Product Description

`For the first time, perhaps, since that land emerged from the waters of geologic ages, a human face was set toward it with love and yearning. It seemed beautiful to her, rich and strong and glorious.' Willa Cather's second novel, O Pioneers! (1913) tells the story of Alexandra Bergson and her determination to save her immigrant family's Nebraska farm. Clear-headed and fiercely independent, Alexandra's passionate faith in the prairie makes her a wealthy landowner. By placing a strong, self-reliant woman at the centre of her tale, Cather gives the quintessentially American novel of the soil a radical cast. Yet, although influenced by the democratic utopianism of Walt Whitman and the serene regionalism of Sarah Orne Jewett, O Pioneers! is more than merely an elegy for the lost glories of America's pioneer past. In its rage for order and efficiency, the novel testifies to the cultural politics of the Progressive Era, the period of massive social and economic transformations that helped to modernize the United States in the years between the Civil War and World War.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54046 in Books
• Published on: 1994-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Willa Cather's second novel is abundant with interwoven themes. In one respect Cather bears witness to the early 20th-century Pioneers. The farmer taming the wild Northern States of America, battling with the elements and an unforgiving land to create a home, family and livlihood. On another level O Pioneers! is the story of Alexandra Bergson. Due to the death of her father she becomes the head of the household and spends her time between protecting her younger brother and out in the countryside that has become hers. Overshadowed somewhat by the more popular My Antonia this early work of Cather's is a much admired example of early 20th-century American fiction. O Pioneers! is a powerful testimony to love, the land and the pioneering spirit. --Jon Smith

OBSERVER
'She is undoubtedly one of the century's greatest American writers'

About the Author
Willa Cather (1873-1947) was born in Virginia where for generations her ancestors farmed land. She became a teacher and journalist and is one of the greatest American writers of this century.

Customer Reviews

THE LAND TO WHICH WE BELONG...
In this, the author's second published work, the author writes about that which she knew best, early pioneer life in Nebraska, the place to which she and her family moved in 1883 when she was a mere slip of a girl. She eventually attended the University of Nebraska, graduating in 1995, at a time when most girls did no such thing.

In this work, the author was on very sure footing. Her clear, straightforward prose lends itself capably to the story of early pioneers who went to Nebraska and set down roots, weathering the exigencies that often plagued a newcomer to a particular region. It is a surprisingly unsentimental look at pioneer life.

This thematically complex, but simply written story focuses primarily on Alexandra Bergson, the intelligent, independent, resourceful, and strong-willed daughter of pioneer John Bergson. Upon his death he did what was then the nearly unthinkable. He left his land in the hands of his oldest child, his daughter, Alexandra, rather than in those of his sons, recognizing in his daughter those qualities that would ensure that his land would prosper under her stewardship.

This then is the story of not only Alexandra but of that land and those whose sustenance depended upon its fruitfulness. The reader follows the Bergson clan as they live their lives and interact with their neighbors. Under Alexandra's skillful management, the Bergson farm prospers. As the farm prospers, so does its environs, as the area becomes a bustling center of activity with more and more settlers developing the land around that of the Bergsons.

Thematically, the book explores the vicissitudes of life, as well as its life-affirming moments. As in all lives, the characters in this book experience moments of high drama and great tragedy, as well as memorable moments of love and hate. All this is grounded within the context of pioneer life, with all its hardships and privations, as well as its occasional abundance. The author skillfully re-creates a melting pot of the many nationalities that cultivated the land known as Nebraska.

This is a book that those who like reading about pioneer life will certainly enjoy, as will those who simply like a well-written book with a tale to tell. This classic novel was also adapted for a Hallmark Hall of Fame film, starring Jessica Lange in the role of Alexandra Bergson.

When men were men and women were more so.
The first half of this novel is curiously disjointed. Months, sometimes years elapse between each chapter, making it rather like reading fragments of a long family saga. The effect is to distance the reader from the characters. The second half is a more continuous and involving narrative, developing into a conventional social drama with a surprisingly melodramatic climax.

The writing is fine, with an especially strong visual sense, sometimes reading almost like a treatment for a screenplay. The author manages a simple and elegant style that suits her theme perfectly.

Cather's sympathies are firmly with the strong central female character Alexandra. The male characters are mostly insipid and unstable; and an affection, tinged with contempt, is shown toward the more submissive female characters. Apart from Alexandra, the author's deepest sympathy is reserved for the country itself. Cather writes of the Nebraska that she knew in her youth and of the immigrant men and women who tamed a hostile landscape.

The title is taken from a very poor and overblown poem by Walt Whitman, appropriate only in that the poem is as hard going for the reader as the land was for the pioneer. But, title apart, the novel remains a solid rendition of Western pioneer life, which was a vital strand of American cultural history.

"The land wanted to be let alone, to preserve its own fierce strength, its peculiar, savage kind of beauty."
Willa Cather's second novel draws on Cather's own experiences on the Nebraska plains, where she knew, first-hand, the harsh beauty of the land, the resilience of the farmers who tried to tame it, and the accidents of nature that could, overnight, destroy years of dreams. Here Alexandra Bergson, the bright and hard-working daughter of a farmer, inherits the responsibilities of running the family farm upon the death of her father. With two older, less business-like brothers to work the land, she turns what had been a marginally successful farm into a business profitable enough that she is able to buy land other farmers have abandoned.

Beginning in the late 1800s, when Alexandra is a teenager, and continuing until Alexandra is in her forties, the novel celebrates Alexandra's strength and dedication to her land, at the same time that it emphasizes how isolating farm life can be. Though Alexandra's farm becomes the most successful farm in the area, she has few friends and no lovers, and there is little opportunity for social life. When her earliest friend, Carl Linstrum, whose family long ago gave up their farm, suddenly returns for a visit, Alexandra and Carl find themselves "keeping company," despite the opposition of her brothers. The love of her youngest brother Emil for Marie Shabata, an unhappily married woman, is a parallel love story with additional complications. In both love stories, the accidents of fate, so common in farm life, play a key role in characters' personal lives.

Filled with gorgeous descriptions of the changing seasons, from the brutal harshness of winter to the rebirth in spring and the flourishing of summer, the novel also shows how fickle nature can be. Those who survive, physically and emotionally, are those like Alexandra who can accept and adapt to whatever life offers, instead of fighting against unpredictable disasters. To be successful, one must sublimate the desire for adventure, the urge to explore, and the human tendency to ask oneself, "What if...?" Day-to-day activities, minutely explored here, keep farmers like Alexandra rooted in the real world--imagination is a "luxury" few can afford.

One of the first realistic novels about the pioneer experience, O Pioneers conveys the values and the personal qualities needed for success on the plains, at the same time that it also reveals how quickly and unpredictably nature can change outcomes. Even love is not a haven here--sudden, unpredictable changes occur in love, too. Dramatic and powerful in its depiction of pioneer life, the novel is a paean to the resilient spirit of the early pioneers and the enduring power of nature. Mary Whipple