Willa Cather : Early Novels and Stories : The Troll Garden, O Pioneers!…

This review is for The Troll Garden.

These are very interesting stories and seem like exercises in character development. The main theme centers around people related to, but having no understanding of, genius and the abuse suffered, sometimes by the person linked to genius and sometimes by the genius themselves. Each story has a rather disagreeable person taking advantage of those who are enamored of genius, those who want to keep it close and those wannabes who are much more in love with themselves than with those who adulate them, hence the title. Each of these stories has a different troll, living off the talent of others, or not understanding those who are talented. Several of these stories have an undercurrent of homosexuality, here presented as an artistic sensibility. I enjoyed each of these stories.

Willa Cather is an excellent writer, one deserving of a wider audience. I have two volumes of her works and hope to read most of them by year's end.

This review is for O Pioneers!

This is an exploration of a woman alone, having to battle her brothers and the land. Her brothers, because she is independent, strong, and their superior in every way except brute force. The only sympathetic male in the book is the youngest brother who is portrayed as sensitive, and unwisely, in love with a married woman. the only flawless person in the book is the protagonist who even in the end, after a tragedy that deprives her of her best friend and her younger, more sensitive, brother, she forgives the man who took them away. No quest for revenge, no hatred, just pure forgiveness.

I really enjoyed this read. It suits my personality in that in one way it was a story of the status quo vs. the future. Not accepting what is but bending what is to the will. Strong women and weak men. I'll bet Cather wasn't popular with the gents. ( )