Imagining the Land: Five Versions of the Landscape in Willa Cather's "My Antonia"

Abstract

In "My Antonia," Willa Cather presents a mythic view of the western American landscape that consists of five distinct images of the land. Considered together, these images suggest a literary history of the Nebraska agricultural frontier, while they also help define such major characters as Antonia and Jim Burden. These portrayals of the land collectively create a rich myth of the landscape that helps explain the continued appeal and resonance of "My Antonia." This novel provides a literary record of early twentieth-century and late nineteenth-century attitudes toward the western landscape that remain relatively fixed in American cultural life.