, la materia (e tutta la sontuosa compagnia danzante) degli anni 20. Ricchissimi che diventano poverissimi, innamorati matti che diventano nemici mortali come in Fitzgerald. Splendida prosa, splendido racconto.
Una tragedia che vi renderà inconsolabili, scritta con l'eleganza e la squisitezza di una donna capace di rievocare lo spirito, la materia (e tutta la sontuosa compagnia danzante) degli anni 20. Ricchissimi che diventano poverissimi, innamorati matti che diventano nemici mortali come in Fitzgerald. Splendida prosa, splendido racconto.
May 27, 2022
البدايات الفاتنة التي تتحول ببطء وبالتدريج إلى نهايات مؤلمة
سرد يحكي عن اختيارات الحياة – وخاصة الحب- التي تبدو سليمة وتنتهي بخيبات أمل متراكمة
أجادت الكاتبة رسم ملامح ودواخل الشخصية الرئيسية خلال زمنين يفصل بينهما عشر سنوات
وبمهارة وشجن عرضت تقلبات النفس البشرية تجاه اختيارات الماضي بعد مرور العمر
سرد يحكي عن اختيارات الحياة – وخاصة الحب- التي تبدو سليمة وتنتهي بخيبات أمل متراكمة
أجادت الكاتبة رسم ملامح ودواخل الشخصية الرئيسية خلال زمنين يفصل بينهما عشر سنوات
وبمهارة وشجن عرضت تقلبات النفس البشرية تجاه اختيارات الماضي بعد مرور العمر
March 17, 2022
ببراعة لافتة..وسرد يتنقل بخطى رشيقة ما بين النعومة والقساوة ، النضارة والذبول تروي " نيلي" قصة حياة " مايرا هنشوه" كما لو لم تجمعهما لقاءات خاطفة فحسب ...
الصوت الحاكي ينفذ عميقاً وبعيداً...ليكشف عن التفاصيل الدقيقة لامرأة مهما ظننت إنك تعرفت عليها ، فثمة شيء غامض يُبقيك في حالة من التساؤل بشأنها..
امرأة جسورة..جامحة..متمردة....ولديها حس ساخر لاذع يمكنه أن يتوارى وراء ابتسامتها المتغضنة ، غيورة تحب زوجها وتملك حدساً مُتقد��ً يقبض على الهفوات مُتلبسة...
امرأة تصدمك بقوتها وانكسارها...وإذا ما أردت أنت ذِكر انتصاراتها تتوقف لوهلة مُرتبكاً أمام الصمت المُقلق وهو مُحدقاً بك ولكن إذ بك تُخربش إياه عندما تتذكر انتصارها الوحيد الذي حققته بالتخلي عن ثروة عمها للزواج بمن تحب...
وهذا هو عدوها الحميم المُميت..هل تُصدق ذلك ؟
أجل...فيمكن لأحدهم أن يكون حبيباً وعدواً لك...في آنٍ واحد...كلٌ منكما يدمر الآخر دون أن يعي ذلك....
لقد كان زوجها مُغرماً بها ، تولى رعايتها وهى مريضة ، حنوناً..مُسالماً...مُخلصاً لها ، ولكن تراها تنقلب على نفسها وعلى من تحب...ترى في وداعها الأخير للحياة قسوة في كونها وحيدة...يبدو إنها لم تكن لتتقبل الهزيمة حتى أمام زوجها...تراها تتساءل لما عليها الموت وحيدة مع عدوها الحميم ؟!...
أتدري لقد بِتُ متيقنة من أن ثمة حب يتقد منه الجحيم.....
الصوت الحاكي ينفذ عميقاً وبعيداً...ليكشف عن التفاصيل الدقيقة لامرأة مهما ظننت إنك تعرفت عليها ، فثمة شيء غامض يُبقيك في حالة من التساؤل بشأنها..
امرأة جسورة..جامحة..متمردة....ولديها حس ساخر لاذع يمكنه أن يتوارى وراء ابتسامتها المتغضنة ، غيورة تحب زوجها وتملك حدساً مُتقد��ً يقبض على الهفوات مُتلبسة...
امرأة تصدمك بقوتها وانكسارها...وإذا ما أردت أنت ذِكر انتصاراتها تتوقف لوهلة مُرتبكاً أمام الصمت المُقلق وهو مُحدقاً بك ولكن إذ بك تُخربش إياه عندما تتذكر انتصارها الوحيد الذي حققته بالتخلي عن ثروة عمها للزواج بمن تحب...
وهذا هو عدوها الحميم المُميت..هل تُصدق ذلك ؟
أجل...فيمكن لأحدهم أن يكون حبيباً وعدواً لك...في آنٍ واحد...كلٌ منكما يدمر الآخر دون أن يعي ذلك....
لقد كان زوجها مُغرماً بها ، تولى رعايتها وهى مريضة ، حنوناً..مُسالماً...مُخلصاً لها ، ولكن تراها تنقلب على نفسها وعلى من تحب...ترى في وداعها الأخير للحياة قسوة في كونها وحيدة...يبدو إنها لم تكن لتتقبل الهزيمة حتى أمام زوجها...تراها تتساءل لما عليها الموت وحيدة مع عدوها الحميم ؟!...
أتدري لقد بِتُ متيقنة من أن ثمة حب يتقد منه الجحيم.....
October 14, 2022
I liked immersing myself in this short storytelling - through the eyes of the young Nellie - the splendour and the fall of Myra Henshawe.
This woman is a paradox on her own.
Nellie indeed describes her at the time of her splendour as "a chubby woman, of small stature" with a slight "double chin", which exudes a certain charisma, at ease in all circumstances, always surrounded by a teeming cultural microcosm. Later in her life, this impression of duality will remain because Nellie sees her as both crippled but impressive and solid but broken.
Willa Cather's style exudes a somewhat outdated charm which facilitates the impregnation in this bygone era of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
We find the themes dear to the author: nostalgia, the passage of time, the blows of fate and the reversal of fortune.
However, I would have liked Willa Cather to develop more of the intimate aspect of the characters, hence the four stars (and not five).
Nevertheless, I remain an unreserved admirer of this author, who always manages to move me deeply, thanks to her endearing and powerful character.
This woman is a paradox on her own.
Nellie indeed describes her at the time of her splendour as "a chubby woman, of small stature" with a slight "double chin", which exudes a certain charisma, at ease in all circumstances, always surrounded by a teeming cultural microcosm. Later in her life, this impression of duality will remain because Nellie sees her as both crippled but impressive and solid but broken.
Willa Cather's style exudes a somewhat outdated charm which facilitates the impregnation in this bygone era of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
We find the themes dear to the author: nostalgia, the passage of time, the blows of fate and the reversal of fortune.
However, I would have liked Willa Cather to develop more of the intimate aspect of the characters, hence the four stars (and not five).
Nevertheless, I remain an unreserved admirer of this author, who always manages to move me deeply, thanks to her endearing and powerful character.
September 11, 2024
Light and silence: they heal all one’s wounds—all but one, and that is healed by dark and silence. I find I don’t miss clever talk, the kind I always used to have about me, when I can have silence. It’s like cold water poured over fever.
É difícil não comparar esta novela a outra de Willa Cather, "Uma Mulher Perdida", no tema e na estrutura, mas esta é mais deprimente e a escrita é mais apurada, pois a autora consegue descrever uma pessoa ou um estado de espírito como se pusesse o dedo na ferida.
She looked strong and broken, generous and tyrannical, a witty and rather wicked old woman, who hated life for its defeats, and loved it for its absurdities. I recalled her angry laugh, and how she had always greeted shock or sorrow with that dry, exultant chuckle.
É difícil não comparar esta novela a outra de Willa Cather, "Uma Mulher Perdida", no tema e na estrutura, mas esta é mais deprimente e a escrita é mais apurada, pois a autora consegue descrever uma pessoa ou um estado de espírito como se pusesse o dedo na ferida.
She looked strong and broken, generous and tyrannical, a witty and rather wicked old woman, who hated life for its defeats, and loved it for its absurdities. I recalled her angry laugh, and how she had always greeted shock or sorrow with that dry, exultant chuckle.
January 16, 2021
When kindness has left people, even for a few moments, we become afraid of them, as if their reason had left them. When it has left a place where we have always found it, it is like shipwreck; we drop from security into something malevolent and bottomless. (pg. 51)
This novella reads easily, with some beautiful passages, like the one above. It is quite intense, as perhaps a short work should be.
I struggle a bit with characters, portrayed from the outside, who seem to be universally loved, though they are difficult people. That love makes sense for those who knew Myra when she was young; but not so much for the younger narrator, whose only purpose is to tell us Myra’s story, though she doesn’t get to know Myra until she’s an older woman. Another character saying ‘oh, you should’ve known her when she was younger’ and another wondering if the prickly Myra behaves as the early saints must’ve done don’t convince me.
I can forgive the coincidental second half set in the West because of its focused intensity. The location is used for the same reason Cather uses the Southwest in other works. I don’t mean to come across as negative as this is definitely worth reading and hardly takes any time at all to do so. It’s also thought-provoking, which is a definite plus.
The twist of the title is powerful, and I like that the narrator is obtuse as to whom the enemy likely is. I’m glad I didn’t read the Goodreads blurb beforehand (it's not attached to this edition), as it’s best to come upon the titular phrase wondering about its significance and without knowing its context.
The introduction (which as usual I’m glad I read afterwards) admits that though this is not one of Cather’s best and can be rather frustrating, it is an important bridge between The Professor's House, which I read a couple of years ago, and Death Comes for the Archbishop, which I have yet to read. After I read the latter, this is a book I could see myself rereading.
This novella reads easily, with some beautiful passages, like the one above. It is quite intense, as perhaps a short work should be.
I struggle a bit with characters, portrayed from the outside, who seem to be universally loved, though they are difficult people. That love makes sense for those who knew Myra when she was young; but not so much for the younger narrator, whose only purpose is to tell us Myra’s story, though she doesn’t get to know Myra until she’s an older woman. Another character saying ‘oh, you should’ve known her when she was younger’ and another wondering if the prickly Myra behaves as the early saints must’ve done don’t convince me.
I can forgive the coincidental second half set in the West because of its focused intensity. The location is used for the same reason Cather uses the Southwest in other works. I don’t mean to come across as negative as this is definitely worth reading and hardly takes any time at all to do so. It’s also thought-provoking, which is a definite plus.
The twist of the title is powerful, and I like that the narrator is obtuse as to whom the enemy likely is. I’m glad I didn’t read the Goodreads blurb beforehand (it's not attached to this edition), as it’s best to come upon the titular phrase wondering about its significance and without knowing its context.
The introduction (which as usual I’m glad I read afterwards) admits that though this is not one of Cather’s best and can be rather frustrating, it is an important bridge between The Professor's House, which I read a couple of years ago, and Death Comes for the Archbishop, which I have yet to read. After I read the latter, this is a book I could see myself rereading.
January 1, 2021
Hmmm. This was more of a novella than a novel. It was just okay. 2.5 stars
The narrator is a young woman, Nellie Birdseye. She has an aunt who knows Myra Henshawe and her husband Oswald. When she first met Mrs. Henshawe, she was 15 years old and the Henshawes were in their 40s and comfortably well off. Yikes. So, to get to all that one has to read the entire novel. Granted it’s only 122 pages, but I could see this being condensed into a short story. I feel terrible saying that about an established author like Willa Cather. And, as well, this book was reprinted in hardcover format at least 8 times, so maybe I am an outlier. I’ll find out by turning to the reviews now. (After reading a number of reviews I don't think I am an outlier.)
Reviews:
• https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/b...
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
• https://rohanmaitzen.com/2012/03/31/w... (Jim: ha! She [Rohan Maitzen, professor in the English department at Dalhousie University] agrees with me!)
• http://occasionalreview.blogspot.com/...
Notes:
• I had the 8th printing of the book (1950). I liked the inscription as much as I liked the story. On the flyleaf was this: To Anne Douglas Bayless, Tho the title may be what it is —you are my dear friend—on your birthday—somewhere between your fifth and your twentieth—we wish you many years of happiness. Feb. 29, 1956
That was a leap year. I looked up Anne Douglas Bayless (1920-1996) and found her obituary…she worked for the Chicago Tribune from 1945 to 1985. There she was the first woman to cover financial news and the Chicago Board of Trade. She also was a city desk reporter and worked as the home furnishings editor. After her retirement, Mrs. Bayless embarked on a second career as a romance novelist. Her published novels, which focus on the Regency era in England, are "The Fourth Season" and "Miss Caroline's Deception." If this is the same Anne Douglas Bayless that the book was given to as a gift, at the time of the gift-giving she was 36 years old. I couldn’t make out the gift-gives signature…seems to be Phulgs Harufnson…so I know that can’t be right. ☹
• Many years ago, I read “The Professor’s House” (1925) and “O Pioneers” (1913) and now I can’t remember what they were about. ☹ Guess I’ll have to read them again. But I don’t have them anymore…I gave them away when I was culling my library. Rats! 😕
The narrator is a young woman, Nellie Birdseye. She has an aunt who knows Myra Henshawe and her husband Oswald. When she first met Mrs. Henshawe, she was 15 years old and the Henshawes were in their 40s and comfortably well off. Yikes. So, to get to all that one has to read the entire novel. Granted it’s only 122 pages, but I could see this being condensed into a short story. I feel terrible saying that about an established author like Willa Cather. And, as well, this book was reprinted in hardcover format at least 8 times, so maybe I am an outlier. I’ll find out by turning to the reviews now. (After reading a number of reviews I don't think I am an outlier.)
Reviews:
• https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/b...
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
• https://rohanmaitzen.com/2012/03/31/w... (Jim: ha! She [Rohan Maitzen, professor in the English department at Dalhousie University] agrees with me!)
• http://occasionalreview.blogspot.com/...
Notes:
• I had the 8th printing of the book (1950). I liked the inscription as much as I liked the story. On the flyleaf was this: To Anne Douglas Bayless, Tho the title may be what it is —you are my dear friend—on your birthday—somewhere between your fifth and your twentieth—we wish you many years of happiness. Feb. 29, 1956
That was a leap year. I looked up Anne Douglas Bayless (1920-1996) and found her obituary…she worked for the Chicago Tribune from 1945 to 1985. There she was the first woman to cover financial news and the Chicago Board of Trade. She also was a city desk reporter and worked as the home furnishings editor. After her retirement, Mrs. Bayless embarked on a second career as a romance novelist. Her published novels, which focus on the Regency era in England, are "The Fourth Season" and "Miss Caroline's Deception." If this is the same Anne Douglas Bayless that the book was given to as a gift, at the time of the gift-giving she was 36 years old. I couldn’t make out the gift-gives signature…seems to be Phulgs Harufnson…so I know that can’t be right. ☹
• Many years ago, I read “The Professor’s House” (1925) and “O Pioneers” (1913) and now I can’t remember what they were about. ☹ Guess I’ll have to read them again. But I don’t have them anymore…I gave them away when I was culling my library. Rats! 😕
August 24, 2016
An excellent book.
This is a story about Love.
This is a story about marriage.
This is a story about redemption.
This is a story about forgiveness.
The story is really short. The prose is economical. The impact, I got, was tremendous.
The story is about a rich girl deserting her riches for the love of her life. She is an Irish Catholic and the boy for whom she leaves everything is related to German Protestantism. The life seems to be good. But when at the end of her life as the couple is reduced to abject poverty, she probes few questions relating to her life.
She loved wealth and fame - the worldly treasures. But as the life is ending she longs for heavenly treasures. The one who had abandoned religion turns to religion. The other worldly treasures cannot be obtained unless the commandments of Scripture are obeyed. The one commandment she finds utmost difficulty with is the commandment regarding forgiveness.
"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? That's where the rub comes!"
And whom did she find it hard to forgive? Her own husband who put up every torture that she threw at him. In her death bed, it was he who was looking after his lover/wife. But she considered him her mortal enemy.
"People can be lovers and enemies at the same time, you know. We were...A man and woman draw apart from that long embrace, and see what they have done to each other. Perhaps I can't forgive him for the harm I did him. Perhaps that's it."
The last scene (the death of the lady) is symbolically placed. Reading it I was struck and it was here the impact was strong. The book remains in me and will remain in me for many days.
I know I have not done full justice to the book. I have not succeeded in transmitting the feel that I had as I finished the book. There are far too many symbols and images in so short a book that I will have to reproduce the entire work to make you see it. Turning into a Willa Cather fan.
This is a story about Love.
This is a story about marriage.
This is a story about redemption.
This is a story about forgiveness.
The story is really short. The prose is economical. The impact, I got, was tremendous.
The story is about a rich girl deserting her riches for the love of her life. She is an Irish Catholic and the boy for whom she leaves everything is related to German Protestantism. The life seems to be good. But when at the end of her life as the couple is reduced to abject poverty, she probes few questions relating to her life.
She loved wealth and fame - the worldly treasures. But as the life is ending she longs for heavenly treasures. The one who had abandoned religion turns to religion. The other worldly treasures cannot be obtained unless the commandments of Scripture are obeyed. The one commandment she finds utmost difficulty with is the commandment regarding forgiveness.
"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? That's where the rub comes!"
And whom did she find it hard to forgive? Her own husband who put up every torture that she threw at him. In her death bed, it was he who was looking after his lover/wife. But she considered him her mortal enemy.
"People can be lovers and enemies at the same time, you know. We were...A man and woman draw apart from that long embrace, and see what they have done to each other. Perhaps I can't forgive him for the harm I did him. Perhaps that's it."
The last scene (the death of the lady) is symbolically placed. Reading it I was struck and it was here the impact was strong. The book remains in me and will remain in me for many days.
I know I have not done full justice to the book. I have not succeeded in transmitting the feel that I had as I finished the book. There are far too many symbols and images in so short a book that I will have to reproduce the entire work to make you see it. Turning into a Willa Cather fan.
December 23, 2019
A short story with a moral, so let's call it a parable.
A bitter old woman lies dying. She blames others for how she has chosen to live her life. She feels no regret and fails to acknowledge her own mistakes. I get annoyed. I cannot relate to Myra, the central character, neither when she is young and healthy nor when she is old and sick. The mortal enemy of the title is her husband Oswald.
This is what is observed in the story. I am not blown over.
Willa Cather has a knack for drawing landscapes and people. There are not enough pretty lines to shift my rating from one star to two.
Natasha Soudek narrates the audiobook. I could follow the text, but the performance is just OK—so two stars for the narration.
*******************
*My Ántonia 5 stars
*Death Comes for the Archbishop 4 stars
*One of Ours 4 stars
*The Song of the Lark4 stars
*Shadows on the Rock 3 stars
*Lucy Gayheart 3 stars
*O Pioneers! 3 stars
*Sapphira and the Slave Girl 2 stars
*A Lost Lady 2 stars
*The Professor's House 2 stars
*The Burglar's Christmas 2 stars
*My Mortal Enemy 1 star
*Alexander's Bridge TBR
A bitter old woman lies dying. She blames others for how she has chosen to live her life. She feels no regret and fails to acknowledge her own mistakes. I get annoyed. I cannot relate to Myra, the central character, neither when she is young and healthy nor when she is old and sick. The mortal enemy of the title is her husband Oswald.
This is what is observed in the story. I am not blown over.
Willa Cather has a knack for drawing landscapes and people. There are not enough pretty lines to shift my rating from one star to two.
Natasha Soudek narrates the audiobook. I could follow the text, but the performance is just OK—so two stars for the narration.
*******************
*My Ántonia 5 stars
*Death Comes for the Archbishop 4 stars
*One of Ours 4 stars
*The Song of the Lark4 stars
*Shadows on the Rock 3 stars
*Lucy Gayheart 3 stars
*O Pioneers! 3 stars
*Sapphira and the Slave Girl 2 stars
*A Lost Lady 2 stars
*The Professor's House 2 stars
*The Burglar's Christmas 2 stars
*My Mortal Enemy 1 star
*Alexander's Bridge TBR
April 2, 2018
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 Némirovsy, affascina e rapisce, facendo sì che non una sola parola corra mai il rischio di diventare superflua, che non una sola frase possa essere letta senza catturare l'attenzione, perché ad ogni pennellata corrisponde un colore deciso, indispensabile alla realizzazione del quadro che l'autrice sta dipingendo e che si mostra via via ai nostri occhi in tutta la sua vividezza e con tutto il suo fascino ammaliatore.
Willa Cather ama una narrazione nuda, "priva di mobilia" come amava dire, una narrazione in cui anche l'animo dei personaggi viene subito spogliato da tutti quelle finzioni e quegli inutili accessori che potrebbero distrarre il lettore dalla vera essenza della storia.
Mi stupisce accorgermi, nonostante abbia sempre detto di non amare i racconti, di avere invece una particolare predilezione per i romanzi brevi, ancora di più quando narrano "piccole storie di donne": La donna di Gilles, La moglie di Don Giovanni e adesso Il mio mortale nemico sono gioielli senza tempo, storie in cui tutto si compie e ad ogni azione, anche se remota e apparentemente insignificante, corrisponde sempre un effetto dalle conseguenze devastanti.
Questo che segue è un piccolo e divertente aneddoto su l'incontro tra Truman Capote e Willa Cather:
È il diciannovenne Truman Capote, che ci regala un suo ritratto in "Musica per Camaleonti". Quando ancora non la conosceva personalmente, gli capitava di incontrare una misteriosa signora alla New York Library, il cui aspetto lo ipnotizzava per "gli occhi azzurri, l'azzurro chiaro, vivido, tenero dei cieli delle praterie". Il volto era interessante: mascella decisa, ben disegnato, un poco androgino. Capelli brizzolati, divisi in mezzo. Sui sessantacinque anni, più o meno. Lesbica ? Bè, sì". Conversando con lei che le chiedeva quali scrittori americani prediligesse, dopo aver nominato Hemingway, Faulkner e Fitzgerald, il giovane Capote aggiunse: "Mi piace molto Willa Cather. Ha letto "My mortal enemy ?". Senza batter ciglio la Cather gli rispose: "Per la verità l'ho scritto."
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 Némirovsy, affascina e rapisce, facendo sì che non una sola parola corra mai il rischio di diventare superflua, che non una sola frase possa essere letta senza catturare l'attenzione, perché ad ogni pennellata corrisponde un colore deciso, indispensabile alla realizzazione del quadro che l'autrice sta dipingendo e che si mostra via via ai nostri occhi in tutta la sua vividezza e con tutto il suo fascino ammaliatore.
Willa Cather ama una narrazione nuda, "priva di mobilia" come amava dire, una narrazione in cui anche l'animo dei personaggi viene subito spogliato da tutti quelle finzioni e quegli inutili accessori che potrebbero distrarre il lettore dalla vera essenza della storia.
Mi stupisce accorgermi, nonostante abbia sempre detto di non amare i racconti, di avere invece una particolare predilezione per i romanzi brevi, ancora di più quando narrano "piccole storie di donne": La donna di Gilles, La moglie di Don Giovanni e adesso Il mio mortale nemico sono gioielli senza tempo, storie in cui tutto si compie e ad ogni azione, anche se remota e apparentemente insignificante, corrisponde sempre un effetto dalle conseguenze devastanti.
Questo che segue è un piccolo e divertente aneddoto su l'incontro tra Truman Capote e Willa Cather:
È il diciannovenne Truman Capote, che ci regala un suo ritratto in "Musica per Camaleonti". Quando ancora non la conosceva personalmente, gli capitava di incontrare una misteriosa signora alla New York Library, il cui aspetto lo ipnotizzava per "gli occhi azzurri, l'azzurro chiaro, vivido, tenero dei cieli delle praterie". Il volto era interessante: mascella decisa, ben disegnato, un poco androgino. Capelli brizzolati, divisi in mezzo. Sui sessantacinque anni, più o meno. Lesbica ? Bè, sì". Conversando con lei che le chiedeva quali scrittori americani prediligesse, dopo aver nominato Hemingway, Faulkner e Fitzgerald, il giovane Capote aggiunse: "Mi piace molto Willa Cather. Ha letto "My mortal enemy ?". Senza batter ciglio la Cather gli rispose: "Per la verità l'ho scritto."
March 29, 2015
Who is the "Mortal Enemy" ? Oh, yes, it's "My..." Willa Cather is not writing about a disappointing marriage, or any marriage. In a moment of personal crisis (what, why, we don't know), she's writing about the damage done to ourselves by making one mistake that alters our life, the damage done by optimistically letting any passion guide us. Here, Cather explores what a bad decision can cost us, but -- we don't realize it at the time. Do what you want, but be prepared, always, for wreckage. And...do not sneer at the importance of money, for therein lies freedom.
This is a dark, disturbing novella (80 pages in my edition) dealing with a headstrong woman who marries for love and is disinherited. Cather ponders the American psyche, which is always on the naïve side when it comes to the realities of life. Is the protagonist unlikeable as many argue ? I think not. She simply cannot help herself because she doesn't know herself. Like most people.
This is a dark, disturbing novella (80 pages in my edition) dealing with a headstrong woman who marries for love and is disinherited. Cather ponders the American psyche, which is always on the naïve side when it comes to the realities of life. Is the protagonist unlikeable as many argue ? I think not. She simply cannot help herself because she doesn't know herself. Like most people.
Read
March 15, 2022رواية كلاسيكية اجتماعية تحتاج لمخيلة جميلة تتخيل بها الديكور والملابس وملامح الاشخاص وطريقة كلامهم ... الخيال هنا مهم جدا، فأنت علي موعد مع فيلم أمريكي كلاسيكي سيسافر بك الي زمن اخر ومجتمع اخر وحوار عائلي بسيط يتصاعد بالأحداث تدريجيا ...
نوفيلا اجتماعية تصلح كفاصل بين عملين عميقين تريح بها ذهنك قليلا
نوفيلا اجتماعية تصلح كفاصل بين عملين عميقين تريح بها ذهنك قليلا
November 13, 2023
Ambientato nell’America del primo novecento, “Il Mio Mortale Nemico”, pubblicato da Willa Cather [1873-1947] nel 1926, racconta, attraverso lo sguardo della giovanissima Nellie che a quindici anni incontra per la prima volta Myra Driscoll, il lato romantico della scelta d’amore di quest’ultima, che ha rinunciato alla milionaria eredità dello zio che si era opposto al suo matrimonio con Oswald, preferendo l’amore alla ricchezza. A Nellie tutto sembra magico e affascinante nella vita matrimoniale e di relazione sociale di Myra e Oswald e porterà a lungo con sé questa visione idilliaca dell’amore e del matrimonio.
…ma dieci anni dopo, casualmente, le strade di Nellie, ormai venticinquenne e Myra e Oswald quasi sessantenni si incroceranno nuovamente…
Romanzo di un realismo sconcertante, a tratti crudo e disarmante, ma non per questo il racconto è meno apprezzabile.
…ma dieci anni dopo, casualmente, le strade di Nellie, ormai venticinquenne e Myra e Oswald quasi sessantenni si incroceranno nuovamente…
Romanzo di un realismo sconcertante, a tratti crudo e disarmante, ma non per questo il racconto è meno apprezzabile.
February 10, 2020
Love alone isn’t always enough to sustain us especially in a long marriage, it’s really not healthy holding onto resentment and anger, this was why divorce was invented so we don’t end up like Mrs Henshawe! Bitter and regretful.
This short novella is sharp and poignant. I’m curious to know who Myra’s mortal enemy is supposedly. Is it her husband Oswald, or herself?? Definitely one to ponder over.
This short novella is sharp and poignant. I’m curious to know who Myra’s mortal enemy is supposedly. Is it her husband Oswald, or herself?? Definitely one to ponder over.
April 25, 2018
"Porque tenho de morrer assim, sozinha com o meu inimigo mortal!"
"Parecia forte e quebrada, generosa e tirânica, uma velha mulher cheia de espírito e de maldade, que detestava a vida pelas derrotas que lhe infligira, e a amava pelo seu lado absurdo."
"Duas pessoas podem ser ao mesmo tempo amantes e inimigas..."
Myra... uma mulher corajosa, derrotada por um inimigo mortal: o Amor!
=================================
"Luz e silêncio: curam todas as nossas feridas; todas menos uma, e essa é curada pela escuridão e o silêncio."
— Willa Cather
Willa Cather nasceu em Gore (Virginia), Estados Unidos da América, no dia 7 de Dezembro de 1873 e morreu em Manhattan (Nova Iorque), no dia 24 de Abril de 1947.
Venceu o Prémio Pulitzer de Ficção em 1923, com a obra One of Ours.
Quando era estudante, por vezes, vestia roupas masculinas e usava o nome de William. A maioria dos seus amigos eram do sexo feminino e viveu os últimos 39 anos da sua vida com Edith Lewis.
A sua identidade sexual é motivo de desacordo entre os estudiosos da sua vida e obra. Talvez pela "estranheza" das suas amizades, há quem analise a sua obra numa perspectiva queer. Outros defendem que não há provas de que os seus relacionamentos com mulheres fossem de natureza sexual, além de que Willa nunca escreveu sobre o amor homo-erótico. Cather nunca se assumiu como lésbica e, muito ciosa da sua privacidade, destruiu todos os seus papéis pessoais (cartas, rascunhos).
Sobre a sua obra, alguns críticos acusaram-na de estar fora da sua época por não usar as técnicas experimentais da moda, como o fluxo de consciência e outras. Por outro lado, a romancista A. S. Byatt diz que Cather reinventou uma nova forma de olhar para o ser humano ao escrever sobre "os terrores da vida ... e suas belezas". É um dos Génios de Harold Bloom que, no seu livro Génio, os 100 autores mais criativos da história da literatura, diz: "Willa Cather, ao procurar valores antigos, teve a possibilidade de os encarnar maravilhosamente nas suas damas perdidas."
Nota: Para mim, a identidade sexual de cada um não é assunto mas, nas pesquisas que fiz, este é o tema mais referido. Daí que não o referir seria uma forma de censura...
"Parecia forte e quebrada, generosa e tirânica, uma velha mulher cheia de espírito e de maldade, que detestava a vida pelas derrotas que lhe infligira, e a amava pelo seu lado absurdo."
"Duas pessoas podem ser ao mesmo tempo amantes e inimigas..."
Myra... uma mulher corajosa, derrotada por um inimigo mortal: o Amor!
=================================
"Luz e silêncio: curam todas as nossas feridas; todas menos uma, e essa é curada pela escuridão e o silêncio."
— Willa Cather
Willa Cather nasceu em Gore (Virginia), Estados Unidos da América, no dia 7 de Dezembro de 1873 e morreu em Manhattan (Nova Iorque), no dia 24 de Abril de 1947.
Venceu o Prémio Pulitzer de Ficção em 1923, com a obra One of Ours.
Quando era estudante, por vezes, vestia roupas masculinas e usava o nome de William. A maioria dos seus amigos eram do sexo feminino e viveu os últimos 39 anos da sua vida com Edith Lewis.
A sua identidade sexual é motivo de desacordo entre os estudiosos da sua vida e obra. Talvez pela "estranheza" das suas amizades, há quem analise a sua obra numa perspectiva queer. Outros defendem que não há provas de que os seus relacionamentos com mulheres fossem de natureza sexual, além de que Willa nunca escreveu sobre o amor homo-erótico. Cather nunca se assumiu como lésbica e, muito ciosa da sua privacidade, destruiu todos os seus papéis pessoais (cartas, rascunhos).
Sobre a sua obra, alguns críticos acusaram-na de estar fora da sua época por não usar as técnicas experimentais da moda, como o fluxo de consciência e outras. Por outro lado, a romancista A. S. Byatt diz que Cather reinventou uma nova forma de olhar para o ser humano ao escrever sobre "os terrores da vida ... e suas belezas". É um dos Génios de Harold Bloom que, no seu livro Génio, os 100 autores mais criativos da história da literatura, diz: "Willa Cather, ao procurar valores antigos, teve a possibilidade de os encarnar maravilhosamente nas suas damas perdidas."
Nota: Para mim, a identidade sexual de cada um não é assunto mas, nas pesquisas que fiz, este é o tema mais referido. Daí que não o referir seria uma forma de censura...
January 30, 2019
Nellie, young and inexperienced, tells the story of Myra, an older woman from her town who gives up a fortune to elope with Oswald, the man she loves. Nellie begins by relating the stories and gossip of her Aunt Lydia, who had once helped Myra elope. Then she relates three meetings with Myra in the course of Myra's life and marriage, and each meeting is filled with both mystery and with accurate, aching details of a life that has not gone according to plan. In a way the novel is a slight fragment of something larger--there is so much left unexplained and unexplored--but in another way it's perfect. It's a perfect use of a narrator with limited knowledge but extreme gifts of observation. I was trying to think of other novels I liked that used his narrative technique and came up with The Great Gatsby and Sophie's Choice, but in the case of My Mortal Enemy the narrative technique is far more pure, where so very little is revealed directly, and the only real entry into the novel's deepest meanings is contained in a single sentence: "Why must I die like this, alone with My Mortal Enemy?"
At its heart, a chilling, revelatory, terrifying look at marriage.
At its heart, a chilling, revelatory, terrifying look at marriage.
April 13, 2018
Gli uomini, in effetti, le uccidono le donne. Almeno alla maggior parte di loro piace essere uccise. (Victoria Mary Sackville West)
Quando so di aver poco tempo a disposizione per leggere concentrata mi cerco un libro veloce, breve, la pallottola di una fucilata, che a volte colpisce al cuore, mentre altre mi passa via accanto e viene poi subito dimenticata.
Questo doveva essere una spruzzata di cipria veloce, un leggero intermezzo di poco conto. ma è stato piacevole, e più interessante di quel che potessi pensare.
"Ma io sono fatta così, si può essere nemici e amarsi allo stesso tempo, poi un uomo e una donna si sciolgono dal lungo abbraccio. ...Sono stata un'amica sincera, ho assistito fedelmente gli altri nella malattia. Perchè devo morire così, sola con il mio mortale nemico?"
Quando so di aver poco tempo a disposizione per leggere concentrata mi cerco un libro veloce, breve, la pallottola di una fucilata, che a volte colpisce al cuore, mentre altre mi passa via accanto e viene poi subito dimenticata.
Questo doveva essere una spruzzata di cipria veloce, un leggero intermezzo di poco conto. ma è stato piacevole, e più interessante di quel che potessi pensare.
"Ma io sono fatta così, si può essere nemici e amarsi allo stesso tempo, poi un uomo e una donna si sciolgono dal lungo abbraccio. ...Sono stata un'amica sincera, ho assistito fedelmente gli altri nella malattia. Perchè devo morire così, sola con il mio mortale nemico?"
December 12, 2022
"الحبّ بحدّ ذاته يجلب على المرأة الحظّ السَّيِّىء كلّه في العالم تقريباً ؛ لمَ ، بحق الله نضيف إليه العقيق؟"
قصة امرأة كانت تدور في فلك نفسها ، معتبرة نفسها وحيدة في هذا الكوكب و كل شيء مباح لها ولها وحدها ومن حقها
لكنها نسيت او اختارت أن تنسى أن ما أوصلها إلى هذه المرحلة هي النقطة ذاتها التي انطلق منها صاروخ دمارها (الحب، المال، المحيط)
عندما نجازف بإختيار طريق علينا أن نضع بالحسبان حجم الاختلاف الذي سيكونه هذا الطريق وان لا نسير فيه بناءً على توقعاتنا و حسب
"وحينما تغادر الطَّيبة مكاناً ، كنّا نجدها فيه دائماً ، سيبدو الأمر مثل تحطم سفينة ؛ نغرق من الأمان إلى شعور آخر مثل هوة قاتلة ، لا قاع فيها "
كانت شخصاً محباً لذاته محباً للسيطرة و راهنت بذكائها و ظروفها على عناد الرجل ، لتأتيها النهاية على شكل جروح و خدوش كانت نتيجة سيرها على أشواك الاندفاع و التهور الناعمة و التي بدأت تظهر آثارها تدريجياً مع استقرار خط سير قطار عمرها ، و الذي كانت محطته الأخيرة غير مرضية لها و غير متوقعة ، و لكنها كانت المحطة التي تستحقها والتي و بغفلة منها اختارتها سابقاً بكل جموحها و جنونها
"ومع تقدم العمر نفقد كل شيء؛ نفقد حتى القدرة على الحب"
قصة امرأة كانت تدور في فلك نفسها ، معتبرة نفسها وحيدة في هذا الكوكب و كل شيء مباح لها ولها وحدها ومن حقها
لكنها نسيت او اختارت أن تنسى أن ما أوصلها إلى هذه المرحلة هي النقطة ذاتها التي انطلق منها صاروخ دمارها (الحب، المال، المحيط)
عندما نجازف بإختيار طريق علينا أن نضع بالحسبان حجم الاختلاف الذي سيكونه هذا الطريق وان لا نسير فيه بناءً على توقعاتنا و حسب
"وحينما تغادر الطَّيبة مكاناً ، كنّا نجدها فيه دائماً ، سيبدو الأمر مثل تحطم سفينة ؛ نغرق من الأمان إلى شعور آخر مثل هوة قاتلة ، لا قاع فيها "
كانت شخصاً محباً لذاته محباً للسيطرة و راهنت بذكائها و ظروفها على عناد الرجل ، لتأتيها النهاية على شكل جروح و خدوش كانت نتيجة سيرها على أشواك الاندفاع و التهور الناعمة و التي بدأت تظهر آثارها تدريجياً مع استقرار خط سير قطار عمرها ، و الذي كانت محطته الأخيرة غير مرضية لها و غير متوقعة ، و لكنها كانت المحطة التي تستحقها والتي و بغفلة منها اختارتها سابقاً بكل جموحها و جنونها
"ومع تقدم العمر نفقد كل شيء؛ نفقد حتى القدرة على الحب"
March 12, 2023
Portraits of a marriage over decades, told by a removed witness. Quite a simple description of the plot, but the real joy of this one is in Cather's carefully paced storytelling and intriguing device of using young Nellie (the niece of a childhood friend) to tell the story in first-person narrative.
Because we see through Nellie's eyes, the truth of the Myra and Oswald's disillusioned marriage remains hidden. A passionate love affair that lead to elopement and family estrangement becomes bitter over the years; we get glimpses of possible reasons based on what Nellie observes in Myra's meddling and sole focus on status/wealth, and Oswald's flirtations with younger women, but the structure of the story and the time lapses leave a lot of questions as to "why" and "how".
The time period (1920s) perhaps, but also the device of using a bystander to tell the story reminded me of The Great Gatsby - Nellie like Nick Carraway can only report what they see, and speculate on the rest. We are left with some of the same questions that endure in Fitzgerald's work: how did we get here? what happened in between?
Really liked this one - immersive and read in one sitting.
4.25 / 5*
Because we see through Nellie's eyes, the truth of the Myra and Oswald's disillusioned marriage remains hidden. A passionate love affair that lead to elopement and family estrangement becomes bitter over the years; we get glimpses of possible reasons based on what Nellie observes in Myra's meddling and sole focus on status/wealth, and Oswald's flirtations with younger women, but the structure of the story and the time lapses leave a lot of questions as to "why" and "how".
The time period (1920s) perhaps, but also the device of using a bystander to tell the story reminded me of The Great Gatsby - Nellie like Nick Carraway can only report what they see, and speculate on the rest. We are left with some of the same questions that endure in Fitzgerald's work: how did we get here? what happened in between?
Really liked this one - immersive and read in one sitting.
4.25 / 5*
April 10, 2020
Gently ruthless. That's a stolen phrase. I read this with a group on Litsy and that was roughly one person's* description. Cather is undermining the romance of the runaway bride. Here Myra marries Oswald Henshawe against the wishes of her wealthy great Uncle, John Driscoll, spurning a large inheritance and her life in Parthia, IL for one as a socialite in New York City. She leaves behind not a stained reputation, but an impression more along the lines of a fairy tale. This is roughly the impression our narrator, a young Parthia native, Nellie, holds when she first meets Myra Henshawe, finding not a beauty, but a plump little lady with a sharp sarcastic wit and what seems to be an only mildly affectionate partner.
Nellie is disappointed to learn Myra and Oswald aren't living happily ever after, but also comes to adore Myra and her energy and bitter sarcastic wit. "Her sarcasm was so quick, so fine to a point–it was like being touched by a metal so cold that one doesn't know whether one is burned or chilled." But she comes to see more of Myra's flaws - her vanity and later her natural self-destructive instincts. Myra, it turns out, undermines herself. If you took a written list of her attributes, she would be easy to dislike. But still on the page she's electric and admirable despite all that. She is, in a sense, a masterful creation.
The short book has time for turns. And in the later pages Myra will become religious, reconnecting to the Catholicism she ran away from for her marriage, and finding her own kind of comfort in it. Cather strikes some brilliant chords here. Myra will tell her priest, "Religion is different from everything else; because in religion seeking is finding." And Nellie will note for us readers her own parallel for Myra, "in religion, desire was fulfillment, it was the seeking itself that rewarded."
It's very hard in a review to bring novelists character alive the way they become in the novel, and give a sense of the energy they provide. Myra offers a lot in her contradictions, her conquests and disappointments. I adored this novella, and recommend it to anyone interested.
-----------------------------------------------
16. My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather
introduction: Marcus Klein, 1961
published: 1926
format: 104-page paperback Vintage Classic
acquired: July 2019, at Joseph Fox Bookshop, with kidzdoc
read: Feb 28 – Mar 6
time reading: 2 hr 24 min, 1.4 min/page
rating: 5
locations: early 20th-century southern Illinois, New York City and California
about the author American, born near Winchester, VA, later raised in Red Cloud, NE. December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947
-----------------------------------------------
* that one person is author Subashini Navaratnam, who is active on GR here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Nellie is disappointed to learn Myra and Oswald aren't living happily ever after, but also comes to adore Myra and her energy and bitter sarcastic wit. "Her sarcasm was so quick, so fine to a point–it was like being touched by a metal so cold that one doesn't know whether one is burned or chilled." But she comes to see more of Myra's flaws - her vanity and later her natural self-destructive instincts. Myra, it turns out, undermines herself. If you took a written list of her attributes, she would be easy to dislike. But still on the page she's electric and admirable despite all that. She is, in a sense, a masterful creation.
The short book has time for turns. And in the later pages Myra will become religious, reconnecting to the Catholicism she ran away from for her marriage, and finding her own kind of comfort in it. Cather strikes some brilliant chords here. Myra will tell her priest, "Religion is different from everything else; because in religion seeking is finding." And Nellie will note for us readers her own parallel for Myra, "in religion, desire was fulfillment, it was the seeking itself that rewarded."
It's very hard in a review to bring novelists character alive the way they become in the novel, and give a sense of the energy they provide. Myra offers a lot in her contradictions, her conquests and disappointments. I adored this novella, and recommend it to anyone interested.
-----------------------------------------------
16. My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather
introduction: Marcus Klein, 1961
published: 1926
format: 104-page paperback Vintage Classic
acquired: July 2019, at Joseph Fox Bookshop, with kidzdoc
read: Feb 28 – Mar 6
time reading: 2 hr 24 min, 1.4 min/page
rating: 5
locations: early 20th-century southern Illinois, New York City and California
about the author American, born near Winchester, VA, later raised in Red Cloud, NE. December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947
-----------------------------------------------
* that one person is author Subashini Navaratnam, who is active on GR here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
February 20, 2020
É a minha estreia com a autora e quer me parecer que não terá sido a melhor.
Myra é uma mulher destemida, impetuosa e corajosa que acaba por ser derrotada pelo seu inimigo mortal: ela própria!
Vencida pelo o Amor.
Que se tornou um grande dissabor.
Soube-me a pouco. Demasiado curto talvez, superficial, não chegou para envolver. Contudo fiquei com vontade de ler, da mesma escritora. o livro "Minha Antónia" que tão boas críticas tem. Será para breve.
Myra é uma mulher destemida, impetuosa e corajosa que acaba por ser derrotada pelo seu inimigo mortal: ela própria!
Vencida pelo o Amor.
Que se tornou um grande dissabor.
Soube-me a pouco. Demasiado curto talvez, superficial, não chegou para envolver. Contudo fiquei com vontade de ler, da mesma escritora. o livro "Minha Antónia" que tão boas críticas tem. Será para breve.
April 9, 2018
Videorecensione: https://youtu.be/v_4zkLpgzWo
January 5, 2021
الحب ليس قيمة مطلقة، الحب قيمة ظرفية تماما كبقية القمم، تتكون وفق معطيات الظروف التي تتشكل فيه، هذا ما تكتشفه وتعيشه ميرا وزوجها أوسوالد، فبعد هروبهما من عم ميرا وتضحيتها بنصيبها من الورث، يكتشف الاثنان بعد مرور السنوات أن الحب والحياة في المجمل دائما في إطار غير المتوقع وغير القابل للتفسير حتى، فالحب يتغير كمفهوم عندما تتغير الظروف، الحب بين الفقراء يختلف عن الحب في القصور، ليس كممارسة فقط وإنما كقيمة أيضا.
قد تبدو هذه النوفيلا شكلا من أشكال النقد المبطن لمؤسسة الزواج، وأنها دائما غير مستقرة ومتداعية، وعرضة للتهاوي في مختلف الظروف والمشكلات، إلا أنه في المقابل تصور هذه الرواية ومن خلال أكثر من منظور (ميرا وأيضا ابنة أختها نيلي) كيف أن لكل زواج حكاية خاصة لا يمكن لأي أحد أن يرويها سوى الزوجان، وخصوصية هذه الحكاية تحمل طابعا رومانسيا لا يمكن استنساخه في تجارب أخرى، ولا يمكن مشاركته كتجربة مع أحد آخر حتى المقربين كالأبناء.
الزواج والحب هنا يختبر وبشكل رئيس من خلال مشكلتين، الفقر والمرض، وهما من أصعب اختبارات الحياة. نرى هنا كيف يتعامل كل من الزوجين والمحبين ميرا وأوسوالد تجاه هاتين المعضلتين، بالإضافة إلى عامل ثالث آخر وربما الأصعب على الحب والزواج وهو الزمن، فكيف سيتحول هذا الحب بعد مرور كل هذا العمر وفي ظروف كهذه؟
الرواية من حيث اللغة (قرأت النص الأصلي بالانجليزية) كانت مكتملة وجميلة للغاية، وهي متعة في حد ذاتها، هذه رواية قصيرة جدا ولكن أثرها يبقى لفترة ليست بالقصيرة.
قد تبدو هذه النوفيلا شكلا من أشكال النقد المبطن لمؤسسة الزواج، وأنها دائما غير مستقرة ومتداعية، وعرضة للتهاوي في مختلف الظروف والمشكلات، إلا أنه في المقابل تصور هذه الرواية ومن خلال أكثر من منظور (ميرا وأيضا ابنة أختها نيلي) كيف أن لكل زواج حكاية خاصة لا يمكن لأي أحد أن يرويها سوى الزوجان، وخصوصية هذه الحكاية تحمل طابعا رومانسيا لا يمكن استنساخه في تجارب أخرى، ولا يمكن مشاركته كتجربة مع أحد آخر حتى المقربين كالأبناء.
الزواج والحب هنا يختبر وبشكل رئيس من خلال مشكلتين، الفقر والمرض، وهما من أصعب اختبارات الحياة. نرى هنا كيف يتعامل كل من الزوجين والمحبين ميرا وأوسوالد تجاه هاتين المعضلتين، بالإضافة إلى عامل ثالث آخر وربما الأصعب على الحب والزواج وهو الزمن، فكيف سيتحول هذا الحب بعد مرور كل هذا العمر وفي ظروف كهذه؟
الرواية من حيث اللغة (قرأت النص الأصلي بالانجليزية) كانت مكتملة وجميلة للغاية، وهي متعة في حد ذاتها، هذه رواية قصيرة جدا ولكن أثرها يبقى لفترة ليست بالقصيرة.
April 18, 2022
( لِمَ يَجبُ أَنْ أَموتَ هَكذا ، وَحيدةً مَعْ عدوّي الحميم ؟! )
غالبًا تُعجبنا البدايات الزاهية ، الجميلة المُشرقة ، و تُفاجئنا النهايات ، خاصة لو كانت صادمة ، قاحلة مؤلمة .
في هذه القصة القصيرة ( النوڤيلا ) تأخذنا الكاتبة في حياة (مايرا هنشوة) بطلة روايتها ، عدوي الحميم . و كيف انتقلت من كونها ( مولي درسكول ) ابنه أخ ثري و وريثته الوحيدة ، للسيدة هنشوة زوجة رجل بسيط ، فقير مُعدم .
و كيف أن المثل القائل إذا دخل الفقر من الباب خرج الحب من الشباك ، يُمثل بدقة في أكثر روايات الحب و الهيام حقيقة جادة و عبرة لا يُمكن التغاضي عنها ، ستشعر من خلال أحداث الرواية أن أوزوالد هنشوة ، كان يظن نفسه محظوظا بزواجه من مايرا و كان يراها حتى آخر لحظة ، تلك الشابة الجميلة التي خطفت قلبه و أذهبت بعقله ، و هُنا مكمن إعجابي بالرواية لأننا سنراها من عدة جهات ، الفتاة التي تنازلت عن كل شيء من أجل الحب ، و الفتى الذي تحمل كل شيء ليبقى مع الفتاة التي أحبها ، و نحن الذين سنرى نهاية هذه القصة .
هذه هي التجربة الأولى لي مع قلم المؤلفة هي ويلا سيبريت كاثر ( 1873/12/7م - 1947/4/24م ) جور - فيرجينيا ، الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية .
غالبًا تُعجبنا البدايات الزاهية ، الجميلة المُشرقة ، و تُفاجئنا النهايات ، خاصة لو كانت صادمة ، قاحلة مؤلمة .
في هذه القصة القصيرة ( النوڤيلا ) تأخذنا الكاتبة في حياة (مايرا هنشوة) بطلة روايتها ، عدوي الحميم . و كيف انتقلت من كونها ( مولي درسكول ) ابنه أخ ثري و وريثته الوحيدة ، للسيدة هنشوة زوجة رجل بسيط ، فقير مُعدم .
و كيف أن المثل القائل إذا دخل الفقر من الباب خرج الحب من الشباك ، يُمثل بدقة في أكثر روايات الحب و الهيام حقيقة جادة و عبرة لا يُمكن التغاضي عنها ، ستشعر من خلال أحداث الرواية أن أوزوالد هنشوة ، كان يظن نفسه محظوظا بزواجه من مايرا و كان يراها حتى آخر لحظة ، تلك الشابة الجميلة التي خطفت قلبه و أذهبت بعقله ، و هُنا مكمن إعجابي بالرواية لأننا سنراها من عدة جهات ، الفتاة التي تنازلت عن كل شيء من أجل الحب ، و الفتى الذي تحمل كل شيء ليبقى مع الفتاة التي أحبها ، و نحن الذين سنرى نهاية هذه القصة .
هذه هي التجربة الأولى لي مع قلم المؤلفة هي ويلا سيبريت كاثر ( 1873/12/7م - 1947/4/24م ) جور - فيرجينيا ، الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية .
February 5, 2024
I didn’t mean to finish this all in a day but it’s compelling and strangely moving novella. The title is quite apt and thought-provoking. This is more sparse in description and the language is simpler than a typical Cather novel but Cather’s brilliance of characterization and symbol and weaving religious imagery into the story is here as usual. The ending brought tears to my eyes.
June 18, 2018
Dove Willa Cather dimostra che non c'è bisogno di centinaia di pagine per raccontare tutta una vita e tratteggiare in modo indelebile un personaggio forte e implacabile.
October 24, 2022
This edition comes with large print and simple but attractive line illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. Therefore, with just 122 pages, it means it is really very short – more a novella, than a novel, actually. And so, it is amazing how in just a few pages, Willa Cather is able to tell us such a rich story.
Our narrator, Nellie, is a young girl, who grew up in a small southern Illinois town listening to the fairy-tale like romance of Myra Driscoll (Myra Henshaw after marriage). As a young woman, Myra gave up her uncle’s fortune to walk out into a snowy night and marry, for love, the young man she was forbidden to marry. As she grows, Nellie will get to know Myra, and make sense of her aunt’s reply when she asked her whether the Henshawes had been happy: “Happy? Oh, yes! As happy as most people.”. To 15 year-old Nellie, that answer was disheartening, the very point of their story being that they should be much happier than other people.
I loved the concise and yet evocative writing of Cather, so I am copying below a few passages.
This is a description of New York in December, when Nellie first went to visit the Henshawes:
The snow fell lightly all the afternoon, and friendly old men with brooms kept sweeping the paths -very ready to talk to a girl from the country, and to brush off a bench so that she could sit down. The trees and shrubbery seemed well-groomed and sociable, like pleasant people. The snow lay in clinging folds on the bushes, and outlined every twig of every tree-a line of white upon a line of black. (...) Not far away, on the corner, was an old man selling English violets, each bunch wrapped in oiled paper to protect them from the snow. Here, I felt, winter brought no desolation; it was tamed, like a polar bear led on a leash by a beautiful lady.
And this is what she felt, when she inadvertently overheard the couple quarreling for the first time:
This delightful room had seemed to me a place where lightheartedness and charming manners lived - housed there just as the purple curtains and the Kiva rugs and the gay water-colours were. And now everything was in ruins. The air was still and cold like the air in a refrigerating-room. What I felt was fear; I was afraid to look or speak or move. Everything about me seemed evil. When kindness has left people, even for a few moments, we become afraid of them, as if their reason had left them. When it has left a place where we have always found it, it is like shipwreck; we drop from security into something malevolent and bottomless.
Our narrator, Nellie, is a young girl, who grew up in a small southern Illinois town listening to the fairy-tale like romance of Myra Driscoll (Myra Henshaw after marriage). As a young woman, Myra gave up her uncle’s fortune to walk out into a snowy night and marry, for love, the young man she was forbidden to marry. As she grows, Nellie will get to know Myra, and make sense of her aunt’s reply when she asked her whether the Henshawes had been happy: “Happy? Oh, yes! As happy as most people.”. To 15 year-old Nellie, that answer was disheartening, the very point of their story being that they should be much happier than other people.
I loved the concise and yet evocative writing of Cather, so I am copying below a few passages.
This is a description of New York in December, when Nellie first went to visit the Henshawes:
The snow fell lightly all the afternoon, and friendly old men with brooms kept sweeping the paths -very ready to talk to a girl from the country, and to brush off a bench so that she could sit down. The trees and shrubbery seemed well-groomed and sociable, like pleasant people. The snow lay in clinging folds on the bushes, and outlined every twig of every tree-a line of white upon a line of black. (...) Not far away, on the corner, was an old man selling English violets, each bunch wrapped in oiled paper to protect them from the snow. Here, I felt, winter brought no desolation; it was tamed, like a polar bear led on a leash by a beautiful lady.
And this is what she felt, when she inadvertently overheard the couple quarreling for the first time:
This delightful room had seemed to me a place where lightheartedness and charming manners lived - housed there just as the purple curtains and the Kiva rugs and the gay water-colours were. And now everything was in ruins. The air was still and cold like the air in a refrigerating-room. What I felt was fear; I was afraid to look or speak or move. Everything about me seemed evil. When kindness has left people, even for a few moments, we become afraid of them, as if their reason had left them. When it has left a place where we have always found it, it is like shipwreck; we drop from security into something malevolent and bottomless.
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