My Antonia (Macmillan Collector's Library)

My Ántonia by Willa Cather had me longing for the innocence of childhood— the happy nonchalance towards harsh circumstances that can only be the preserve of children and the naiveté of their conviction in the wonders of the future. Cather begins her masterpiece with a train journey during which two friends who chance upon each other converse about their mutual friend, Ántonia Shimerda, whom they both remember fondly. One of them entreats the other, a man named Jim Burden, to write about her and what follows is the story of this Bohemian girl and her immigrant family living in Nebraska, America. There’s not much I’d like to say about the plot but I do want to share what made me adore this beloved classic. The book takes a close look at the hardships faced by immigrant families in foreign lands. The problems of not knowing the native language, the constant sense of being ill-at-ease because of ‘looking different’ from the ‘original inhabitants,’ the urgency of adapting to harsh climatic conditions, sustaining on limited means, and above all an acute awareness of the wealth of your neighbours. Cather foregrounds these challenges with much eloquence and pathos. While reading the book, I was mesmerised by the friendship between Jim and Antonia. They were friends as children and the sweetness of their relationship remained invulnerable to time and distance. The fact that they loved each other was made more beautiful because that feeling wasn’t bound by a need for marriage. They continued to acknowledge what the other meant to them in front of their respective families even when they grew up. It’s rare to see such a relationship in books, let alone classics, and it warmed my heart to witness the splendour of friendship between a man and a woman without the underlying subtext of an obligation of matrimony. I think I picked up this book at the best possible time with its overarching theme of nostalgia for bygone times echoing our present-day yearning for a life that wouldn’t be so complicated and claustrophobic. My Ántonia’s wistful gaze at rustic lives, the glowing, sun-kissed prairies, the majestic farms, the canopy of trees, and the coexistence of humans and animals was a humbling reminder of there being a whole world that exists outside of us which desperately needs our attention.

Il libro è arrivato con qualche minima imperfezione in copertina. Questo libro racconta di un America ancora rurale e poco sviluppata, dal punto di vista di immigrati. Il protagonista, Jim Burden entrerà in contatto con una famiglia di boemi, la cui figlia maggior, Antonia giocherà un ruolo essenziale nella sua vita. Questo romanzo fu pubblicato nel 1918 come parte della "Praire Trilogy" che includeva "O, Pioneers" e "The song of the Lark" e si basa, in parte, su delle reminiscenze della stessa autrice. Consigliato!

Reading this book is part of my effort to catch up on classic books I missed over the years. I’d read her short stories but was wowed by the skill of the writing in this novel. She handles the plot and themes in a unique way. Although prairie life is sometimes romanticized, the pastoral scenes are a joy to read. While her descriptions of small-town life are cutting, she portrays the pull of big city life in several of her characters, one succumbing to despair and isolation, another buoyed by whimsical humor, and the narrator by his choice. It was daring I think to write about the lives of immigrants back in the 1920s. Changes in the landscape, in farm life, and slowly, attitudes toward women, help tell the story. At times, I thought the narrative was overwrought and the pace too slow, but then I’m a modern reader! Overall, an enchanting book.

This book carries me along through a time and place, allowing me to feel it, as if a good friend were telling me a story. This is the third time I have read this book. I am sure I will read it again.

Willa Cather’s novel My Ántonia was originally published in 1918. It is the final novel in her Prairie Trilogy, following O Pioneers! and The Song of the Lark. Since the three books don’t share any common characters or setting, the designation of trilogy is questionable, so don’t feel like you have to read either of those preceding volumes in order to enjoy this book. My Ántonia is set in and around the fictional town of Black Hawk, Nebraska. The story is narrated by Jim Burden, an attorney, who recalls memories of his boyhood, in particular his friendship with a girl named Ántonia Shimerda. Jim loses his parents at the age of ten, and moves from Virginia to Nebraska to live on his grandparents’ farm. On the train out West he encounters the Shimerda family, just arrived from Bohemia, who turn out to be his new neighbors. The Shimerdas are a proud and hardworking family, but they don’t take readily to farming the prairie, and they eke out a poor existence form their land. The Burdens befriend the Bohemian family and offer them as much help as they can, but the two families don’t always see eye to eye. Jim and his grandparents eventually move into the town of Black Hawk. Ántonia is not far behind, for like many immigrant farm girls, she takes a job in town as a household servant and once again becomes Jim’s neighbor. Because the immigrant families don’t speak the language as well as the native-born residents of Black Hawk, they are treated as second-class citizens. No “American” boy would ever consider marrying one of these Norwegian or Bohemian hired girls, yet that doesn’t lessen their attraction. Having been raised in the country, Ántonia and her foreign friends are more free-spirited than their city-bred counterparts, with no inhibitions about socializing or dancing with men. Thus these girls are branded as bad girls by the gossips of the town, whether they deserve such a reputation or not. In plain-spoken but poetic prose, Cather brilliantly depicts both the pleasures and pains of growing up in small-town middle America. Jim’s recollection of youth includes many nostalgic joys, but it’s not all sunshine and roses. When Cather shows the negative aspects of Black Hawk—its insularity, its conventionality, its narrow-mindedness—she does so in a matter-of-fact way that’s free of condescension or cynicism. The relationship between Jim and Ántonia is fascinating to watch as it progresses, but the supporting cast is equally well-drawn and engaging. Even when Cather goes off on a tangent to examine some of these minor characters, the result is fascinating. The story of Peter and Pavel is a tour de force, and ought to be excerpted and inserted into every high school literature textbook. The book’s final act is a little weak and unimpressive compared to all that came before, yet overall My Ántonia is a masterpiece of American naturalis...