The Catherian Cathedral

Gothic Cathedral Iconography in Willa Cather's Fiction

Christine E. Kephart

The Catherian Cathedral: Gothic Cathedral Iconography in Willa Cather's Fiction traces the development of a Gothic cathedral iconography in the fiction of Willa Cather and posits that Cather finds in the Gothic cathedral image a metaphor for the writing process and the novel. It explores and analyzes Cather's incorporation of major elements of Gothic cathedral design in her work, in characterization, light imagery and novel structure, and links Cather's traditional cathedral images with her images of mountains and mesas. Kephart engages in conversation with other critics on Cather, the cathedral, and religious thought. She also shows the influence of both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Adams on Cather's development of the iconography, as well as Cather's associative linking of the landscape of the American Southwest with that of the south and south-central regions of France.

For some time, Cather scholarship has focused on Cather's use of medieval images, including the image of the cathedral. The Catherian Cathedral builds on earlier research in its aim to further explore and apprehend fully the persistence of the cathedral image in Cather's work. Along with analyzing the influence of Emerson and Adams on Cather's process, this book traces Cather's building of the cathedral in her fiction and follows Cather's architectural eye as it surveys the cathedral form in the natural and human-made architecture of France and the American Southwest. Kephart thus fills in some major gaps in Cather's use of the cathedral metaphor throughout her writing life. The resulting work suggests that, to paraphrase Sarah Orne Jewett, the cathedral was indeed one of those images that "teased" Cather and got itself written down.

University Press Copublishing Division / Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Pages: 164 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-1-61147-016-1 • Hardback • November 2011 • $105.00 • (£81.00)

Series: The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series on Willa Cather

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Gothic & Romance, Literary Criticism / Semiotics & Theory, Literary Criticism / Women Authors

The Catherian Cathedral

Gothic Cathedral Iconography in Willa Cather's Fiction

Hardback

Summary

The Catherian Cathedral: Gothic Cathedral Iconography in Willa Cather's Fiction traces the development of a Gothic cathedral iconography in the fiction of Willa Cather and posits that Cather finds in the Gothic cathedral image a metaphor for the writing process and the novel. It explores and analyzes Cather's incorporation of major elements of Gothic cathedral design in her work, in characterization, light imagery and novel structure, and links Cather's traditional cathedral images with her images of mountains and mesas. Kephart engages in conversation with other critics on Cather, the cathedral, and religious thought. She also shows the influence of both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Adams on Cather's development of the iconography, as well as Cather's associative linking of the landscape of the American Southwest with that of the south and south-central regions of France.

For some time, Cather scholarship has focused on Cather's use of medieval images, including the image of the cathedral. The Catherian Cathedral builds on earlier research in its aim to further explore and apprehend fully the persistence of the cathedral image in Cather's work. Along with analyzing the influence of Emerson and Adams on Cather's process, this book traces Cather's building of the cathedral in her fiction and follows Cather's architectural eye as it surveys the cathedral form in the natural and human-made architecture of France and the American Southwest. Kephart thus fills in some major gaps in Cather's use of the cathedral metaphor throughout her writing life. The resulting work suggests that, to paraphrase Sarah Orne Jewett, the cathedral was indeed one of those images that "teased" Cather and got itself written down.

Details

University Press Copublishing Division / Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Pages: 164 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9½

978-1-61147-016-1 • Hardback • November 2011 • $105.00 • (£81.00)

Series: The Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Series on Willa Cather

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Gothic & Romance, Literary Criticism / Semiotics & Theory, Literary Criticism / Women Authors

Author

Christine E. Kephart received her Ph.D. in English at Drew University where she worked with Merrill Maguire Skaggs, one of the preeminent scholars in Cather studies, to begin developing her own critical work in Cather research. She currently works in higher education and lives in New Jersey with her husband. She and her husband are also musicians, they play together when they can.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Beyond Spires and Gargoyles: An Introduction
Chapter 2 Chapter 1: Foundations for Cather's Cathedrals: European Architecture, Early Literary Sources and "The Enchanted Bluff"
Chapter 3 Chapter 2: Cather as Architect and Alexander's Bridge
Chapter 4 Chapter 3: "This looked as if it might be the right place": Locating the Cathedral in The Song of the Lark and One of Ours
Chapter 5 Chapter 4: A Sound Design: Cathedrals in The Professor's House
Chapter 6 Chapter 5: Rock, Sanctuary, and an Idea of God: Building Cathedrals in Death Comes for the Archbishop
Chapter 7 Chapter 6: Limpid, Celestial, Holy Blue: Gothic Light in Shadows on the Rock
Chapter 8 Chapter 7: The Flowering of Desire:Gothic Cathedral Structure in Shadows on the Rock
Chapter 9 The Catherian Cathedral: A Summary

Reviews

Kephart’s book, the first to engage Cather’s relations to architecture fully, is an innovative contribution to Cather studies.
— Center for Great Plains Studies

With this perceptive and focused study, Kephart has made an important contribution to Cather studies.
— American Literary Realism

The Catherian Cathedral

Gothic Cathedral Iconography in Willa Cather's Fiction

Christine E. Kephart

The Catherian Cathedral

Gothic Cathedral Iconography in Willa Cather's Fiction

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