Willa Cather, born in 1873 and died in1947, is famous for many great accomplishments. Among them are her first publication, the biography of Mary Baker Eddy, her talent and dedication as a teacher, educating in Latin, algebra and English, and of course, her brilliant novels covering themes like the Midwest spirit and friendship. However, other than brief accounts of her professional life and mere tidbits regarding her personal life, very little is known about the person that is Willa Cather.
The identity of an author often greatly influences how his or her writing is to be interpreted. One fiercely debated instance regarding the interpretation of a theme arises in Cather’s The Professor’s House. The deeply important friendship of Tom Outland, a former student of the protagonist, and Professor St. Peter. The question, of course, was whether the two had been involved romantically, or whether they were simply very close friends with a profound, mutual respect for one another. Countless scholars have pored over excerpts from her novel, attempting to determine the nature of this relationship, at times, looking into Cather’s personal life to determine the answers.
As a young student in the University of Nebraska, Cather is known to have not only disguised herself as a man in dress and hairstyle, but also through her name. Cather opted to go by the masculine name “William” instead of her given “Willa.” Although this describes nothing of her sexual orientation, at the very least, it does depict Cather’s more natural inclination towards men than women. This is actually quite telling as to how Cather could compose a novel through the eyes and mouth of a man, she herself obviously being a woman. Because she identified more easily with men than women, she could brilliantly portray a man through writing; as a man she felt far more able to truly express her own voice.
Also, Cather is known for nurturing long and significant friendships with women, including Louise Pound, Isabelle McClung, and of course, her roommate for the last 39 years of her life, Edith Lewis. This last friendship in particular has long fascinated scholars, and forced them to question her sexual identity and the implications it may have in either direction. Janet Sharistanian has said, “Cather did not label herself a lesbian nor would she wish us to do so, and we do not know whether her relationships with women were sexual. In any case, it is anachronistic to assume that if Cather's historical context had been different, she would have chosen to write overtly about homoerotic love." While her words prove inconclusive as to her sexual orientation, one thing she does lay to rest for certain is whether or not it matters.
An intensely private person, Cather has destroyed many personal papers and letters, removing the public’s ability to pass judgment or analyze that which was not theirs to examine. However, the slight glimpses we do merit into Cather’s life do prove telling about her novel, The Professor’s House, and Professor St. Peter in general. Cather is often praised for her apt portrayal of a man. While she is certainly deserving of such praise, I’d like to argue that perhaps it was less difficult for Cather to create Godfrey St. Peter than perhaps it was to create Kathleen or Rosamond. Like her, St. Peter was an educator, a lover of knowledge. He also was “part American farmers,” and Cather is famed for her beautiful description of her Nebraska life. Most importantly, St. Peter took great joy in his friendship with Tom Outland. He was able to get to know himself better through Outland, and he honed in on the traits and qualities he found most important, helping him to develop into a better man. Perhaps Cather drew on her own significant relationships with her friends, Edith Lewis being one. After my exploration of the identity of Willa Cather, I find that as enlightening as certain aspects of her personality are, not one of them change her novel. The relationship between Tom and Godfrey can either be analyzed or taken at face value, but neither interpretation can be based on Cather’s own life. She more likely than not did model St. Peter on aspects of her own character judging by certain parallels, but ultimately, the relationship of the two men can not be analyzed through Cather herself.
I think that to try and pick apart the details of Cather's life story distracts from the importance of understanding the elegance of her writing itself- one of her amazing skills was in being able to completely capture a male voice, just as Shakespeare's was in capturing a multitude of personalities whom he had never met in real life.
ReplyDeleteWhen we read Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man it was clear that so much of the story was autobiographical in nature and that the author’s early years of life were described as he remembered them years later in his writing. This does give a definite quality of reality to the work. But in Cather’s case, even if the protagonist is modeled after her personality and as you say she identified more easily with men than women, the effect could not be the same on her writing. A woman who prefers to be a man or is more comfortable in a sexual or platonic relationship with another woman, does not view the world through the same lens or have the same orientation in experiences as a man. I think those critics who explore this avenue of analysis distract us from the beauty of her work rather than enhance it.
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