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The Enchanted Bluff
On an island in a Nabraskan river, six boys build their last watch fire of the year and tell stories of extinct civilisations.
11 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1996
3 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Willa Cather
948 books2,814 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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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 10, 2016
Six boys on a sandbar in the middle of a Nebraska river, just fishing and telling stories, having a good time. Then one of them tells the story of a high bluff, or rock, with a plateau on top, located somewhere in New Mexico. Supposedly Indians use to live up there until they perished and there is a story behind that. So they decide that someday they will go there and find that plateau, that enchanted bluff. But like most boys stories and daydreams, they never quite come true. These boys grow up and go their own way and forget about the enchanted bluff, all except for one. He remembers and as soon as his son is old enough they will both go. A lovely story featuring the exquisite writing of one of the great American writers of the early 20th century.
June 2, 2021
I just love Cather, and this sentimental story of childhood innocence - boys around a campfire telling their wishes of where they want to go in the world - is so naively beautiful. You can see the dreams of the wide world in their eyes, and the whole world is open to them. And then...life happens and dreams fade into the background. Yet the magic of the story continues on in their children...
The Enchanted Bluff is actually the basis for her "Death Comes for the Archbishop" novel, which I consider to be her best next to My Antonia (a close second) and O Pioneers (my third favorite). It makes you wonder if the place is actually real or a figment of Cather's imagination.
Cather is exceptional with her use of language, simple yet powerful descriptions, and emotes so much feelings of nostalgia in such a short space. I never get tired of soaking in her stories.
The Enchanted Bluff is actually the basis for her "Death Comes for the Archbishop" novel, which I consider to be her best next to My Antonia (a close second) and O Pioneers (my third favorite). It makes you wonder if the place is actually real or a figment of Cather's imagination.
Cather is exceptional with her use of language, simple yet powerful descriptions, and emotes so much feelings of nostalgia in such a short space. I never get tired of soaking in her stories.
April 26, 2016
I arranged my thoughts into a haiku:
"Gilded fantasies
Lull some into adulthood,
And further from there."
"Gilded fantasies
Lull some into adulthood,
And further from there."
July 10, 2020
This is a fun little story.
June 21, 2024
Summary
A group of young boys enjoy the spoils and enriched life they lead next to a river in "The Enchanted Bluff." The river is a beautiful place that winds near the cornfield in the rough terrain of Nebraska. In the river there is a tiny island where the boys go camping. They respect the land and care for it. This group of boys are enjoying their last campout before they either go back to school or off to work. The narrator in "The Enchanted Bluff" is set to start a teaching position and is already homesick for the boys and their fun lives along the river. He relates, "Other boys came and went ... but we six were sworn to the spirit of the stream, and we were friends mainly because of the river." Tip Smith is one of the boys. He works for his father in the grocery store in town. He is the dreamer of the group and cherishes his valuables from far off lands. The whole group includes Otto Hassler and Fritz Hassler, Percy Pound, Arthur Adams, the narrator, and Tip Smith. Each boy has a unique personality that enriches the group whether it be reflectiveness, sympathy, knowledge, or hard work.
One night they talk under the stars about random thoughts and far-off places. Tip tells about the place he wants to go. His uncle once told him a story about a place in New Mexico that has a big red rock called the Enchanted Bluff where a village of Indians used to live. They kept a supply of water and food up there and would use some sort of steps that hung down over the face of the bluff to go up and down. They were peaceful people who made pottery and could kill anyone coming their way from their high vantage point. Some of the men would come down to hunt and one time a storm came through and broke their stairs and ladder. The men could not get back up to their village and were killed by a war party coming through the area. The villagers watched from above. They now had no way to get down and they died up there. No one had been up there since. The boys are intrigued by the story. They ask questions about how the tribe got up there in the first place and how big the village was. Tip tells them, "Nobody knows how they got up or when. A hunting party came along once and saw that there was a town up there, and that was all." The boys all talk about the details and hash out their ideas about the Enchanted Bluff. Percy Pound is a smaller, chubby boy who loves stories. He asks Tip if he can come with Tip if he ever goes to the bluff and Tip tells him that plan might work. Finally the boys drift off to sleep one by one.
The Christmas after the group met for their last camping trip of the season, the boys meet at their favorite spot to talk about the Enchanted Bluff and discuss visiting it but never make firm plans. Twenty years pass and none of them have forgotten about the story but not one has been to the sacred place. The story remains a destination of adventure that they dream about. The narrator remarks, "Tip Smith still talks about going to New Mexico." Tip is married and has a young son and declares he will go to the Enchanted Bluff when his son is old enough to go with him.
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cours heroo website
A group of young boys enjoy the spoils and enriched life they lead next to a river in "The Enchanted Bluff." The river is a beautiful place that winds near the cornfield in the rough terrain of Nebraska. In the river there is a tiny island where the boys go camping. They respect the land and care for it. This group of boys are enjoying their last campout before they either go back to school or off to work. The narrator in "The Enchanted Bluff" is set to start a teaching position and is already homesick for the boys and their fun lives along the river. He relates, "Other boys came and went ... but we six were sworn to the spirit of the stream, and we were friends mainly because of the river." Tip Smith is one of the boys. He works for his father in the grocery store in town. He is the dreamer of the group and cherishes his valuables from far off lands. The whole group includes Otto Hassler and Fritz Hassler, Percy Pound, Arthur Adams, the narrator, and Tip Smith. Each boy has a unique personality that enriches the group whether it be reflectiveness, sympathy, knowledge, or hard work.
One night they talk under the stars about random thoughts and far-off places. Tip tells about the place he wants to go. His uncle once told him a story about a place in New Mexico that has a big red rock called the Enchanted Bluff where a village of Indians used to live. They kept a supply of water and food up there and would use some sort of steps that hung down over the face of the bluff to go up and down. They were peaceful people who made pottery and could kill anyone coming their way from their high vantage point. Some of the men would come down to hunt and one time a storm came through and broke their stairs and ladder. The men could not get back up to their village and were killed by a war party coming through the area. The villagers watched from above. They now had no way to get down and they died up there. No one had been up there since. The boys are intrigued by the story. They ask questions about how the tribe got up there in the first place and how big the village was. Tip tells them, "Nobody knows how they got up or when. A hunting party came along once and saw that there was a town up there, and that was all." The boys all talk about the details and hash out their ideas about the Enchanted Bluff. Percy Pound is a smaller, chubby boy who loves stories. He asks Tip if he can come with Tip if he ever goes to the bluff and Tip tells him that plan might work. Finally the boys drift off to sleep one by one.
The Christmas after the group met for their last camping trip of the season, the boys meet at their favorite spot to talk about the Enchanted Bluff and discuss visiting it but never make firm plans. Twenty years pass and none of them have forgotten about the story but not one has been to the sacred place. The story remains a destination of adventure that they dream about. The narrator remarks, "Tip Smith still talks about going to New Mexico." Tip is married and has a young son and declares he will go to the Enchanted Bluff when his son is old enough to go with him.
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cours heroo website
February 19, 2018
I know it is about friendship and youth dream but there is no interesting point in this story.. Bland!
June 18, 2021
In "five stories" pub in 1956 - originally pub in 1901
October 14, 2016
I read this online after reading Sue's review at https://whisperinggums.com/2016/10/14...
November 26, 2025
"Our water had always these two moods: the one of sunny complaisance, the other of inconsolable, passionate regret."
Willa Cather, The Enchanted Bluff
Review to follow.
Willa Cather, The Enchanted Bluff
Review to follow.
March 30, 2017
This story reminded me very much of my favorite short story "Bezhin Meadow" by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev, with its tale of boys camping out on a summer night, pretty much carefree and happy, then having the narrator return to relate their fates, which of course are not all happy, ending in the young, untimely deaths of one boy from each story. Both stories are beautiful, bucolic, and melancholy.
Cather's stories are set in the Great Plains, which are basically the steppes of North America, just as Turgenev sets his stories in the wide plains of the Russian interior.
I have to wonder if Cather read Turgenev's work and modeled this story on it- not that she wasn't a master of the craft in her own right. Whether she did or not, this story is superb and I wish I could write like she did.
Cather's stories are set in the Great Plains, which are basically the steppes of North America, just as Turgenev sets his stories in the wide plains of the Russian interior.
I have to wonder if Cather read Turgenev's work and modeled this story on it- not that she wasn't a master of the craft in her own right. Whether she did or not, this story is superb and I wish I could write like she did.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews