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Article: Cather, Wllla 1873-1947
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- American Decades
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CATHER, WLLLA 1873-1947
Novelist
Voice of the Heartland
Willa Cather, whose best-known novels were published during the 1910s, was one of the few major novelists to emerge during that decade. In a period notable for the rise of literary modernism, she wrote fiction that looked back to America's agrarian past. Yet Cather's approach was in accord with the realism of her contemporaries: her celebrations of the pioneer spirit are tempered by compromise, sacrifice, and even suicide.
Early Years
Though she is usually identified as a midwestern writer, Cather lived in Nebraska for only twelve years, albeit formative ones. She was born on 7 December 1873 in Back Creek, Virginia, the first of ...