Customer Reviews

Collected Stories (Vintage Classics)

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I have just finished this book; I have always admired Willa Cather's writings. I began reading her books in high school, this was assigned reading.

This book contains nineteen short stories plus her unfinished Avignon story. The book begins with her earliest stories, three of them, and named the "Troll Garden". These stories were published in 1905. Next comes eight stories, named "Youth and the Bright Medusa" from 1920; the next "Obscure Destinies" containing three stories and published in 1932, published in 1948 "The Old Beauty and Others", this group contains three stories,and last "Five Stories" published in 1956 of which there are only two and also the 'Unfinished Avignon Story'.Ms. Cather seemed to love the Great Plains, France and the southwest, to me it seems that her best stories were set in these places.

One story is 'Paul's Case written in Pittsburgh where she was teaching; this story is contained in many anthologies. This story is from Ms. Cather's observation of youth, frustration and wanting more from life than that which is commonplace. As so many other characters in the book they wanted more than what life offered. There was a middle aged, heavy set business man who disliked singers and other arty people and was forced by his wife and her friend to attend a concert. This story is comical.

The stories contain characters reaching out for more in life, to be more, to get more. There are characters who admire artists and realize they can never be artists and surrounded themselves with those in creative fields. One story contains a woman who opens her large, beautiful, ostentious home to members of the art world such as poets, singers, sculpturs,painters. These people were taking advantage of her and using her as a figure of fun. The story's name is 'Flavia and her Artists'. There are stories from the Great Plains, a young person from a farming family observes and admires two of the town's wealthiest men. There is another about a good hearted, talented singer who is used by those around her. Some stories are told by observers who tell the tales. There is a story concerning several young boys who promised themselves and boasted to their companions that one day they would climb a mysterious bluff. Years passed, the boys became men, however, none of them ever did as they bragged they would do. Ms Cather wrote of the vast, strange unknown country of the southwest, a part of the country she loved and was fascinated by.

The reader meets a myriad of people of these stories.

The story of Tom Outlander's strange town built by an ancient Indian culture eons ago that Tom happened upon. This was a marvelous, other world town, very beautiful, very sophisticated place. Strange, but the ancient Indians were intelligent, well beyond their times, but many other ancient peoples also were.Tom fell in love with the ancient culture and was angry with his best friend for selling all the artifacts they had collected. The descriptions of the New Mexico mountain landscape is beautiful, readers can almost visualize these places.

In these stories the reader is taken to different times and places. the Great Plains, large cities, different countries, differnt types of people, those who are and those who wannabe.

Great read. Highly recommended.

I am collecting the Willa Cather books as she is an amazing writer. Some of the books have duplicate stories. Don't know if this one does...but anything she writes is good.