Alexander's Bridge
Published on 7. September 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-1-84408-371-8 (ISBN)
Description
'The time will come when she will be ranked above Hemingway' LEON EDEL
'Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic' HELEN DUNMORE
'She is undoubtedly one of the twentieth century's greatest American writers' OBSERVER
'Something had broken loose in him of which he knew nothing except that it was sullen and powerful, that it wrung and tortured him.'
Bartley Alexander, an engineer famous for the audacious structure of his North American bridges is at the height of his reputation. He has a distinguished and beautiful wife and an enviable Boston home. Then, on a trip to London, he meets again the Irish actress he had once loved. Their affair resumes and Alexander finds himself caught in a transatlantic tug of emotions - between the wife who has supported his career with understanding and strength and Hilda, whose impulsiveness and generosity restore to him the passion and energy of his youth. Alongside this personal dilemma, there are ominous signs of strain in his professional life . . .
in this, her first novel, originally published in 1912, Willa Cather sympathetically explores the struggle between opposing sides of the self which was to become a hallmark of her craft.
Willa Cather (1937-1947), one of America's finest writers, is the author of twelve novels.
'Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic' HELEN DUNMORE
'She is undoubtedly one of the twentieth century's greatest American writers' OBSERVER
'Something had broken loose in him of which he knew nothing except that it was sullen and powerful, that it wrung and tortured him.'
Bartley Alexander, an engineer famous for the audacious structure of his North American bridges is at the height of his reputation. He has a distinguished and beautiful wife and an enviable Boston home. Then, on a trip to London, he meets again the Irish actress he had once loved. Their affair resumes and Alexander finds himself caught in a transatlantic tug of emotions - between the wife who has supported his career with understanding and strength and Hilda, whose impulsiveness and generosity restore to him the passion and energy of his youth. Alongside this personal dilemma, there are ominous signs of strain in his professional life . . .
in this, her first novel, originally published in 1912, Willa Cather sympathetically explores the struggle between opposing sides of the self which was to become a hallmark of her craft.
Willa Cather (1937-1947), one of America's finest writers, is the author of twelve novels.
Reviews / Votes
She is undoubtedly one of the twentieth century's greatest American writers * Observer * Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic -- Helen Dunmore The time will come when she will be ranked above Hemingway -- Leon Edel Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic * Helen Dunmore * She is undoubtedly one of the twentieth century's greatest American writers * OBSERVER *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
175 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84408-371-8 (9781844083718)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Born in 1873 to a family who had farmed in Virginia for generations, Willa Cather moved to her father's new ranch in Nebraska when she was eight. The raw frontier territories and the pioneer life of the Old West were to awaken her imagination and furnish the atmosphere for much of her later work. After graduating from the University of Nebraska, Willa Cather became a teacher and a journalist. In 1912 she abandoned journalism to write full time. Her first novel was Alexander's Bridge (1912) though she had already published a volume of poems and another of short stories. Her vivid novels cover a wide range: there are impassioned and thoughtful explorations of the ancient worlds of the Americas in The Professor's House (1925) and Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927) as well as sympathetic portrayals of conflicting values, or of the demands of art. These, along with her evocations of the pioneering West, soon established her reputation as one of America's foremost writers. Willa Cather died in New York in 1947. Hermione Lee (1948) grew up in London and was educated at Oxford. She began her academic career as a lecturer at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va (Instructor, 1970-1971) and at Liverpool University (Lecturer, 1971-1977). She taught at the University of York from 1977, where over twenty years she was Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, and Professor of English Literature.
From 1998-2008 she was the Goldsmiths' Chair of English Literature and Fellow of New College at the University of Oxford. In 2008, Lee was elected President of Wolfson College, University of Oxford. Lee is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's and St Cross Colleges, Oxford. In 2003, she was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for Services to Literature.
From 1998-2008 she was the Goldsmiths' Chair of English Literature and Fellow of New College at the University of Oxford. In 2008, Lee was elected President of Wolfson College, University of Oxford. Lee is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's and St Cross Colleges, Oxford. In 2003, she was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for Services to Literature.