Willa Cather Biography

“That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great” (Norris). Willa Cather’s headstone has this quote etched into it. Some believe that by this definition of happiness, that the author received a great deal of it. She is known for being an amazing writer that has influenced many creations after her time. Cather’s early life, college life, influences in her writing, and her accomplishments and awards are all a part of what made her an amazing writer. Part of what made Willa Cather acquire happiness was the experiences from her childhood. On December 7, 1873, this exceptional writer was born in Back Creek Valley, Virginia (“Willa Cather.”). Nine years later, the Cather family relocated to Red Cloud, Nebraska in 1883. “She grew up among immigrants from Europe--- Swedes, Bohemians, Russians, and Germans---who were breaking the land on the Great Plains” (“Willa Cather: American Author”). Her childhood involved her talking to the expatriates and learning what foreign countries were like. It also consisted of her apprenticing the local doctor and having
Her first award was in 1923. She received the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, One of Ours (“Willa Cather.”). “In 1931, Cather accepted honorary degrees from the University of California Berkeley and Princeton. She is the first woman to receive such a degree from Princeton”. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1938 (“Willa Cather Biography”). One of Cather’s greatest awards was in 1944, when she received “the gold medal for fiction from the National Institute of Arts and letters, an award given once a decade for an author’s total accomplishments” (“Willa Cather.”). It is believed that Willa Cather achieved what many can not; happiness, rooted from life being great and complete. It which came from her early life, college life, influences in her writing, and her accomplishments and