In an 1895 Courier article, Cather writes: "We are growing too analytical ourselves, and we need young men like Rudyard Kipling and Anthony Hope, not because of the greatness of their talent, but because of the sincerity of their motive, because the atmosphere of their work is one in which men may love and work and fight and die like men."
In an 1899 Leader article, Cather says his writing is animated by the spirit of the "pseudo-romance."