O Pioneers! Book #2 of the Willa Cather Novel Reading Challenge 2012

Alexandra, from the first edition [source]

THE CHALLENGE
To read all 12 of Willa Cather's novels in chronological order, one each month, throughout 2012. For full details about the challenge click here.

THIS MONTH'S NOVEL

Our second novel of the challenge is O Pioneers!  Read it sometime over the next three weeks and we'll start our conversation about it on Monday, February 20th.

About O Pioneers!

• Cather started writing elements of the novel in 1911 and finished it in December 1912.
• It was published on June 28, 1913 to both critical acclaim and popular success.
• The novel is dedicated to the writer Sarah Orne Jewett whom Cather befriended in February 1908. Jewett died in June 1909, but their friendship had a big impact on Cather as a writer. Jewett had told Cather that it is the things "which haunt the mind for years" that are the proper material for serious literature. "Write the truth," she instructed, "and let them take it or leave it."
• The title was inspired by Walt Whitman's 1865 poem "Pioneers! O Pioneers!"
• The epigraph is taken from Adam Mickiewicz's epic poem "Pan Tadeusz."

 Here's a description of the novel from the Vintage Classic Paperback edition:

O Pioneers! (1913) was Willa Cather's first great novel, and to many it remains her unchallenged masterpiece. No other work of fiction so faithfully conveys both the sharp physical realities and the mythic sweep of the transformation of the American frontier-and the transformation of the people who settled it. Cather's heroine is Alexandra Bergson, who arrives on the wind-blasted prairie of Hanover, Nebraska, as a girl and grows up to make it a prosperous farm. But this archetypal success story is darkened by loss, and Alexandra's devotion to the land may come at the cost of love itself.

At once a sophisticated pastoral and a prototype for later feminist novels, O Pioneers! is a work in which triumph is inextricably enmeshed with tragedy, a story of people who do not claim a land so much as they submit to it and, in the process, become greater than they were.

RESOURCES

• O Pioneers! is almost always stocked in general bookstores and most libraries have it in their collections.
• A free, annotated copy is available to read online via the Cather Archive here.
• You can download a free digital edition from Project Gutenberg here.
• Support the Willa Cather Foundation and order it online here.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

First edition

Many consider O Pioneers! to be Cather's masterpiece. Scholars have shown that it was based on two short stories. One was a story titled "Alexandra," which Cather started writing in 1911 and the other was "The White Mulberry Tree," which she started in August of 1912. Cather was inspired to write "The White Mulberry Tree" in the summer of 1912 after a visit to Arizona and New Mexico, and while spending the month of June in her home town of Red Cloud, Nebraska where she watched the wheat harvest for the first time in years. Later, while writing "The White Mulberry Tree" Cather was struck with the idea that this new story belonged with her earlier story "Alexandra." She described the experience as a "sudden inner explosion and enlightenment." What do you think of these two stories? Do you think they mesh well together? Do they together enhance other themes in the novel?

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
I'll post my thoughts on reading O Pioneers! in a new post by noon on Monday, February 20. At that time the conversation will begin--simply post your thoughts about the novel in the comments section of that post so we can have everyone's thoughts in once place. Please hold off on sharing your thoughts about O Pioneers! until the 20th so everyone has the time to read it.

Happy Reading!

Library: Guilford Free Library, CT

I visited the Guilford Free Library in early December 2011.  It was a weekday afternoon and the librarians were all busy with patrons, so I didn't talk with anyone, but the place has a very friendly and open vibe.

Guilford Free Library
67 Park Street
Guilford, CT 06437
website

Opened: January 23, 1934
Initial holdings: 5,414 volumes
Square feet: 4,500
Current holdings: 120,000 items
Current square feet: 34,000

According to the library website, the town of Guilford has had some form of a library since 1737. Apparently those earlier libraries were mainly religious in nature and weren't free and open to all. In 1926 the Guilford Library Association "began the long process of establishing a free public library, professionally staffed and available to all." The result was the building pictured above, which was completed in 1933. Since then there have been two major structural additions: one completed in 1977 and the most recent in 2008.

The original building is still in use as the Edith B. Nettleton Historical Room. Edith Nettleton was the library's first librarian. She served the library for 44 years until her retirement in 1978. During her retirement she continues to volunteer in the historical room. Click here for an article about the celebration of her 100th birthday in 2008. I came across a notice in her church's bulletin from July 2011 celebrating her 103rd birthday!

The interior of the historical room is what I imagined the inside of a historic New England library 'should' look like--clean lines, colonial furniture, hardwood floors, and white walls. Of course a card catalog is a must.

Notice the fire place. There's another one on the other side of the room behind the librarian's desk in the prior photo.

A view onto the village green.

Looking from the historical room into the periodicals room.

Looking from the periodicals room into the historical room.

I've never seen a newspaper "rack" like this and really like it for it's user friendliness.

Reading area in the periodicals room.

In the teen section. I've seen more libraries putting up signs like this in their kids/teen area.

The teen section actually has a teen feel to it--there are a few booths in the section and lots of games, as well as function desk chairs and tables.

In the "adult" section on the 2nd floor.

Looking toward the reference desk, 2nd floor.

The circulation desk.

I thought this staff recommendations display was brilliant!

Sitting area between the front door and circulation desk. Note the piano.

I hope people take advantage of these piano times!

I love Curious George.

Great endcap design.

I'm not a fan of The Great Gatsby, but I do like cats, so perhaps I'll try The Great Catsby.

"Melissa Jones Kindergarten thanks our veterans."

Computers and book display in the children's' section.

View of how far back the new addition stretches.

 

A view of the entire library from across the street.

THE ROPE by Nevada Barr

The Rope is Nevada Barr's 17th Anna Pigeon mystery. It's a prequel that goes back to 1995 when Anna Pigeon was first hired by the National Park Service as a seasonal worker. She's 35 and fresh from New York City, still numb from the shock of her husband Zack's death (he was hit by a cab). Zack was an actor and Anna a stage manager. She loved her husband and loved her job and had to get away from it all.

Anna finds herself working as a seasonal in the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area cleaning up the poop of human visitors and monitoring the fecal level of the water. Anna is pasty, skinny, wears all black, and doesn't know the first thing about living in the great outdoors. She sees life and events through the lens of her experience in the theater, which adds not only fun for the reader, but actual help for Anna.

When we first encounter Anna in The Rope she's trapped at the bottom of a deep hole in the ground; She's completely naked, wounded, and already dangerously dehydrated. I felt guilty laying in the comfort of my bed, sipping coffee while Anna suffered. Is someone trying to kill her or cover up another murder or two? Not to give any spoilers or anything--this is, after all, a prequel to the 16 other books in the series so we know Anna lives and becomes a ranger--Anna ends up getting strong and learning how to survive and thrive in the great outdoors.

There's a strong lesbian element and character in this book (Jenny, Anna's roommate and boss). This was satisfying to me and will be to some other readers because I know I'm not the only one who had hoped, in the early years of the series, that Anna would end up lesbian and/or bisexual. That doesn't happen but it was refreshing to see a relatively "healthy" lesbian character who is central to the storyline in an American mystery novel.

Long-time readers of the series will enjoy this book and I think new readers to the series will fall in love with Anna Pigeon. And if you haven't read an Anna Pigeon mystery before, this would be a perfectly fine one with which to start.

Each book of the series is set in a different national park, which feels like a mini-vacation as you're reading. Well, other than some murders and Anna getting knocked around a bit. Barr thoroughly uses the unique landscape of each National Park in her novels. In some of the novels the landscape even seems like a character itself.

About five or so books ago the Anna Pigeon novels started to turn a bit darker in tone and content as Barr explores how violence against women and children permeates our culture, so note that these are not exactly cozy mysteries, but they're not gratuitously violent or gory.

Title: THE ROPE
Author: Nevada Barr
Publisher: Minotaur, January 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-61457-7
My Goodreads rating: 5/5
Recommend to: mystery readers who like strong female leads and outdoorsy folks.

THE KEEP Graphic Novel

The Keep, written by F. Paul Wilson, was a popular horror novel published back in 1981. The graphic novel adaptation was drawn by Matthew Dow Smith and the script was written by F. Paul Wilson himself. It caught my eye while browsing the new books section at my library.

I didn't like this graphic novel. I didn't appreciate the artistic style and I thought the script was bland. Both seem flat, emotionless, and predictable. There is no sense of suspense or tension, which is unfortunate because the premise of the story is tantalizing. It reads more like a work in progress than an adaption of a powerful horror novel that's been in print for over 30 years.

page sample

It's April 1944 and a unit of Wehrmacht soldiers occupy an old "keep," a fort-like structure in the Dinu Pass of Romania in the Transylvanian Alps that's rumored to be over 500 years old. Crosses are imbedded in the walls. Men start dying mysterious deaths. Meanwhile, in Taviera, Portugal, a man wakes up after sensing a shift in the Force. He sets out by land and sea to you-know-where. The Captain in charge of the Wehrmacht unit sends a request for help to HQ. A Major from the SS, notorious from his "success" at Auschwitz, is sent by HQ to secure The Keep. The Captain and the Major have a history together that goes back to the trenches of World War I. One man was brave, one man was a coward. Considering that one man is regular Army and the other SS, you can probably guess which man is presented as the coward. Even the highly-trained SS men begin to die. A message in an ancient language is scrawled on the wall with blood. The caretaker offers up that there's an old man, a Professor in Bucharest, who can translate the message. The Professor is old and sick and Jewish. He is brought to The Keep along with his daughter who is his caretaker. The Professor stalls the soldiers. The man from Portugal arrives. The murderous presence reveals itself to the Professor. The daughter instantly hooks-up with the man from Portugal.

To find out how it all ends, you'll have to read the graphic novel yourself. It's just over 100 pages so it won't take long. You can also read the original novel (403 pages in paperback) or see the 1983 movie (95 minutes) that the author and critics disliked, which I will do in the near future as it's currently available for streaming from Netflix.


Jennifer Egan also wrote a horror novel titled The Keep (2007). I still have an ARC of that novel on my shelves and I know I read it, but don't recall enough to offer my opinion on it. It's odd that her publisher would publish a novel with the same title of a book that's a cult classic. Perhaps they were banking on confusion?

Title: The Keep
Written by: F. Paul Wilson
Art by: Matthew Dow Smith
Publisher: IDW Publishing, October 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1613770504
Genre: graphic novel
Source: library
My Goodreads rating: 1/5
Recommend to: vampire fans and WWII fiction fans
Note: originally published in 5 separate comic books

Alexander's Bridge thoughts & comments

Cather around 1910 (from the Willa Cather Archive)

The response to the Willa Cather Novel Reading Challenge has been so enthusiastic. There are participants who have never read a Willa Cather novel, some who have read them all before, and lots of folks somewhere in-between. And how fun is it that some of you are reading the novels with a group of friends!

I hope you've all had a chance to read Alexander’s Bridge. How’d you like it? 

My thoughts:

This was my second reading of Alexander's Bridge. When I first read this novel I was in my mid-20s and saw Alexander as a tragic hero. Now, in my mid-40s, it speaks to me as a cautionary tale of what can happen when you lead a life of action without reflection. It seems that Alexander has lost touch with who he is and what he wants. I see him as a victim of his inability to be true to himself.

In some ways, Alexander's plight made me think of a recent cartoon making the rounds on Facebook: “Inside every middle aged person is a teenager wondering what the hell happened.” I can relate.

Alexander has been a man of action, but he's also been on autopilot. Underneath his hyper-masculine frame and worldly success, his foundation is weak. At one point Professor Wilson even says he thought he saw cracks in Alexander's foundation (and ironically declares him "sound" just before the cracks start growing). At home Alexander follows his wife's interests and at work he's gotten to the point where he consents to using improper materials and accepts the minimum safety standards for his latest and largest bridge project. With Hilda he can pretend he's young and free. He latches on to the loss of his youthful idealism and laments on how he feels trapped by demands. He doesn't dig deeper and reflect on how he can achieve what he desires--feeling free and powerful.

Up until the end, Alexander doesn't make a decision or take decisive action. The last time he and Hilda meet it's implied that he's going to leave his wife. He writes a letter to his wife, but then doesn't send it the next morning. Alexander never squares things with himself. The strain becomes overwhelming and, as they say, something's gotta give.

Had he lived, would he have have taken control of his life? He does say to Philip that anything he does can be made public, which up until now we know isn't true, but would he have eventually spoken his truth? Or would he never have given his wife that letter? And if he did, was the letter another garbled message like the one he'd once sent Hilda? Was leaving his wife necessarily what he really wanted? We'll never know. He died in his prime, his marriage intact, but he took down a whole bunch of people with him.

Here are some questions that I've been pondering:

• Alexander says he’s not a man that can live two lives and even feels like there's a second man grafted on to him. When did this second life begin? Is it after the affair with Hilda? Or is the second man the successful, well-married Alexander grafted onto the younger man with ideals and standards?

• Do you think Winifred knows what’s going with her husband, particularly on the morning in January when he's agitated and preparing to leave for England?

• Is there a connection between the mummy in the museum and Mrs. Alexander, or some other character? I was struck by Hilda’s claim that perhaps Mrs. Alexander is afraid of letting the memory of her dead husband out a little and sharing him with others. It reminded me of how Hilda and Alexander used to talk of bringing the priestess mummy out of the museum on beautiful nights.

• Do you agree with Wilson’s statement that more than anyone Mrs. Alexander did not choose her own destiny? Who has chosen their destiny in this story?

• Wilson says early on in the novel that when there’s an early hurt in life, a boy can lose courage. Much later near the end of the novel, Alexander is thinking about a long forgotten sorrow of his childhood. Do you think his weak foundation stems from childhood or did it crack later in life? Could he have done anything to strengthen his foundation?

• Although Freud didn’t publish his ideas about the Death Drive until 1920, I was struck by the statement that Alexander's great mind “may for a long time have been sick within itself and bend upon its own destruction.” Do you think he craved his own destruction?

I'm looking forward to hearing what you all think of Alexander's Bridge!

However short or long, please leave your comments below (or leave a link to your blog post, Goodreads review, etc.). This is an open forum so feel free to reply to one another.