Willa Cather American writer Date of Birth: 07.12.1873 Country: USA

Biography of Willa Cather

Willa Cather was an American writer born on December 7, 1873 in Back Creek Valley, Virginia. She graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1895 and went on to collaborate with the New York magazine "McClure's" from 1895 to 1912.

Her first book, a collection of poems titled "April Twilights" (1903), went unnoticed. This was followed by a collection of short stories called "The Troll Garden" (1905), with the most famous story being "Paul's Case," which introduced Cather's recurring theme of the artist's conflict with their surroundings. In 1912, her first novel "Alexander's Bridge" was published.

Cather gained wide recognition with her book "O Pioneers!" (1913), in which she depicted a woman who sacrifices her own feelings for the love of the land. In the novel "My Antonia" (1918), the protagonist fulfills her creative aspirations by creating a home full of happy children. Her book about World War I, "One of Ours" (1922), won the Pulitzer Prize. In the novel "A Lost Lady" (1923), Cather portrayed the fate of a charming heroine who fails to withstand hostile circumstances.

In "The Professor's House" (1925), Cather explores the rejection of change and the identification of the past with the authentic, and the present with the illusory. Her novel "My Mortal Enemy" (1926) marked the beginning of her unique "Catholic trilogy," which also includes "Death Comes for the Archbishop" (1927), a narrative about the life of a French missionary in the American Southwest, and "Shadows on the Rock" (1931), set in 17th-century Quebec (winner of the "Femina American" award). Cather's other works include "Obscure Destinies" (1932), "Lucy Gayheart" (1935), the essay collection "Not Under Forty" (1936), and "Sapphira and the Slave Girl" (1940).

In 1938, Cather was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She passed away in New York on April 24, 1947.