O Pioneers!: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions) - Softcover

Cather, Willa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393924661 ISBN 13: 9780393924664

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007

Synopsis

Willa Cather's masterful 1913 novel marks her return to the Nebraska of her youth, and to the stories of the immigrant settlers she had known during her childhood and teenage years in Red Cloud.

This Norton Critical Edition brings to life―through Cather's words, and through the words and images of others―the uniquely American frontier experience. In inscribing a copy of O Pioneers! for a childhood friend, Cather wrote, "In this one I hit the home pasture..." "Contexts and Backgrounds" includes a rich selection of autobiographical and biographical remembrances (including three interviews with Cather), literary contexts (by Cather and her contemporaries, Henry James and Sarah Orne Jewett), and writings on the American West (including selected letters that paint a picture of one family's life on the Nebraska prairie). "Criticism" provides seven contemporary reviews and eight modern critical interpretations by David Stouck, John J. Murphy, C. Susan Wiesenthal, Marilee Lindemann, Melissa Ryan, Guy Reynolds, and Sharon O'Brien.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book

"This beautifully produced book is a joy to read and demonstrates the real pleasures to be derived from meticulous attention to detail and the highest standards of scholarship."—American Literary Scholarship.

"The first of the Cather Scholarly Editions sets a high standard of quality. . . . Text and context reveal the splendor of O Pioneers! and enrich both the experience and study of Cather’s extraordinary prose."—Western American Literature.

Willa Cather said that O Pioneers! was her first authentic novel, "the first time I walked off on my own feet—everything before was half real and half an imitation of writers whom I admired." Cather’s novel of life on the Nebraska frontier established her reputation as a writer of great note and marked a significant turning point in her artistic development. No longer would she let literary convention guide the form of her writing; the materials themselves would dictate the structure.

The paperback edition contains all the text and scholarly apparatus found in the original Willa Cather Scholarly Edition. Edited according to standards set by the Committee for Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association, this volume presents the full range of biographical, historical, and textual information on the novel.

From the Back Cover:

Scholarly Edition.Published in 1913, Cather's novel of life on the Nebraska frontier received enthusiastic reviews. Besides establishing her career as a writer of great note, O Pioneers! marked a significant turning point in Cather's artistic development: no longer would she let literary convention guide the form of her writing; the materials themselves would dictate the structure. The critical and popular success of O Pioneers! encouraged Cather to follow the same road with subsequent novels.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0393924661
• ISBN 13: 9780393924664
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496
• Editor: O'Brien Sharon