Thinks the ad is unexciting. Why not quote some of the really live statements in reviews? Has redone the ad proposing some other quotations. [Encloses example.] Has sent her Nation to Will Owen Jones for reprint. Willa Cather [Stout #329]
Used the device of the introduction in My Ántonia much as some Russian and French writers do, to set a tone. Wanted a male character's memory because it was from men that she learned the most interesting things about the women she was remembering. Wanted first person narrative to emphasize emotion rather than plot. Believes she learned to handle a male point of view by writing Mr. McClure's autobiography. Glad he likes the result. It took getting older to write simply and to be guided by memory. Willa Cather [Stout #462]
Probably will have only one day in Lincoln after speaking in Omaha, then on to Chicago. Has enjoyed being at home, where old friends are so supportive. Willa Cather [Stout #555]
Strangers are asking for news of her parents' anniversary [humorously said], so she has promised to send information to the newspaper. Willa Cather [Stout #654]
Miss Owen ought to be able to get started in magazines. But sketch genre too easy, and she hasn't disciplined her writing. Willa Cather [Stout #816]
Sorry to have been unable to contribute to the collection of letters, but didn't receive request until return from Jaffrey. Willa Cather [Stout #866]
Congratulations to the Nebraska State Journal on its sixtieth anniversary. First saw herself in print in the Journal, when her essay on Thomas Carlyle was printed at the initiative of Professor Hunt. That changed her from the study of science to literature. A flowery piece of writing, but honest about her feelings of juvenile bitterness. When she began to write for the Journal was paid a dollar a column—about what they were worth! Mr. Gere never repressed her excesses, but his facial expression often led her to be more self-critical as she worked her way through to better ways of writing. Willa Cather [Stout #881]
Glad he likes the sketch of Mr. Gere in her public letter. Willa Cather [Stout #889]
Must refer to her as Miss Guiney due to long history of admiration, though such a habit does not mean she feels distant. Returned from travels in the West recently, and is glad to be back. Typically is longing for it, but got her fill during the recent trip. The people seem so fat and overconfident, as if they are trying to meet the expectations of Owen Wister and Remington. The land in Arizona and New Mexico is amazing, though. As Balzac commented, the desert has both all and nothing, God without humankind. That line has to be lived awhile before its profundity sinks in. The spirit gets lonesome in a place where the only history is geologic. Glad she liked "Alexander," but thinks "The Bohemian Girl" is even better. Mrs. Fields did not like it, however, but she just could not get past the crudeness of the characters' behavior. Will Guiney let her and her sister rent the cottage? Did she know Andrew Lang or the unfortunate Mr. Stead [possibly William Thomas Stead, British writer who died when the Titanic sunk in April 1912]? Mrs. Vermocken writes that she loves Guiney's house, and hopes she can see it (and Guiney) soon. Was planning to stay with Mrs. Fields in October, but work is keeping her in the city. Willa
