Oct 30 2009
My Ántonia
It is difficult to live where I do and not be reminded from time to time of the 1918 Willa Cather classic, “My Ántonia”. Today was one such day. As I drove to work through the gently rolling prairie hills of north central Kansas, I saw mile after mile of this:
All those fall afternoons were the same, but I never got used to them. As far as we could see, the miles of copper-red grass were drenched in sunlight that was stronger and fiercer than at any other time of the day. The blond cornfields were red gold, the haystacks turned rosy and threw long shadows. The whole prairie was like the bush that burned with fire and was not consumed. That hour always had the exultation of victory, of triumphant ending, like a hero’s death—heroes who died young and gloriously. It was a sudden transfiguration, a lifting-up of day.
-Willa Cather, “My Ántonia” 1918
Ninety-one years after this was written, you can still see the copper-red grass in the fall, although the prairie has long since been carved up into little plots. This year, my awareness of the land in which I live has been heightened greatly thanks in no small part to the book “PrairieErth: A Deep Map” by William Least Heat-Moon. Published a decade ago, I only first heard of it this year, thanks to an online friend Ira Socol who is fascinated with its unique approach to research.
I highly recommend both of these books, especially if you love the prairie. My Ántonia can be downloaded for free on Project Gutenberg. PrairieErth is still available on Amazon.com.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bill Genereux, Debbie Gleason. Debbie Gleason said: RT @billgx: New blog post: My Ántonia http://bit.ly/3rkWAi [...]
Cather wonderfully evokes the land and the seasons in that novel. I grew up in Oklahoma, so things were a little different from what she describes — the snow was never as deep as hers! — but reading the book in California made me miss the Oklahoma countryside a lot!
Scott,
We have had unseasonably cool weather this year. We had our first snowfall a couple of weeks ago. When I lived in California, I too missed home a great deal, especially having four distinct seasons.
Cather has become really special to me in recent years because I learned that the Genereux family originally settled in Campbell, NE about 14 miles from Red Cloud. My grandfather’s grandfather even lived in an earth dugout, as described in that book. There are still plenty of Genereux’s in that area to this day.
As we zip through the countryside in our comfy automobiles, I wonder how many folks stop to think about those who were here before us and the hardships they endured just to survive?