Finally, a book that no-one else has. I'm shocked that this is it, though. ( )

Alexander's Bridges

This is an amazing story about a successful engineer and his simultaneous romantic relationships with two brilliant and capable women. Originally published in 1912, it must have been scandalous, creating sympathetic portrayals of each of the three main characters: Bartley Alexander, a leading bridge building engineer; Winifried Alexander, his intelligent, enabling, supportive, and capable wife; and Hilda Burgoyne, Alexander's mistress, a talented and spirited British stage actress.

This is not a perfect book. And in the preface written by Willa Cather in 1922, ten years after it's original publication, it seems Cather almost apologizes for some of the choices she made in telling her original story - conceding it was not truly a story she understood from personal history, but rather a young writer's attempt to tell a story similar to the stories told by authors she admired.

It is not a long novel, so I was able to read it for the first time over the last few weeks. I enjoyed it very much.

The title "Alexander's Bridge" refers to several primary metaphors, including:

a) The story is about Alexander's attempt to bridge his life between two great loves, the two amazing and unique women in his life.

b) "Alexander's Bridge" is also a metaphor for the institution of marriage, a "singular span" that is capable of bearing conventional loads, but that may not be the safest or most facilitative structure to handle the demands of some modern expanses, loads, and conditions.

c) And "Alexander's Bridge" refers to the Alexander's repeated and unavoidable attempts to bridge his current life and responsibilities with the passions, memories, and goals of his youth.

Alexander, for many good reasons, not only loves Hilda (his current mistress and first love), but maybe as importantly he also loves the person he was in his youth when he was around her chemistry and environments. And he regularly struggles with his present life, where his marriage, career, and all the related societal and work obligations have taken over almost all his time and concerns. Throughout the story, he is consciously, and unconsciously in his sleeping dreams, struggling with the relentless memories of the past.

While I love the insight and universal perspectives in this book, unfortunately, my two least favorite sentences are the last sentence of Chapter X, and the last sentence of the Epilogue. It appears Cather was torn with what summarily should be said about Alexander's choices, because the Epilogue is in notorious conflict with the last sentence of Chapter X.

The whole book is an intelligent exploration of morality, ethics, and dualities - it seems unnecessarily disarmed with such an overriding negative spin as is suggested in the final sentence of Chapter X. I understand Cather must have been under a great deal of social pressure in 1912 to identify Alexander's behaviors as destructive, but almost the entire rest of the book is one big long wink to savvy readers that she was under pressure to put such a pat moral perspective on the totality of his actions.

In later books, like My Ántonia, Cather created a male narrator that does not identify his undying loves as destructive. My Ántonia, as a book, is one man taking the time to recollect and share his fond memories of one of his first love's (Ántonia). A beautiful aspect of My Ántonia is a concession by the narrator that his love for Ántonia never died, even though she married and lived a life separate from him.

Alexander's Bridge, in almost every other part of the book, suggests that Alexander was not intent on being self-destructive; but rather, he had excellent reasons for loving both women and for pursuing so many hard to achieve simultaneous business goals. Both women are drawn lovingly (as Cather is so capable of doing).

Cather was brilliant. Notice that Alexander does not die because his bridge crushes him, or because its weight and undertow drown him. He does not die of hubris. He does not die because he is arrogant and ignores the engineering data. As soon as he receives data suggesting the one bridge cannot meet all the demands placed on it, he immediately changes directions and makes best efforts to get everyone off the bridge. He does not die because he is not self-sufficient or because he is unable to swim. He dies because fearful people around him panic, and they pull him under the water as they drown.

The book is an exploration of this important question: Is it possible for good and moral people to have a healthy extra-marital affair? And in 1912, seriously and carefully examining that question in a mainstream and literate novel had to be controversial. The book suggests that when people are faced with more than one great love, whether or not they choose to pursue only one of those loves (and therefore exclude the other), the conflicts inherent in those decisions continue the rest of their life, regardless of whether they choose to love only one or both.

I recommend people read this book to read the internal dialogues of all the main characters. The book challenges common presumptions, and it questions its own presumptions. Buy a version that includes Cather's 1922 preface.

When Alexander sees that one bridge (one relationship) will not safely support the load, he is not a fool. He doesn't stand idly and sink with the ship (the bridge). He makes best efforts to save himself and as many others as possible by letting them know that his one bridge will no longer keep them safe. And he personally goes back out onto the unsafe bridge and tries to save as many of the other men as possible.

The book is not simply a critique of the traditional love relationship formula. Rather, it is more intent on being illustrative of circumstances that might merit something other than simple Victorian guilt as a response to non-singular love relationships. It compassionately shows how one man had separate and distinctly beautiful relationships with two unbelievably good women. It shows how the social constructs of that era led good men and women to live with self-inflicted and sometimes crushing guilt. Each character loves deeply and genuinely. But in that era, they were forced to choose only one. The book considerately examines the inherent negative consequences that often arise out of the traditional marital contract. ( )

Beautiful example of Cather's emerging style in her writing, this first novel was disavowed by her in later years. That's too bad, because it is a simple story told in a simple manner in simply beautiful prose. ( )

The plot of this short novel is slight - Bartley Alexander, a successful engineer who has applied his skills to bridge-building, is torn between two worlds. The first is represented by his successful working life, his gracious wife Winifred, and America itself. Whilst on a professional visit to London, to attend a meeting of British engineers, he goes to see a play. Acting in the play is Hilda Burgoyne, an old flame of Alexander's. She is very clearly identified with the ideas of freedom, youth, Europe and glamour.

Torn between the two women, and the two worlds, Alexander finds himself unable to reconcile his torment, and his mid-life crisis ends in a very public disaster when one of his bridges collapses.

This was Cather's first novel, and one which in later years she came to dislike, recognising that it was the work of a young writer who hadn't yet found her subject or style. The symbolism (in particular the bridge) is too overt to be successful, and the characters never quite come to life. I've read one description of the book likening it to a 'beautiful watercolour', and I think this is apt. In many ways a very elegant novel, the plot (rather like the bridge itself) simply isn't strong enough. [February 2008] ( )

Boring! No wonder it was on clearance... ( )