Harry Gordon approda a Chicago per riprendersi Lucy e portarsela dietro al paesello, ma sbaglia i calcoli: la ragazza gli fa una metaforica pernacchia e non rinuncia al suo sogno musicale.Į quindi, eccoci davanti a una storia proto femminista? No, non direi. È quello che si definisce un amore casto, oppure si definisce romantico: questa novella è molto romantica, pura goduria in questo senso. Lucy, però, sogna una sua carriera musicale e, per perseguirla, decide di trasferirsi a Chicago, dove diventa la pianista che accompagna il baritono Clement Sebastian, del quale s’innamora rapita dal suo talento musicale, nonostante la grande differenza d’età, e nonostante Sebastian sia già sposato. Una coppia perfetta che tutti danno per destinata a convolare a nozze.

Il romanzo inizia che la giovane è sul lago ghiacciato a pattinare e viene raggiunta da Harry Gordon, figlio del locale banchiere, il miglior partito del paese. Lucy è una diciottenne bella, brillante e vivace, nella cittadina del Nebraska dove è nata e ha vissuto è una giovane stella. She died of a cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 73 in New York City.

In 1944, Cather 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. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1943. In later life, she experienced much negative criticism for her conservative politics and became reclusive, burning some of her letters and personal papers, including her last manuscript. She travelled widely and often spent summers in New Brunswick, Canada. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, 'One of Ours' (1922), set during World War I. Her novels on frontier life brought her to national recognition. Because of this, she changed her major and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English.Īfter graduation in 1894, she worked in Pittsburgh as writer for various publications and as a school teacher for approximately 13 years, thereafter moving to New York City for the remainder of her life.

She then attended the University of Nebraska, initially planning to become a physician, but after writing an article for the Nebraska State Journal, she became a regular contributor to this journal. Wilella Sibert Cather was born in Back Creek Valley (Gore), Virginia, in December 7, 1873.

Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather