ABSTRACT
Willa Sibert Cather was born in 1873 in Virginia, America. Following her graduation from the University of Nebraska in 1895, she worked as a journalist for the Nebraska State Journal and Lincoln Courier, and became literary editor for the Hesperian. In 1896, she started editing the magazine Home Monthly in Pittsburgh, and later worked for the Pittsburgh Leader. Moving to New York in 1906 to join the staff on McClure’s Magazine, she became managing editor in 1908. In 1911, Cather took leave of absence from McClure’s to write fiction, although she still contributed to the magazine until the publication of her first novel, Alexander’s Bridge, in 1912. Cather’s journalistic career spanned more than 20 years. Her first novel was followed in 1913 by O Pioneers!, My Antonía (1918), The Professor’s House (1925), My Mortal Enemy (1926), Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927), Shadows on the Rock (1931) and Sapphira and the Slave Girl (1940), as well as short story and essay collections. Experiences of travelling in Europe, Canada and North America, as well as observations of the local and the specific, featured prominently in both her journalism and fiction. She became a well-known reviewer of drama, literature and the arts but also wrote about local life and communities. Cather died in 1947 at the age of 73.
