It was quite a feat: she left a legacy of 13 novels and more than 60 short stories, which have helped to secure her place now in the company of her more famous contemporaries: Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner. What we do know is that she never married or had children, and that she devoted the majority of her energies during her adult life to writing and to seeing those writings published. Some have postulated that she was a closeted lesbian, but, as with all such claims, it is only that: speculation. As she left no autobiography, no memoir, and few letters, we can only speculate about Cather’s personal life. At this point, both women had devoted their lives to a single pursuit, sacrificing personal relationships - or, at least those of a romantic nature - for the cause.
It’s difficult, then, to overlook the obvious similarities between her own life and that of her heroine, Alexandra Bergson. Maybe the most surprising element to the novel is Alexandra’s reaction to Emil and Maria’s fate, and what it might tell us about the times in which Cather was writing.Willa Cather was nearly 40 years old in 1913 when she published O Pioneers!, her second novel. Alexandra’s youngest brother Emil, is her hope for the future – but tragically things don’t turn out as she expects when Emil finds himself drawn to Maria Shabata, a young married neighbour he knew briefly as a child. Along with the story of Alexandra’s management of her family’s lands, is woven two love stories, with very different outcomes. In this difficult country the Bergson’s battle to raise a family and farm the land.
The wild untamed landscape of the American west is brought to life, in Cather’s vivid descriptions. This was a lovely novel to reacquaint myself with her work. It is many years since I read any Willa Cather, and all I can remember of the two novels I did read is that I enjoyed them. O Pioneers! is a powerful testimony to love, the land and the pioneering spirit. 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. 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. On another level O Pioneers! is the story of Alexandra Bergson. The farmer taming the wild Northern States of America, battling with the elements and an unforgiving land to create a home, family and livelihood. In one respect Cather bears witness to the early 20th-century Pioneers. Willa Cather’s second novel is abundant with interwoven themes.
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