Our Final Ántonia Story!
As we began celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the publication of Cather’s My Ántonia in the first 2018 issue of the Willa Cather Review, we asked thirty widely varied readers—fans, scholars, neighbors, students, Cather and Pavelka relatives, and many others—to send us their Ántonia stories, telling us why this beloved novel is important to them. (To download the Winter 2018 issue, click HERE.) As these stories arrived in my mailbox, I was amazed and delighted and moved by them. I was surprised by how different they were, and by how they spoke to each other. It was like sitting in on a lively and heartfelt conversation. I wanted to hear more—and perhaps to chime in with my own story.
Enjoy the last of our stories below, my own, as we count down the final moments of the 100th birthday of My Ántonia. Many thanks to our contributors for sharing their stories with us!