The Life and Literature of Willa Cather Essay -- Authors

â€Å"The great characters in literature are born out of love, often out of some beautiful experience of the writer† (Brown 1). A number of novelists draw much of their inspiration for writing from stories they hear, places they have lived and visited, their childhood, and people they know and hear of in their lives. Willa Cather is no exception. The setting and places in Cather’s novels are derived from her travels, and where she lived. Cather’s earliest life experiences were also integrated into her writing. The characters in Cather’s novels are based on people in and around her life. Willa Cather’s journeys, and residences; childhood, and the people around her permeate in her novels The Professor’s House, and A Lost Lady. The first locale where Cather crafted her scenery after was her home town of Red Cloud, Nebraska. Willa Cather was born in Back Creek Valley, Virginia; she and her family moved to Nebraska four years later. Within A Lost Lady, the home of Captain Daniel Forrester, and wife Marian is described by the narrator as â€Å"[standing] on a low round hill†, and â€Å"[standing] close to a fine cottonwood grove that threw sheltering arms to left and right†. Cather paints a picturesque view of the mansion belonging to then governor Silas and Lyra Garber, his wife. Sweet Water, the town in which A Lost Lady takes place closely resembles Red Cloud. In comparison, Susan Rosowski, renowned Cather scholar describes the home of the Garber’s having â€Å"a cottonwood grove, the shade of the fast growing trees made the place a favorite for picnics and other social affairs for the people in the town, including young Willa Cather† (Rosowski and Ronning 194). The Forresterâ₠¬â„¢s house decided to incorporate in A Lost Lady was, surely a place of solace a... ... Lady, Willa Cather Scholarly Edition. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2003. 190-201. Print. Skaggs, Merrill Maguire. After the World Broke in Two: The Later Novels of Willa Cather. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1990. Print. "The Professor's House." Cyclopedia Of Literary Characters, Revised Third Edition. 1998. 1-2. Literary Resource Center. Web. 26 April 2012. Van Ghent, Dorothy. "Willa Cather." Willa Cather: Modern Critical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. 71-73. Print. Wilson, Anna. "Canonical Relations: Willa Cather, America, and The Professor's House." Texas Studies in Literature and Language (2005): 61-74. Literature Reference Center. Web. Woodress, James. Willa Cather: A Literary Life. University of Nebraska Press, 1987. Print. —. Willa Cather: Her Life and Art. New York: Pegasus, 1970. Print.