Willa Cather and Material Culture

"This collection is significant for focusing attention upon the importance of material culture to Cather and to her writing. Beyond its significance to understanding Cather, the [book] provides a case study of the range of approaches to material culture in American literary studies."--Susan Rosowski, author of The Voyage Perilous: Willa Cather's Romanticism

“This tightly edited collection has two objectives: first, to underscore the importance of material objects in Cather’s supposedly unfurnished fiction; second, to remind us of the material conditions under which her work . . . was marketed and sold. Packed with original research . . . the volume achieves both goals. Cather specialists and scholars interested in the American literary marketplace will find Willa Cather and Material Culture absorbing and rewarding.”—Great Plains Quarterly 

“Willa Cather and Material Culture provides a thought-provoking introduction to cultural studies approaches to Cather . . . [and] avoids some of the faults that such compilations often fall victim to by maintaining focus on the themes announced in the editor’s introduction while also managing to offer a satisfying variety of response. In addition, the collection is instructive about lesser-known work and periods in Cather’s literary life and about her biography and her cultural surrounds.”—Modern Fiction Studies