A Resurrection
Encyclopedia
A Resurrection is a short story by American writer Willa Cather
. It was first published in Home Monthly
in April 1897.
, where he wants to pick up his son Bobbie and move to Kansas City
with him. Upon hearing that, Marjorie is upset - she doesn't want to part with the child. Martin then sits by the bank of the Missouri River
and reflects on his life - how he was one of the "river rats" in this town, he then worked on boats on that same river; he subsequently married Aimee de Mar in St. Louis, Missouri
and they had a child together. She would overspend and get bored with domesticity; she eventually died as she was trying to run away. He then brought the baby back to Brownville, and Miss Marjorie has been looking after him since then.
Later, Marjorie sends Bobbie off to bed, and Martin comes along. He tells her he wants her to go to Kansas City with Bobbie and he. She expresses her dismay with the unkind letter he sent her when he got married to Aimee. Bobbie is woken up by the sound of the river, and Martin, in his faith in Water deity
, hopes she will consent to his proposal.
Willa Cather
Willa Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...
. It was first published in Home Monthly
Home Monthly
Home Monthly was a monthly women's magazine published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.When Home Monthly was established in 1896, it hired Willa Cather as the managing editor of the magazine. Cather oversaw the publication of 12 issues of the magazine between...
in April 1897.
Plot summary
Martin is back to his hometown, Brownville, NebraskaBrownville, Nebraska
Brownville is a village in Nemaha County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 146 at the 2000 census.- History :Established in 1854 and incorporated in 1856, Brownville was the largest town in the Nebraska Territory, with a population of 1,309 by 1880. Bordering slave-holding Missouri, the...
, where he wants to pick up his son Bobbie and move to Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
with him. Upon hearing that, Marjorie is upset - she doesn't want to part with the child. Martin then sits by the bank of the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
and reflects on his life - how he was one of the "river rats" in this town, he then worked on boats on that same river; he subsequently married Aimee de Mar in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
and they had a child together. She would overspend and get bored with domesticity; she eventually died as she was trying to run away. He then brought the baby back to Brownville, and Miss Marjorie has been looking after him since then.
Later, Marjorie sends Bobbie off to bed, and Martin comes along. He tells her he wants her to go to Kansas City with Bobbie and he. She expresses her dismay with the unkind letter he sent her when he got married to Aimee. Bobbie is woken up by the sound of the river, and Martin, in his faith in Water deity
Water deity
A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important...
, hopes she will consent to his proposal.
Characters
- Miss Marjorie Pierson, a.k.a Margie.
- Mrs Skimmons
- Martin Dempster
- Bobbie
- Aimee de Mar
- Mrs Pierson, Marjorie's mother, crippled with rheumatismRheumatismRheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...
.
Allusions to other works
- Literature is mentioned with Honoré de BalzacHonoré de BalzacHonoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
's comedie humaine, SapphoSapphoSappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...
, Alfred de MussetAlfred de MussetAlfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle from 1836.-Biography:Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris...
, and TheocritusTheocritusTheocritus , the creator of ancient Greek bucolic poetry, flourished in the 3rd century BC.-Life:Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings. We must, however, handle these with some caution, since some of the poems commonly attributed to him have little claim to...
. - Painting is mentioned with Guido ReniGuido ReniGuido Reni was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. Soon after, he was joined in that...
's Penitent Magdalene.
Allusions to actual history
- Thomas TiptonThomas TiptonThomas Weston Tipton was a Senator from Nebraska.-Biography:He was born in Cadiz, Ohio, and attended Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania. He pursued classical studies and graduated from Madison College, Pennsylvania, in 1840. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1844...
, one of the first two United States Senators from Nebraska, is mentioned in the history of Brownville; he had a house there. - Brownville is compared to PompeiiPompeiiThe city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
.
Literary significance and criticism
- Willa Cather had visited Brownville in 1894 to write an article for the fortieth anniversary of its settlement.
External links
- Full Edition at the Willa Cather Archive