My Ántonia

My Ántonia Is ANovel Published In By American Writer Willa Cather, Considered One Of Her Best WorksIt Is The Final Book Of Her 'prairie Trilogy' Of Novels, Preceded By OPioneers! And The Song Of The LarkThe Novel Tells The Stories Of An Orphaned Boy From Virginia, Jim Burden, And The Elder Daughter In AFamily Of Bohemian Immigrants, Ántonia Shimerda, Who Are Each Brought As Children To Be Pioneers In Nebraska Towards The End Of The th CenturyBoth The Pioneers Who First Break The Prairie Sod For Farming, As Well As Of The Harsh But Fertile Land Itself, Feature In This American NovelThe First Year In The Very New Place Leaves Strong Impressions In Both Children, Affecting Them LifelongThis Novel Is Considered Cather,s First MasterpieceCather Was Praised For Bringing The American West To Life And Making It Personally Interesting    introduction Last Summer IHappened To Be Crossing The Plains Of Iowa In ASeason Of Intense Heat, And It Was My Good Fortune To Have For ATraveling Companion James Quayle Burden?jim Burden, As We Still Call Him In The WestHe And IAre Old Friends?we Grew Up Together In The Same Nebraska Town?and We Had Much To Say To Each OtherWhile The Train Flashed Through Neverending Miles Of Ripe Wheat, By Country Towns And Brightflowered Pastures And Oak Groves Wilting In The Sun, We Sat In The Observation Car, Where The Woodwork Was Hot To The Touch And Red Dust Lay Deep Over EverythingThe Dust And Heat, The Burning Wind, Reminded Us Of Many ThingsWe Were Talking About What It Is Like To Spend One,s Childhood In Little Towns Like These, Buried In Wheat And Corn, Under Stimulating Extremes Of Climate: Burning Summers When The World Lies Green And Billowy Beneath ABrilliant Sky, When One Is Fairly Stifled In Vegetation, In The Color And Smell Of Strong Weeds And Heavy Harvests, Blustery Winters With Little Snow, When The Whole Country Is Stripped Bare And Gray As SheetironWe Agreed That No One Who Had Not Grown Up In ALittle Prairie Town Could Know Anything About ItIt Was AKind Of Freemasonry, We SaidAlthough Jim Burden And IBoth Live In New York, And Are Old Friends, IDo Not See Much Of Him ThereHe Is Legal Counsel For One Of The Great Western Railways, And Is Sometimes Away From His New York Office For Weeks TogetherThat Is One Reason Why We Do Not Often MeetAnother Is That IDo Not Like His Wife.
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