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Neighbour Rosicky (1928)

• Willa Cather

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Willa Cather (1)

• American regionalist and modernist, author of My
  Antonia (1916), Death Comes for the Archbishop
  (1925), The Professors House (1927) and other
  novels.
• Born 1873, Back Creek Valley, Virginia
• At age 10, moved with family to Webster County,
  Nebraska, the Divide

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Willa Cather (2)

• The theme of uprooting or exile became a central
  one in Cathers fiction
• I was little and homesick and lonely. . . . So
  the country and I had it out together and by the
  end of the first autumn the shaggy grass country
  had gripped me with a passion that I have never
  been able to shake. It has been the happiness and
  curse of my life.

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Willa Cather (3)

• After a year, the Cathers settled in Red Cloud,
  Nebraska, the basis for many small towns in
  Cathers fictionincluding the town in Rosicky
• In Nebraska, Willa met immigrants from France,
  Germany, Scandinavia, Bohemia, and Russia

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Neighbour Rosicky Family Conflict (1)

• A story of family conflict set against the larger
  American story of immigrants coming from the big
  cities of Europe and the U.S. east coast and
  settling on the American prairie
• An immigrant Bohemian farmer in Nebraska is
  nearing the end of his life, remembering the
  important events of his life

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Neighbour Rosicky Family Conflict (2)

• He tries to control his familys future by
  ensuring that his sons stay on the farmland he
  settled, rather than move to the city
• He tries to make his non-immigrant
  daughter-in-law feel part of the family

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Rosicky as Immigrant

• boyhood in rural Bohemia (through age 12)
• teenage years in Londons Cheapside, poor
  tailors apprentice (age 12-20)
• single, young adult life in New York, tailor,
  learned English (age 20-35)
• later life as Nebraska farmer, a family man and
  landowner (age 35-65) (Rosickys based on Cathers
  Nebraska acquaintances John Annie Pavelka)

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Immigrant life/Modernist structure (1)

• Rosickys life unfolds in the story not
  chronologically but according to Rosickys
  memoriesmodernist structure
• Unity is not chronological but thematic decisive
  moments that define Rosickys values
• See p. 1129, sec. III, para. 3 While he sewed,
  he let his mind run back over his life. . . .

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Immigrant life/Modernist structure (2)

• Tailoring and remembering As Rosicky patches his
  familys clothes, he patches together his life
• July 4, 1 Central event see p. 1130, para. 3
  But as the years passed, all alike, he began to
  get a little restless. . . . (through end of
  section III)
• New York cemented you away from ground
• Earliest memories of Bohemian farm
• Rosicky a very simple man (1131)

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Immigrant life/Modernist structure (3)

• July 4, 2 See p. 1135, 2nd to last para.
  Nothin, he says, but its pretty hot. . .
  (through middle p. 1136)
• Rosickys personal expression of
  freedom/independence nakedness
• Enjoying what you have

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Country vs. City

• A major theme in Rosickys life
• The problems of the city vs. benefits of the
  country see p. 1138, last para. Sitting beside
  the flowering window. . . (through p. 1139,
  para. 2)
• Country life allows privacy an American value
• However, New York is first portrayed positively
  (see top of p. 1130)

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George Bellows, Cliff Dwellers, 1913
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Childe Hassam, Union Square in Spring, 1896
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Immigrant vs. American

• Polly was sensitive about marrying a foreigner
  (1132)
• Generally speaking, marrying an American girl
  was a risk. A Czech should marry a Czech (1133)
• See p. 1136, 3rd para. from bottom When
  Rudolphs mother sent over a coffee-cake or
  prune tarts or a loaf of fresh bread, Polly
  seemed to regard them with a certain suspicion.

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Marriage as social unifier

• The marriage of Rosicky and his wife Mary brings
  together city and country people. See p. 1128,
  last para. He was fifteen years older than Mary.
  . .
• In the new generation, the marriage between
  Rudolph and Polly brings together American and
  immigrant

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Rosicky Polly (1)

• Rosicky reassures Polly. See p. 1132, 3rd para.
  from bottom That kind, reassuring grip on her
  elbows. . .
• Rosicky tells the story of his London experience,
  in English, for Polly (1136-38)
• Polly rescues Rosicky when he suffers a heart
  attack, calls him Father. See middle of p.
  1140 Lean on me, Father, hard! Dont be afraid.

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Rosicky Polly (2)

• Rosicky guesses, correctly, that Polly is
  pregnant
• Polly contemplates Rosickys hand. See p. 1141,
  middle para.
• The hand embodies Rosickys gift for loving
  people
• It brought her to herself it communicated some
  direct and untranslatable message.

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Framing Consciousness Doc Ed (1)

• Doctor Ed Burleigh the first and last character
  in the story framing consciousness
• Visits graveyard after Rosickys death. See page
  1142, last three para. Doctor Ed was way when
  Rosicky died. . . .
• Recalls earlier scene when Rosicky contemplated
  graveyard See p. 1126, final para. After they
  had gone eight miles. . . (through p. 1127,
  para. 3)

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Framing Consciousness Doc Ed (2)

• Why a doctor?
• Cather played at being a doctor when she was
  young, and wanted to become a doctor
• Doc Ed cannot heal Rosickys body, but his
  consciousness can patch together his life and
  see it as complete and beautiful

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Cather, age 13
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Rosicky as a work of modernism

• Cather wrote, the world broke in two in 1922 or
  thereabouts
• Neighbour Rosicky (1928) tries to unify a
  broken world through the life a man who bridges
  contradictions immigrant/American city/country,
  etc.
• The story is concerned with how Rosickys life
  gives meaning to others, through storytelling,
  the body, and the landscape