A Calendar of the Letters of Willa Cather

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To Dorothy Canfield,  Friday [Nov. 27, 1903] UVt 

Still sorry not to have seen her father. Has seen Minnie Maddern Fiske in Hedda Gabler [ Ibsen ], with Isabelle. Has been to many concerts. Can't be up past ten on a school night or won't be any good in the classroom. Many parties for Edith [McClung]. Has written about 40,000 words of a new manuscript; not ready to talk about it yet. Had a happy Thanksgiving dinner last night; Judge McClung away.    Willie   [Stout #92]


To Zoë Akins,  Good Friday [Apr. 19, 1935] Huntington 

Has had various problems since she was there—appendicitis in mid-March, Mary Virginia's operation soon afterward, and Isabelle McClung Hambourg's arrival on March 27, very ill. Isabelle now in a hospital. Jan and his brothers away on concert tour to raise money. Has full responsibility for Isabelle. Also, Josephine Bourda and family returning to France in May to stay. (Josephine never received the dog she [Zoë] was sending her.) Another bout of appendicitis April 7. Sent her proofs of Lucy Gayheart last week; please read to see what the book is like, don't just go by the serial version. Glad to see splendid success of The Old Maid. Was progressing well on new work when all this trouble hit. So glad to have Alfred Knopf as a supportive friend. P.S.: Yes, early part of Lucy Gayheart resembles the mood of The Master Builder [ Ibsen ], but hopes she will agree the last part, which is the best, is very much in her own manner.  Willa   [Stout #1257]


To Ferris GreensletOct. 19, 1939Harvard 

Thanks for the books. Notes errors in biographical information on William Archer, whom she knew beginning in 1908. Attended George Meredith's funeral with Archer in London and sat with him in [William Butler] Yeats's box with Lady Gregory at a performance by the Abbey Theatre Company in London. He was one of the first critics to recognize John Millington Synge's work. Was a great enthusiast of Ibsen and translated several of his plays. Hopes this can be corrected.   Willa Cather   [Stout #1458]


To Roscoe CatherMarch 2, [1908] on McClure's Magazine letterhead, from BostonUNL-Roscoe 

Has been in Boston since January and is now, after a couple of weeks with Mrs. Deland, back in the comfortable, old-fashioned Parker House. Has been seeing many remarkable people, including Winthrop Ames, an arts patron interested in Ibsen who has an air of ennui and the grandson of Otis [actually, Oliver] Ames. Listening to him talk, one thinks of that rocky monument to the Ames brothers on the mountain [near Laramie, Wyoming], and knows that they were not bothered with ennui. Oh, well, it is difficult being one of the first generation of sophisticates—think of the talk they heard about the Troll Garden. Is sailing for Naples with Isabelle on either April 8 on the Carpathia or on April 11 on the Freiderich der Grosse. Itinerary includes Naples, Capri, and Pompeii, Rome, a 300-mile walk along the Mediterranean from Monte Carlo to Marseilles, Arles, Avignon, and finally Paris. Seems odd to go to Rome after its long life in her imagination and education. One could say that Rome, London, and Paris were the three main cities in Nebraska. May or may not stop at London; has letters of introduction to Kipling, Maurice Hewlett, Barrie, and Conan Doyle, among others, but is more interested in places and ancient ruins than people right now. By comparison with Roman civilization, our own looks pretty shabby. The Roman civilization is still preserved in southern France, where people still live as in Virgil's Georgics. Has bought Roscoe several excellent pictures in Boston: Van Dyck's self-portrait, The Windmill (old Dutch), The Song of the Lark by Jules Breton, Wyeth's Calling the Moose and Indian Hunter, "The Dinkey Bird is Singing in the Amfalulu Tree" by Maxfield Parrish, and Remington's Caught in the Circle, all for $16.23, which Roscoe now owes her. Hopes he and Meta like them. If he doesn't appreciate the Van Dyck, she will be angry, as she has one and loves it. It was Jessie who thought he would like The Song of the Lark. Would have preferred to send older French and Dutch images herself, but thought he might prefer these moderns. Does he like The Queen's Quaire?   Willie