Browsing by Subject "Cather, Willa, 1873-1947 -- Criticism and interpretation"
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Item "Between the old world and the new": national myths in the writings of Willa Cather and Thomas Mann(Texas Tech University, 1996-12) Selker, Marlene G.The topic of national myths has gained current importance in the face of nationalism increasing world wide. This dissertation approaches national myths as cultural constructs, which have been shaped throughout centuries by socio-economic circumstances. It briefly traces the development of specific myths, including their historical context, and then analyzes the extent to which these myths have been accepted or subverted by one US-American and one German writer: Willa Cather and Thomas Mann. Cather and Mann are usually considered representative for their countries in the sense that they are oriented towards a partly glorified national past. However, it is their ongoing occupation with various national cultures, including each other's, and the constant juxtaposition of absorbing certain myths into their writing and of consciously or unconsciously rejecting, modifying, or undermining others, which make their texts particularly suitable examples for an analysis of national myths. A brief presentation of national identity as a cultural construct and the connection of literature and nationalism (Chapter II) is followed by a definition of specific US-American and German myths, structured according to "Community," "Individual," and "Space and Time" (Chapter III). Chapter IV, "Respectability," demonstrates the intertwinement of society's views on manners and morals with nationalism. These three chapters build the theoretical support for an analysis of Cather's and Mann's texts. The analysis focuses on the development of national images and plots used, such as the treatment of the lonely hunter in Cather's work, or rootedness in Mann's. Since respectability has such an important place in national myths, "gender," as an aspect of respectability, plays a major role. Skepticism, conservatism, but also the desire to break down both, gender barriers and other demarcations, as well as attempts to construct androgynous new worlds marks the work of both writers—a conclusion which confirms that dealing with national myths encourages awareness that there may be more than even two sides to a boundary.Item Dimensions of nostalgia in selected novels of Willa Cather(Texas Tech University, 1971-05) Cunningham, Priscilla SchreckNot availableItem Willa Cather and the Southern genteel tradition(Texas Tech University, 1989-08) Brown, Virginia V Lady FallsBiographers and critics have noted the facts of Willa Gather's Southern background, but they have underestimated, misinterpreted, or failed to explain its significance. Though many have recognized her ambivalence toward her heritage, none has offered a satisfactory explanation because most biographers and critics do not understand the axiology of the Southern genteel tradition nor how it shaped Gather. This study examines this tradition and shows its influence on Gather's life and fiction. Chapter I describes the characteristics of the Southern genteel tradition and traces its roots to the English gentry. The chapter also places the Southern genteel tradition in the context of Thorstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899). Chapter II establishes Gather's family within the Southern genteel tradition in Virginia, and Chapter III discusses the socioeconomic changes the family experienced after the move to Nebraska and the effect these changes had on Gather and her feelings about the Southern genteel tradition. Although Gather did not write overtly about the South until her last novel, many of her works are influenced by her Southern heritage. Chapter IV explains how Gather used the Southern lady as the model for the aristocrat and the actress in Alexander's Bridge and for the pioneer woman in 0 Pioneers 1, whose acquisition of property elevates her to upper-class status. Chapter V focuses on My Antonia, showing how Gather realized that the frontier enabled women to become economically independent and autonomous but at the price of refinement. Chapter VI presents a darker picture of the tradition in A Lost Lady because it demonstrates how the ideology which elevates the lady also deprives her of the ability to be economically self-sufficient, therefore making her dependent on men. In My Mortal Enemy, the subject of Chapter VII, Gather explores the negative impact a leisure class system predicated on personal wealth has on people. Chapter VIII discusses Sapphira and the Slave Girl, Gather's last novel, which reveals the depth of her understanding of the Southern genteel tradition, its relationship to slavery, and its strengths and weaknesses.Item Willa Cather's concept of the frontier as revealed in certain novels and short stories(Texas Tech University, 1952-05) Harden, Esther SmithNot availableItem Willa Cather's theories of education as revealed in her fiction(Texas Tech University, 1953-08) Atkinson, James HNot available