Youth and the Bright Medusa

Born Wilella Sibert Cather in Virginia, Willa Cather changed the spelling of her name to William in the family Bible and demanded to be known by this, her grandfather's moniker, throughout her childhood. This sort of bold refusal to fall back on the predetermined is characteristic of Cather's life and work. After graduating from the University of Nebraska in 1895, she wrote for several magazines and began her career as a novelist, poet, and short story writer. Her fiction is often shaped by her experience growing up in the West, the tensions in the pioneer spirit of rural America, and the frustrations of talented youths trying to emerge from small-town life.