606 UNIVERSITY COTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ARTIST IN THE WRITINGS OF WILLA CATHER by Rev, Killian Speckner, OFMConv. Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ottawa through the Department of English as partial fulfill­ ment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. .^BIBO'e. Ottawa, Canada, 1955 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UMI Number: DC53327 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI® UMI Microform DC53327 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 UNIVERSITE DOTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES ACKNOWLEDGMENT This thesis was prepared under the guidance of Dr. Emmett O' Grady, Head of the Department of English Literature. Gratitude is here expressed for his interest and cooperation. UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES CURRICULUM STUDIORUM NAME: Rev. Killian Speckner, OFMConv. BORN: October 24, 1921, Louisville, Kentucky B.A. Our Lady of Carey Seminary, Carey, Ohio. May 26, 1949 M.A. De Paul University, Chicago, Illinois. February 8, 1953. Thesis: "Priesthood" UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D-OTTAWA - ECOLE PES GRADUES TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page INTRODUCTION vi I.-EXPOSITION OF THE OBJECTIVE 1 1. Definition of terms 2 2. Division of material 3 II.-THE WORLD OF WILLA CATHER ik 1. Red Cloud, Nebraska lh 2. University days 21 3. Pittsburg 2? 4. McClure* s 1906-1912 29 5. Literary Career, 1913-1947 35 III.-ARTISTS IN THE SHORT STORIES hi 1. Sources h-1 2. "A Death in the Desert" J+2 3. "The Sculptor' s Funeral" ^6 4. " Paul's Case" ^9 5. " Flavia and Her Artists" 53 6. " The Garden Lodge" % 7. " The Marriage of Phaedra" 59 8. "A Wagner Matinee" 61 9. "The Namesake" 63 10. "The Willing Muse" 66 11. " The Joyof Nellie Deane" 69 12. " The Diamond Mine" 71 13. "A Gold Slipper" 75 14. "Ardessa" 79 15. "Scandal" 81 16. "Coming, Aphrodite!" Qh 17. " Double Birthday" 89 18. Summary 91 IV.-ARTISTS IN THE NOVELS 97 1. Alexander's Bridge 78 2. The Song of the Lark 102 3. The Professor* s House 113 4. Lucy Gayheart 123 5. My Mortal Enemy 13^ 6. Shadows on the Rock 1H-0 7. Summary 1^3 UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA -- ECOLE PES GRADUES TABLE OF CONTENTS V Chapter Page V. THE WORLD OF THE PIONEER 1^5 1. "The Enchanted Bluff" 1^-6 2. "The Bohemian Girl" 1^7 3. "Neighbor Rosicky" 151 k. "Two Friends" 15^ 5. "The Best Years" 154- 6. "Before Breakfast" 156 7. 0 Pioneers! 158 8. My Antonia 167 9. One of Ours 176 10. A Lost Lady 17^ 11. Death Comes for the Archbishop 190 12. Summary 201 CONCLUSION 209 BIBLIOGRAPHY 209c UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA - SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE PES GRADUES INTRODUCTION Willa Seibert Cather (1873-1947) was recognized during her lifetime as one of the outstanding figures in American literature.1 Since her death her reputation has grown and a better understanding of her importance has been promoted with the publication of several biogra­ phical studies and critical works. These have suggested further inves­ tigation into her contributions to literature and have stimulated renewed interest in the underlying theme of her work. This thesis pursues that theme through her literary career with the purpose of demonstrating the consistency of Cather* s choice of character and theme. It has been said of Willa Cather that her "passion for artists, especially musical artists, has been second only to her passion for pioneers. " This statement provides a starting point for a study of her fictional world, a study which intends to show that her passion for artists was second to none. Cather, it is true, had a passion for artists and pioneers; how­ ever, the fact which is to be demonstrated in this thesis is that this passion was a single emotion. The world which the reader finds in her short stories and novels extends from the prairies of Nebraska to the concert halls of Boston and New York, from the desert towns to the exciting and crowded capitals of Europe. It is peopled with men and women of many 1 J. Donald Adams, " Speaking of Books, " The New York Times Book Review, May 11, 1947, p. 2. 2~Elizabeth S. Sergeant, Fire Under the Andes, N.Y., Knopf, 1927, p. 272. UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D-OTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES INTRODUCTION vli professions, with characters of great and small talent, with the rich and the poor, the famous and the infamous. Underlying this world which she has created is burning one steady flame, one passion. Into the souls of the artists and pioneers, the professors and the priests this flame has found its way. It has brought a sense of unity to the people of the prairie and the celebrated artists in public life. They are cut from the same cloth however much may be the differences in their speech, costume, or manners. Cather, in an essay titled: " The Novel Demeuble, " repeated a formula for writing which she followed in her own literary career as a story teller. " The elder Dumas enunciated a great principle when he said that to make a drama, a man needed one passion and four walls. " 3 Whether or not this was the guide which Willa Cather took to direct her in the writing of her novels and short stories, it is certain that all of her work can be studied in the light of this one principle. She had one passion which she transmitted to her characters. There was one noble ideal which became part of the make-up of her major creations. Her early writing which was so much influenced by her associations with creative people began by instilling this passion into her " artists." As the direction of her gaze changed, as her experience grew, other types of characters inherited this passion. However, it remained from the beginning to the end of her career something naturally part of the personality of her creative characters. 3 Willa Cather, On Writing, New York, Knopf, 1949, p. 43. UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA ~ ECOLE DES GRADUES INTRODUCTION Viii This one passion, however, has varying degrees. Oftentimes it can be misdirected or misused. It can be thwarted or destroyed. It can be increased to lead the character to the greatest achievements, or diminished to such an extent that its possessor will follow only the shadow of a dream. The thesis is intended to make a survey of that passion with the people and the world in which it exists, to show that Cather made a great drama and a great world of one passion and four walls. UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA - ECOLE DES GRADUES CHAPTER ONE EXPOSITION OF THE OBJECTIVE The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the fact that Willa Cather used the creative artist and his world, 1) as background material for a major portion of her work, 2) as an expression of what is best in life in contrast with the world represented by the Philistine, and 3) as a fundamental element, in the creation of her pioneer characters. The reason for the thesis is to give a better understanding of Willa Cather's work by organizing it in the light of the principles given above. The majority of critics who have written about Cather' s literary contributions have not attempted to find any coordinating theme in her novels and short stories. On the other hand, they have treated each work individually or have seen the divergencies between the earlier and later work as a reflection of her loss of faith in the materialistic age in which she lived. 5 Other critics have recognized the vital theme which gives organization to her work but have not shown how that theme was developed 1 Alfred Kazin, On Native Grounds, An Interpretation of Modern American Prose Literature, N.Y., Reynol and Hitchcock, 1942, p. 250. 2 David Daiches, Willa Cather; A Critical Introduction, Oxford, Cornell Univ., 1951, p. 187. 3 Maxwell Geismar, The Last of the Provincials: The American Novel, 1915-1925, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1947, p. 155. 4 Regis Michaud, The American Novel Today, A Social and Psychological Study, Boston, Little, 1928, p. 180. 5 Ludwig Lewisohn, Expression in America, N.Y., Harpers, 1932, p. 539. J UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES UNIVERSITE D'OTTAWA -- ECOLE DES GRADUES EXPOSITION OF THE OBJECTIVE 2 nor have they attempted to indicate its implications. 6~9 This thesis, then, intends to complete the work of this latter group in particular by showing Gather*s world of the artists as a whole and by demonstrating that the spirit which moved the characters in her early works is the same as that which drives ahead those creations of her later novels and short stories. Definition of Terms In discussing the "artists" in Cather' s short stories and novels it will be necessary to make distinctions and to give definitions.