10 h 58 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when the pull of the open plains meets a hunger for art?
In A Collection of Stories, Reviews and Essays, Willa Cather moves between frontier farms, small towns and cities. Her short fiction treats the plains as more than scenery. Elsewhere, people long for music, theatre, painting or books, while the towns they live in leave that hunger unsatisfied.
The reviews and essays bring you close to Cather’s thinking. Her criticism of plays, concerts and books speaks plainly and judges sharply. In The Novel Démeublé, she argues for a novel like a room cleared of heavy furniture. Together, these pieces reveal a storyteller asking what art should keep—and what it should leave out.
What you’ll discover
- The plains beyond scenery Enter frontier stories where the open land matters as much as the people.
- A hunger for art Meet people who crave music, theatre, painting and books beyond their small towns.
- A critic speaking plainly Follow Cather’s sharp eye as she weighs plays, concerts and books without holding back.
- A room cleared out Explore The Novel Démeublé and its image of fiction stripped of heavy furniture.
- One writer, three roles Discover how Cather’s stories, reviews and essays bring her plain, exact voice into focus.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you love prairie landscapes, short stories packed with feeling, and the lively opinions of a writer judging her own time and its authors.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An old fiddler grieves on the plains
- A lonely giant takes what he wants
- Music tests a young settler's faith
- Quiet marriages and gentle girls
- Memory ties people to the past
- A runaway spirit meets a family of landowners
- City tales of office, ghost and loan
- Reviews with sharp opinions
- A meeting with Crane and a rule for art
Who’s who
- Canute CanutesonA huge, solitary Norwegian farmer on the Divide, who drinks to forget the plain and decides to marry Lena Yensen.
- Lena YensenA vain, pretty farm girl who dreams of town life and treats Canute's quiet devotion with scorn.
- Eric HermannsonA powerful young Norwegian settler who gave up his violin for the revival faith and still longs for music.
- Margaret ElliotA wealthy, restless Eastern visitor who sings for Eric and asks him to dance.
- Nils EricsonA cheerful wanderer with a flute who returns to Nebraska after twelve years and finds his family changed.
- Clara VavrikaA proud, dark-eyed Bohemian woman married to Olaf Ericson, who longs for the lively home of her father.
- Mrs. EricsonThe powerful old mother of many sons, who drives her own car and manages her family's land.
- Percy BixbyA careful bookkeeper who loves his ledgers and takes a desperate step to win the woman he wants.
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Colección de relatos, reseñas y ensayos
by Willa Cather
On the Nebraska Divide, a lonely giant watches a young woman dream of life in town.
Medium level10–20 hours to readEspañol
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In short
On the Nebraska Divide, a giant named Canute struggles with loneliness. This book by Willa Cather gathers prairie tales, sharp stories of New York offices and newspaper reviews of famous writers.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An old fiddler grieves on the plains
The opening story, Peter, shows how exile can crush a person who once lived for music. Peter Sadelack farms in southwestern Nebraska with his son Antone, who rules the family and wants to sell his father's violin.
Peter was once a second violinist in a theater in Prague. He remembers Liszt at the keyboard, a French actress whose voice he would know in the next world, and parties after the show. Now his hand shakes, he cannot bow, and he is cold and afraid of his own son. Music fills his memories, and he refuses to part with his fiddle.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 7 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- Español
- Reading time
- 7 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Cather, Willa. A Collection of Stories, Reviews and Essays. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-collection-of-stories-reviews-and-essays.
Cather, W. (2026). A collection of stories, reviews and essays. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-collection-of-stories-reviews-and-essays
Cather, Willa. A Collection of Stories, Reviews and Essays. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-collection-of-stories-reviews-and-essays.
@book{cather2026collection,
author = {Cather, Willa},
title = {A Collection of Stories, Reviews and Essays},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-collection-of-stories-reviews-and-essays}
}
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What is A Collection of Stories, Reviews and Essays by Willa Cather about?
It gathers her early short stories about Nebraska settlers and New York workers, along with her newspaper reviews and essays on writers such as Poe, Whitman, Crane and Norris.
Which stories are in this collection?
Among them are Peter, On the Divide, Eric Hermannson's Soul, The Bohemian Girl, The Namesake, The Enchanted Bluff, The Joy of Nelly Deane, Consequences, Ardessa and Her Boss.
What are the essays about?
They are reviews and portraits of writers, including Mark Twain, Howells, Poe, Whitman, Henry James, Kate Chopin, Stephen Crane and Frank Norris, plus a memory of Crane and a short essay on fiction.
The author
Willa Cather
1873–1947 · American novelist
Willa Cather was an American novelist celebrated for her portraits of prairie life on the Great Plains. My Ántonia, her 1918 story of a Bohemian immigrant girl in Nebraska, remains one of the most beloved American novels of its era.
More by Willa Cather
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