Chapter 1　Introduction：Retrospect and Rethinking of Cather Criticism

Cather Came to Mark Twain's attention early in her career as a writer. In 1905 she was invited to attend the 70-year-old literary predecessor's birthday party and，among more than 150 participants，had the honor of being one of the guests sitting close to Twain and having a cordial conversation with him.Afterwards Mark Twain particularly praised her poem“The Palatine”（1909）. In the 1920s and 1930s Cather's reputation reached its zenith in her lifetime.Her novel One of Ours（1922）won a Pulitzer Prize after its publication. In January 1934 the International Mark Twain Society awarded My Ántonia its silvermedal，and invited Cather to write a comment on Mark Twain at the appropriate time. In 1937 Cather wrote“Willa Cather's Tribute to Mark Twain”which，however，was not published until 1973，after over 35 years in limbo，when it appeared in Mark Twain Journal during the centennial anniversary of her birth. When the International PEN conference was held at the University of Virginia in April 1980，Joan Crane learned from some representatives of the PEN that，back in 1922，Cather was a founding member of the original Committee，and the only female committee member at that. Such an important background of hers had been so long forgotten.

These examples highlight the dramatic ups and downs of Cather's literary fate in the United States in her lifetime and after her death. The fluctuations of people's evaluation of Cather reflect changing values in American society and particularly within America's academia. The social and historical roots of these changes are worth exploring. This study aims to present a systematic and thorough analysis of Cather criticism，to provide full and accurate information for its further development，and to make it a field with distinct points and clear，logically coherent patterns. Throughout the last one hundred years，experience in Cather criticism，whether examined from a literary and aesthetic point of view，or from the social and political perspective，has had far-reaching significance. It has enabled a profound understanding of changes in both the ecological patterns and the social structures of this historical period，aswell as the impact on the spiritual world of developments in the materialsphere and the fission that has resulted. Such experience is not only an inspiration to a wider range of literary study，but also worth learning from in related areas of research.

Chapter 2　“The history of every country begins in the heart of aman or a woman”：Willa Cather's Romantic Temperament

Cather liked reading Robert Louis Stevenson's novels in childhood and brought vivid images of them into various little games with her playmates. As an adult，Cather continued to conduct explorations of such creative imagination in her works. Cather borrowed from a poem by Walt Whitman the title of O Pioneers！，showing that Whitman's romantic style had a significant impact on her literary creation. It is a natural piety that binds Cather to her Romantic predecessors. Infected by their broad vision，she creates works that exude breath inclusive of all things of nature. Natural beauty，whether at her old home in Virginia or in Nebraska where she moved as a child，is presented in her fictional world afterwards. With her aesthetic approach to romanticism，Cather sweeps readers out into vast spaces，evoking in their hearts an intimate relationship with the natural world.

According to Jonathan Bate，“In Romantic poetics，poetry is to be found not only in language but in nature；it is notonly am eans of verbal expression，it is also a means of emotional communication between man and the natural world.”Everywhere，whether in her daily life or in her literary works，Cather seeks emotional interaction with nature，and therein embodies the essence of the Romantic poetry. Romanticism emphasizes the importance of imagination in literary creation，seeing in it the author's lifeline. Cather's love of her relatives and friends provides for her art such sympathetic imagination. While recalling her conversations with the peasant women in the Nebraska countryside，she said，“Ialways felt as if they told me somuch more than they said—as if Ihad actually got inside another person's skin.”As she exclaimed，“Nothing，nothing_…could equal the bliss of entering into the very skin of another human being.”

Cather was once disparaged as a writer going against the trend，and Romanticism itself is seen as an outdated mode of artistic creation. From the 1940s through the 1980s“Romanticism”was a term that critics tried to avoid asmuch as possible. However，in The Voyage Perilous：Willa Cather's Romanticism （1986），Susan J. Rosowski clarifies the term，in order to refute the theory that “Romanticism is outdated.”The title of her monograph is taken from Cather's comment on Romanticism：“The voyage perilous”is“that short voyage from the brain to the hand”during which the artist-pilotmaintains his own idea“living，intact，tinged with all its original feeling.”In recent years，the navigation of Cather Study hasbroken through torrents and rapids and attained its revival，and research works on Cather from the Romanticist point of view have gained new development，which indicates that the mechanical theory of evolution for a linear way of criticism itself is obsolete.

Chapter 3　“I used my eyes and my ears”：Willa Cather's Course of Realist Creation

During her childhood years，Cather was“a flesh and blood dictograph—eyes in every pore.”Her keen senses tried to gather every novelty around，and the town of Red Cloud in the 1880s was vibrant with materials for her to absorb. On entering the University of Nebraska，Cather majored in Literature and worked as a part-time reporter，experiencing her initiation into the creative consciousness of realism. After graduation Cather's practice in the press，faithfully reporting social reality，further cultivated her creative spirit of realism. In her mind，a reporter's investigating and uncovering current scandals requires a strong sense of justice. She believed that once the American people read the muckraking articles，they would not hesitate to correct the injustices these articles revealed. The articles cover real life and ordinary people，the oppressed and the downtrodden，in the form of realistic stories to accurately report various social injustices. In Cather's creative practice，she conceals her personal feelings in the midst of the description of ordinary facts，amanner which shows that she is a realist writer.

Willa Cather's career asa journalist paved the way for her literary writing as revealed in O Pioneers！and other master pieces，created according to the materials accumulated during her early frontier life and subsequent work as a journalist. These works feature objectivity，rather than didacticism，for what didactic fiction treats is not the real situation but how things should be，in an attempt to present the ideal and the heroes. Realistic fiction，on the other hand，is dedicated to creating characters that are common people rather than heroes.

In My Ántonia，Jim witnesses“a clump of flaming orange-colored milkweed，rare in that part of the state.”Cather had seen this plant in her homeland as a child and，relying on memory，included it in the novel，butwas challenged by the localbotanistReverend Bates，a seniormember of the American Association for the Advancementof Science. Cather asked her friends Carrie and Mary，who were sisters，to watch for this grass，but not until one summer about fifteen years later did they find it. They dug out a portion of the plant and root，brought it to Reverend Bates，and told him exactly their painstaking effort for fifteen years to search for orange milkweed. Reverend Bates requested the sisters to forgive his oversight，and promised that hewould immediately write a letter of apology to Cather. Afterwards，he prepared the specimen for his her barium. This specimen，as an evidence of Cather's realistic writing style，is still stored at the University of Nebraska. Cather lauded hermentor Sarah Orne Jewett for creating such works as The Country of the Pointed Firs that are“not stories at all，but life itself.”The phrase also summarizes Cather's own realistic writing career.

Chapter 4　“Limited and held fast by their love of one spot on the rolling earth”：The Regionalist Motif in Willa Cather'sWorks

Cather successfully incorporates her career with a regionalélan，turning them both into amission and a passion. She not only takes“the great fact”of the land as the theme of her fiction but also，through her depiction，makes people realize that this is a beautiful land. In Edith Lewis'words，“Except for some of the people who lived in it_…no one had ever found Nebraska beautiful until Willa Cather wrote about it.”Her prairie epics are her best reward to her homeland. Although Cather was already highly regarded by the critics，it was still difficult for her father at the time to understand that she had become a celebrity. Itwas not until 1920，when he learned of Sinclair Lewis's speech in Omaha，that he was convinced that his daughter was really great. In Lewis'words，she is “Nebraska's foremost citizen. The United States knows Nebraska because of Willa Cather's books.”

Regional theme is not confined to Cather's prairie novels，but runs through all her works. Her early short story“The Enchanted Bluff”（1909）already established the importance of geographical themes and scenes in her subsequent fiction. And her interest in the Southwest provides the background for Song of the Lark（1915），The Professor's House（1925），and Death Comes for the Archbishop（1927）. Afterwards，while working on Shadows on the Rock（1931），Cather created Cécile，the title heroine of“Cécile，”a distinct narrative，a girl with an enduring attachment to her hometown Quebec. But not until 2005，when the University of Nebraska Press republished the novel，did it include the full text of“Cécile”with a photocopy of it smanuscript. The emergence of“Cécile”has aroused the academics'concern，as it signifies the expansion of Cather's geographical perspective from her homes in Virginia and Nebraska as well as her favorite Southwest further into the boundaries of the neighbor to the north of the U-nited States. Cather utters her regional concept in this fragment：“People who have not been limited and held fast by their love of one spot on the rolling earth know nothing about it—cannot imagine it.”In her last novel，Sapphira and the Slave Girl（1940），Cather brings the reader back to her Southern home，showing her earlier childhood. Once again，she absorbs the legacy of her homeland，and regards it as her mission to retell the local story there.

Regionalism is one of the earliest terms used within literary circle in comments on Cather and her works，but“regional”in the same time bears the connotation of“narrow”and“remote.”As Randolph Bourne wrote in praise of My Ántonia，Cather“in this book has taken herself out of the rank of provincial writers and given us something we can fairly class with the modern literary art the world over that is earnestly and richly interpreting the spirit of youth.”Building on a regional theme，Cather delves into problems of universal significance，and her works are invested with profound meaning under the seemingly simple and uncomplicated surface.

Chapter 5　“The nature our strain of blood carries is inside there”：Fem inist Literary Criticism for Willa Cather

In the early days of Cather's literary career，she regarded art as man's club. In 1895，she wrote in the newspaper：“In the novel creation，I do not have much confidence in women；they have a kind of disgusting sexual awareness.”Female images of Cather's early fiction reflecther pessimistic attitude toward women. In the short story“Ardessa”（1918），after working in an editorial office for many years，Ardessa is dismissed and replaced by Becky Teitelbaum. Dictating official documents to the young secretary，the male editor feels thrilled，“like riding a goodmodern bicycle after pumping along on an old hard tire.”Although Cather is critically detached from the predatory male and his female victim，the story does reveal her compassion to thewomen subjected to exploitation. From Alexander's Bridge（1912）to O Pioneers！（1913），Cather gradually shifts from her identification with the male to that of the female. The breakthrough of the latter novel lies in her challenge in it to the traditional society's bias of and rocentrism and utilitarianism. In The Song of the Lark （1915），Cather creates Mrs. Kronborg and Thea，the two imageswithmuch resemblance，to stress the creative essence of two generations of women passing down from mother to daughter.

Blanche Gelfant castigates Cather's works for their negations and evasions of history，including that of race and violence，and an“inherent thematic demand to show physical passion as disastrous.”According to Gelfant，the title of O Pioneers！and much of the book's feeling for nature and the pioneering experience are from Whitman's poetry，but it is worlds apart from his erotic celebration of the“body electric.”In fact，although Cather's handling of the erotic is different from that of Whitman，her idealization of the prairie is closely related to the example set by him. Sharon O'Brien holds that Cather abandons themyth of Adam，replacing it with that of Alexandra who，“by inscribing herself in the land，”“writes her community's story as well as her own.”In Death Comes for the Archbishop（1927），Cather rigorously refutes the prejudice of racial and gender discrimination. Bishop Latour is moved by the faith he sees on the Mexican slave Sada's“dark brown peon face，”shining with the reflection of the“red spark of the sanctuary lamp”；“he perceived the miracle in her heart into his own，saw through her eyes.”The bishop's faith is strengthened by means of a humble slave girl，causing him to adopt a more enlightened perspective of the world.

With Cather's artistic maturity comes her growing awareness of her own identity as a woman. In My Mortal Enemy，through the mouth of Myra，she utters such a strong sense of identity：“The nature our strain of blood carries is inside there，waiting，like our skeleton.”In her lastnovel Sapphira and the Slave Girl（1940），Cather goes back to her childhood memories of stories told by women，of women's betrayal of women，and declares herself an heir of the female narrative tradition，admitting that she as a writer owes much to the women who had related tales to her in her childhood.

Chapter 6　“Turquoise set in dull silver”：Willa Cather's Innovation in Modernist Literature

Critics have longregarded Cather as a conservative，questioning her modernity，but Sharon O'Brien believes that the conclusion is rooted in the prejudices ofmale authorities. In“The Novel Démeublé”（1922），for instance，Cather assumes a modern is tmanner of inviting readers to participate in the creation of literary meaning，and advocates certain principles ofwriting，including the eradication of various stereotypes and the omission of the complicated content of traditional fiction. Cather applies these principles to the writing of her works as A Lost Lady（1923），The Professor's House（1925），and Lucy Gayheart（1935），for which she deserves to be placed on the list of modernist writers along with James Joyce，Virginia Woolf，and T.S. Eliot.

Cather's later works are considered nostalgic and consequently kept out of the category of modernism. But the fact is that they maintain continuity with her early works. In MyÁntonia she quotes the Virgilian verse“in the life of the mortals，the best days are the first to flee，”which is in line with the keynote of The Professor's House，that of the yearning for the lost prime years. In My Ántonia，Jim and Ántonia actually serve as dual protagonists；likewise，The Professor's House is also saturated with such dual imagery. Some critics think that Cather's novels are fragmented and lack consistency. But in fact，by putting unrelated subjects together，without minding the causal relationship，Cather shows that she is committed to innovation，to transcend associational language and linear rationality，to abandon the traditional narrative approach of writing along a single story line，and to adopt a modernist mode of narration. As Cather's least conservative novel，The Professor's House is the product of experiments carried out from the structure to the content，and the way Prof. St. Peter and Tom serve as co- narrators achieves amore honest and complex effect than a narration by either of them individually could have accomplished. Tom'sstory in Book Ⅱis placed in between the two parts of the Professor's narrative and，in James Schroeter's opinion，“the point is that BookⅡis the‘turquoise，’and Book I and Ⅲare the‘dull silver.’”The turquoise and the silver set off each other so that the text is made seamless. It is this modernist narrative technique that makes the content Cather inserts not in any way irrelevant，but instead“Turquoise set in dull silver.”

Cather's works reflectthe contemporary trend of a variety of identities colliding with and interacting with each other. In The Professor's House，the description of the ancient Indian Cliff Dwellers and of the way the Professor's son-in-law Louis as a Jew would not or could not be assimilated by the mainstream society evidences Cather's rejection of both supremacism and ethnocentrism. Dualism permeates the whole of Western culture，always dividing people into identities of binary opposition such as natives and foreigners，men and women. With its exploration and positioning of identity through a variety of themes，the modernist literature created by Cather significantly breaks such a rigid framework. Cather's achievement in this area is no less than that of Gertrude Stein，who has often been dubbed“The Mother of Modernism.”

Chapter 7　“The thing not named”：Criticism of Homosexuality in Willa Cather's Works

In recent years，Cather has come to be regarded as the spokesperson for the U.S. gay community. Although she does not directly describe social problems in her fiction，her esteem for same-sex friendship itself is a challenge to mainstream society. Sappho provides amodel of homosexuality for Cather，who honors her poems as having“burned themselves into the consciousness of the world like fire.”Cather's imagination is inspired by the ancient Greek poetess，whose sexual psychology she re-models in her fiction. Captivated by Whitman's vision of the American democracy as a system built on the basis of“adhesiveness”of friends，Cather absorbs hismeaning of homosexuality and fits into her own aesthetic his“primitive elemental force”and comprehensive theme.

The epigraph of Cather's short story collection The Troll Garden（1905）comes from Christina Rossetti's poem“The Goblin Market”（1862），with an implicit warning to women that dealing with men is fraught with danger，and that it is wise for them to relinquish gender relations，and to establish contacts with their sisters，because the link between the same sex is not based on money transactions，but on their genuine concern for and sincere love of each other. Cather often treats homosexuality in her works in such an unobtrusive way. By using code-based text without specific enunciation，she conveys the real meaning to her intended readers in consonance with her feeling. Sharon O'Brien noticed the striking resemblance between what Cather called“the thing not named”in her essay“The Novel Démeublé”（1922）and what Oscar Wilde referred to as “the Love that dared not speak its name.”While under the confinement and suppression of mainstream society Cather adopts an ambiguous approach to homosexuality，this love which is“not named”makes Cather sensitive to human diversity and a style suited to it，and invests her fiction with more complexity and vitality. Therefore the research on homosexuality in Cather's fiction should focus on her art of creation itself and her transcendence of the stereotype rather than her own sexual orientation.

As a romantic artist，Cather has a strong desire for self-expression，which some critics tend to as sociate with homosexuals. The image of homosexual artists in her works such as“Coming，Aphrodite！”（1920）increases the depth of her literary creation，enriching her protagonists with ambiguous feelings and frustrated desires. Cather's literary style and intense romanticism are closely related to each other，for the protagonists likewise have to strive for the right of their self-expression of emotion，and explore the essence of such amental journey. Rosowski holds that“the Romantics inaugurated the modern literature”；in this sense，modern homosexual literature carries on the quest of traditional romanticism. In her works Cather utters the voice for the emerging population，which makes not only a far-reaching impact on gay literature in its future development，but also an inspiration for writers and scholars by bringing up a variety of implications and possibilities，showing that the value of the existence of literary career lies not in the pursuit of the established“doctrines”but in the exploration of the ongoing truth in a creativemanner.

Chapter 8　“To be dissolved into something complete and great”：Willa Cather's Ecological Ethics

Some scholars accuse Willa Cather of writing from“imperialist no stalgia，”“encoding a benign version of the conquest of the Plains.”But in fact what Cather craves is an unmolested nature. At the age of nine shemigrated with her family to the prairie in Nebraska from Virginia，and was thus exposed at a tender age to the contrast between the ecologicalmilieu of the Atlantic seaboard in the East and that of the frontier in the West，a diversity which nurtured her affection for the wide expanse of wilderness and its abundant creatures. She refers to the cottonwood as“the most beautiful tree on the plains，”and it was her persistence that stopped the attempt of a group of men to fell a cottonwood grove. In Lucy Gayheart，the title character has the same reaction when she awakes to the sound of axes cutting into wood.

Viewing Professor's House from an ecofeminist perspective，Gerard Dollar censures Cather for depicting the American West as“the wilderness Edenic”in the male literary tradition and，by means of“the male's confirmation of awilderness self，”making nature“the man's true spiritualmate—an idealized womanly Other.”Susan J. Rosowski investigates the gender representation in My Ántonia and other prairie epics，and reaches a conclusion entirely different from that of Dollar，holding that“rather than writing about a virgin land waiting to be despoiled，Cather conceived of the West as female nature，slumbering，awakening，and roaring its independence.”She stresses instead that the West in Cather's pen has not been conquered，but maintains the original nature of women closely related to the wildsand to fertility. As such，in the prairie epics，Cather clearly“sent Adam packing and claimed paradise for women，resorting to them a psychosexual identification with nature and appropriating for them the promise of nature'swilderness.”

In O Pioneers！Ivar treats animals in a humanemanner，but is regarded by the mainstream society as being“crazy.”In Death Comes for the Archbishop，when Bishop Latour travels with a Navajo，he learns the Indian's way to pass through a country without disturbing anything. Cather creates various characters such as Ivar，the Norwegian immigrant in O Pioneers！，and the Navajo in Death Comes for the Archbishop，depicting them as exemplars of a life-centered ethic. With the words and deeds of these marginal characters that refuse to be Americanized，Cather critiques the homocentric mentality of imperialism，and encodes a vigorous sense of biotic community，a stance with which she presents her ecological ethic synthesized in an identification with nature. Ecological studies of Cather in recent years have increasingly demonstrated an interdisciplinary nature. With their approach of organic ecocriticism，some scholars explore Cather'sworks in the frame of a literary ecology to interprether ecological ethic. In My Ántonia，the narrator Jim leans back against a warm pumpkin in his grandmother's garden，feeling himself ultimately merged into the surroundings，an ideal realm of unity with nature. Such a classic scene in the novel is emblematic of Cather's ecological ethic.

Chapter 9　“Like the daubs of color on a painter's palette”：Willa Cather's Multicultural Complex

Cather presents in her fictional community going through a process of constant reconstruction in the sense of migration. In Joseph Urgo's words，“migration is paradoxically the keystone of American existence，and migrants gather paradoxes as they move from one‘permanent' residence to the next.”Destiny made Cather experience such migration in her early childhood. At her old home in Virginia，Cather grew up in a single White Anglo-Protestant culture，but after she moved to Nebraska，she found that her European immigrant neighbors had come from different foreign countries，“like the daubs of color on a painter's palette，”lending vitality and versatility to“this neutral new world.”They passed on to her those distant lands'customs and cultures with a long history，which she eventually regards as her own traditions for her to inherit and carry forward with due responsibility.

Cather's trip to the southwest during her adulthood further expanded her horizons. To her，the community-based，ritual-oriented mysterious Indian culture is a healthy one，in which daily life is permeated with order and meaning. In Alexander's Bridge and other novels Cather condemns the human desire to conquer the environment，whereas the Indians，even in leaving traces in the land，does so in amanner to meet their needs，rather than to impose their own will. Cather feels that the pyramid-shaped ancient Indian villages reflect the harmonious relationship between the indigenous people and the land，for which she finds for her literary creation a metaphorical expression. If Cather is illuminated by the colorful native speech of European immigrants，she also immensely benefits from the Indian dwellings. Inspired by the indigenous houses constructed in accordance with the undulating hills，Cather starts building her novels in the same manner.

While some scholars comment on Willa Cather's close association with immigrants from Europe，and even her contact with the Indian civilization，they scarcely notice the influence of black people on her. In fact such an influence exists in her works as a hypotext，investing its structural mode with an African-American cultural ethos characteristic of its irregular rhythm，a feature which is vastly different from the aesthetic principle of the mainstream culture. An investigation of the contribution that Black culture has made to American literature or，in Toni Morrison's words，searching for“the ghost in the machine，”enables us to gain an insight into the multicultural complex in Cather's works. From North and East European immigrants'native tongues and Indian architecture to Black music，diverse non-WASP cultures exert their respective subtle influence on Cather，increasing her sense of the diversity of North America and bringing forth them ulticultural features in her works.

Chapter 10　Conclusion：Trends in Cather Studies as a Reflection of Societal Change

Throughout a century of Cather Study，different schools of critics have varied in their opinions. With the initial publication of her works came interpretations such as that of romanticism，realism，and regionalism. Early study of these works always centered on their theme of Americanism，and stressed that Cather's concern is how the Americans would proliferate for generations on this piece of territory so that the country would maintain its vigor and vitality. This concern is in accordance with the then thriving mainstream context，and provides for Cather's literature a broad and solid social foundation. The 1920s saw an unprecedented growth in the U.S. economy，but the seeds had been sown for the Great Depression. As economic conditions deteriorated，the original national values of the United States began to shake，social trend and literary wind took a sharp left turn，and consequently critics'evaluation of Cather'sworks also turned negative. In the early 1920s and 1930s the reputation of Cather once reached the culmination of her lifetime，but left-wing critics in the Great Depression systematized the negative evaluation of her，making her much vilified，and Cather study subsequently became an unfrequented field.

With the rising feministmovement of the 1970s，Cather's reputation recovered，and she again came to the forefront of American literature. Comments from the feminist standpoint enabled Cather Studies to emerge from its low ebb and break through the limitations of its earlier mode，and lead this field from the narrow perspective of Americanism to a much broader vision. Subsequently as the rise of the Homosexual Rights Movement embraced Cather as the spokesper-son for the U.S. gay community，academics began to explore the sexual orientation of Cather and her works that conflicts with the sexual norms of the mainstream society. As Cather always wrote in a simple，concise style，and refused to use fashionable rhetoric and in her work formal complexity is obscured beneath linguistic clarity，she was excluded from modernist writers until the late 20th century，when her status as a modernist writer was recognized. Since the end of the 20th century eco-criticism has also been applied to the exploration of Cather'sworks，the rich ecological connotations of which are gradually being discovered. At the same time，because Cather chronicles the history of immigration and racial integration，and describes the process of a number of ethnic groups forming a nation，some critics believe that her works embodymulticulturalism. In recent years，Cather study has also embraced magic realism，dystopia criticism，and fictional biography. Along with such new orientations，original approaches to Cather study have also gained more in-depth achievement，presenting a sequence all the way from traditional modes of literary criticism such as Romanticism to Multiculturalism and other emergent perspectives. As summarized by James Woodress，a main line of American literature is taking shape “from Emerson to Whitman toWilla Cather.”

For more than a century various schools of critics have consistently rewritten on Cather and her works according to the political climate under the times and their own values，which also keep changing along with the tension and relaxation of the social environment. Cather is a representative writer as such change is focused on her. An investigation of the evolution of Cather study shows that ongoing debate and reinterpretation are necessary for not only Cather but also other writers. It is in the entire process of such continuous debate and reinterpretation that today's Cather study assumes an interdisciplinary trend，across different modes of literary criticism and divergent cultures，reflecting the increasingly diverse academic way of thinking. In summary，Cather study gives expression to the unbounded nature ofWestern literature with a variety of traditions，a variety of perspectives，and a variety of aesthetic tastes.