![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Ammons's contention that Cather's book "is deeply indebted to and shaped by African American music," though she was "conflicted" by such a debt, will surprise many readers. The collection's most compelling essays Elizabeth Ammons's "My Antonia and African American Art" and Anne Goodwyn Jones's "Displacing Dixie: The Southern Subtext in My Antonia"-illustrate the richness of influence that informed Cather's writing. Orvell makes several interesting connections between the works, particularly Jewett's, and ultimately concludes that Cather wanted to propose a "sweeter, more optimistic" narrative. ![]() Miles Orvell's essay "Time, Change, and the Burden of Revision in My Antonia" gives us the first argument of many about literary influence, connecting the novel to the three works Cather labeled as American books with a "long, long life": The Scarlet Letter, Huckleberry Finn, and The Country of the Pointed Firs. From the first essay, suggesting the "sweetness" of Cather's narrative, to the last, recording the violence of Jim Burden's hegemonic presence, this collection gives readers a fresh, if sometimes unconvincing look at one of the most famous novels of the Great Plains. In her introductory essay, Sharon O'Brien correctly claims that My Antonia's critical history illustrates the indeterminacy of meaning, for even in this relatively short book one is struck by the variety of responses evoked by Willa Cather's novel. ![]()
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