My ÁntoniaA New York lawyer remembers his boyhood in Nebraska and his friendship with a pioneer Bohemian girl. A novel set in Nebraska about pioneering Bohemian farmers & of the courageous heroine, Antonia. First published in 1918. In Willa Cather's own estimation, My Antonia, first published in 1918, was "the best thing I've ever done." An enduring paperback bestseller on Houghton Mifflin's literary list, this hauntingly eloquent classic now boasts a new foreword by Kathleen Norris, Cather's soulmate of the plains. Infused with a gracious passion for the land, My Antonia embraces its uncommon subject - the hardscrabble life of the pioneer woman on the prairie - with poetic certitude, rendering a deeply moving portrait of an entire community. Through Jim Burden's endearing, smitten voice, we revisit the remarkable vicissitudes of immigrant life in the Nebraska heartland with all its insistent bonds. Guiding the way are some of literature's most beguiling characters: the Russian brothers plagued by memories of a fateful sleigh ride, Antonia's desperately homesick father and self-indulgent mother, and the coy Lena Lingard. Holding the pastoral society's heart, of course, is the bewitching, free-spirited Antonia Shimerda. |
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afternoon ain't Ambrosch Ántonia asked baby barn began Black Hawk Bohemian boys Charley colour cornfields country girls cut bands Cutter Cuzak dance dark door dress eyes face farm father feel fellow felt Firemen's Hall Frances Fuchs garden girls grandfather grandmother H. L. Mencken hair hands hard Harling head heard horses Jake and Otto Jelinek Jim Burden kitchen knew kolaches Krajiek laughed Lena Lingard Lena's lived looked Louise Bogan loved married morning mother Nebraska neighbours never night Nina Norwegian Ordinsky papa parlour Pavel Peter play prairie Red Cloud red grass remember road seemed Shimerda shoulder snow Steavens stood stove summer supper talk tell things thought Tiny Soderball told Tony took town trees turned wagon walked warm watched whispered Willa Cather wind windmill window winter woman young Yulka