O Pioneers! is the second book in the leather-bound collection of Classic Westerns that Evelyn gave me for my birthday, following The Virginian. It's the best known and most acclaimed novel in the set, but it doesn't really fit. It arguably takes place in the West (Nebraska), but it has none of the genre trappings of a Western: no cowboys, no gunslingers, no saloons, no canyons.
O Pioneers! tells the story of the Bergson family as they establish themselves in the frontier. The main character is the land, which Cather frequently describes as having needs of its own. Alexandra Bergson is the rare strong female character for a book written in 1913, even rarer for being the smartest person around not merely the most steadfast. The atmosphere is quite convincing.
O Pioneers! tells the story of the Bergson family as they establish themselves in the frontier. The main character is the land, which Cather frequently describes as having needs of its own. Alexandra Bergson is the rare strong female character for a book written in 1913, even rarer for being the smartest person around not merely the most steadfast. The atmosphere is quite convincing.
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