Cather is a great writer. I recently started her Plains trilogy and was pleased to find another “city” novel by her. I liked the idea of a closely followed narrative with a slightly cantankerous old professor protagonist. That’s just my kind of jam.
This novel is often criticised for its structure, but spoiler alert: I didn’t mind it. It’s essentially a story within a story, with the soulful musings of a slightly disillusioned professor who escapes his family to his old house and study cut up by a ramble into the New Mexico desert (Blue Mesa) by a young man, a deceased friend of the family. The professor’s simultaneously cynical and nostalgic worldview is countered by the lyrical, over-the-top enthusiasm of Tom Outland. There’s a contrast between the dry and sedentary academic mindset focused on the past, vs. the active and physical prospecting/ cattle lifestyle… yet somehow the riches of the past also turn up in the desert in the form of an archaeological gem.
Interesting detours into archaeological research and ethics when it comes to indigenous lands are skimmed over, wish there would have been more of this. It doesn’t fully go into the mythology of the “west” like some of her other work, but there’s definitely some setting up of the city vs nature dynamic. Plus, there are the usual 20th century American novel musings on Europe and Paris. Great detour into the toxic and frustrating lobbying culture of Washington D.C.
I like the exploration of complex familial bonds, and the relationship the professor has with his wife, his daughters, his colleagues, his sons-in-law etc all help paint a more complete world. There are some open questions and ambiguous moments that could have warranted further discussion.
I got really quite emotional in the end. It’s definitely not a perfect novel, but it’s definitely a gem.
Published in 1925, it’s one of Cather’s lesser known works.
One word: earnest.
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