Willa Cather, Alexander's Bridge

Joshua Grasso (East Central University)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1912

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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In 1911, despite being a successful and influential editor for

McClure’s Magazine

, Willa Cather asked for a leave of absence from her mentor and boss, S.S. McClure. Her varied duties at the magazine left her little time to write, much less to complete the serious—and for a writer, essential—effort of a first novel. With her employer’s blessing, she retired to Cherry Valley, New York with her dearest companion, Isabelle McClung, in tow. There, she finished

Alexander’s Bridge

(1912), a novel begun while writing and publishing her first story collection (

The Troll Garden,

1905) and heavily under the influence of the literary doyens of the age—James and Wharton, especially. Looking back at this novel from the perspective of 1931, Cather wrote, “Like most young writers I thought…

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Citation: Grasso, Joshua. "Alexander's Bridge". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 June 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6787, accessed 11 May 2024.]

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