"My Antonia" by Willa Cather

April 2005, Hosted by: Lana Goepfert

"First published in 1918, and set in Nebraska in the late 19th century, this tale of the spirited daughter of a Bohemian immigrant family planning to farm on the untamed land comes to us through the romantic eyes of Jim Burden. He is, at the time of their meeting, newly orphaned and arriving at his grandparents' neighboring farm on the same night her family strikes out to make good in their new country. Jim chooses the opening words of his recollections deliberately: "I first heard of Antonia on what seemed to be an interminable journey across the great midland plain of North America," and it seems almost certain that readers of Cather's masterpiece will just as easily pinpoint the first time they heard of Antonia and her world. It seems equally certain that they, too, will remember that moment as one of great light in an otherwise unremarkable trip through the world." (Amazon)

Hostess Notes: 

• Reason Chosen: "Classic writer; written about first generation settlers in 1880's Nebraska."
• Interesting book.
• Talked about how we (women of today) relate to women of the past.
• Important that we don't lose site of one's heritage.
• Each generation becomes more "worldly".
• Is there a difference in today social environment than 125 years ago? "My social milieu in which, as noted by Doris Grumbach's 1988 forward to this novel, the Czechs, Swedes, and Norwegians were looked down upon for their poverty but were lonely for a culture which was, in many causes, richer than their American neighbors." Kathleen Norris