Yours, Willa Cather

catherletters.org
"Yours, Willa Cather" is a 30-minute documentary inspired by the recently published Selected Letters of Willa Cather, edited by Andy Jewell and Janis Stout. In "Yours, Willa Cather" we meet the woman who confesses to a friend that she is "paralyzed" by the open spaces of the West. Who is so bored with her job as editor of McClure's that she compares it to living in a "tepid bath." Who believes her boss when he tells her she has no talent as a writer. Who writes to F. Scott Fitzgerald, "After all, the only thing one can tell about beauty, is just how hard one was hit by it. Isn't that so?"
In Yours Willa Cather we hear a voice very different from the polished and controlled voice of Willa Cather the novelist. Instead we meet a person who is vulnerable, funny and at times, ruthless. A fascinating woman who thoroughly mastered the art of letter writing.
Nebraska born actress Marg Helgenberger (CSI, China Beach) is the voice of Willa Cather. Author and actor Christopher Cartmill is the narrator.

[@TheConfuzzledCat]

Wonderful little documentary about one of my favorite authors, and one of America's greatest ever. She's massively underrated and it's a shame she's not as widely read as she used to be. When I have children, they will get a healthy dose of Cather.

[@erincather3556]

She is my great great aunt

[@user-dl8ux4up6m]

Hi, I'm Erin Cather's great great aunt

[@charliehavenick9228]

Would love to connect and talk to you more about her!

[@ericocccams5865]

@@charliehavenick9228 same here my mom was a burgess.

[@suzanne7937]

It's just wrong if Willa specifically said in her will not to publish her private letters and now they have done it.

[@tammardant5353]

Sometimes we just don't get what we wish for.

[@leahsmith2078]

Am finishing My Antonia and am happy to have this video ❤

[@binkydonna]

I think the primary peice of evidence that Willa Cather loved women is in her writing. In Book 3 (i think) of My Antonia, "Lena Lingard"...is when I knew, at age 16, that Willa loved women.

[@ronlapp8442]

When I think of Willa Cather and O Pioneers and My Antonia I think of my grandmother who grew up on a farm near Lenora, Kansas a little more than 100 miles away.

[@leahsmith2078]

I’m a first-time reader of hers. My Antonia being from the POV of a boy makes sense now.

[@RosannaWestWalker]

I love this video, Janice Stout's work, and this book!

[@carmenstclaircopeland2407]

O
m

[@WillaLamour]

My first name is Willa - I guess it not surprising, I get my name from Willa Cather.

[@WesDoyle]

Wonderful

[@MrTang-qo9wm]

The voice of Willa Cather, as recorded in a 1933 NBC radio speech, was very, very different from that of this actress, but perhaps the producers had not known of the existence of that recording at the time of the production.

[@olgaberry9987]

i love her

[@ericgrabowski3896]

Reading " O' pioneers " now. She was a great seer.

[@bajoobiecuzican]

A brilliant and fascinating woman ♥️

[@escapefelicity2913]

very well done

[@sarahjones-jf4pr]

A will is a will to be respected .

[@adamcarroll1975]

My favorite author. I’d love to get a Ph.D. in English and focus on Cather’s work. Her books make me love life, when few other things can sometimes...

[@JohnRHuffJr]

I agree. Best Wishes.

[@theprophet20]

Beautiful!

[@E-Kat]

She looks like Elvis Presley in the cover picture! 😆