[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 66 (Thursday, May 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S5344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO WILLA CATHER

 Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, writer Willa Cather fashioned from 
her experiences uncommon stories of the character of Nebraska's people 
and landscapes. It is my pleasure to pay tribute to Cather because, 
like many Nebraskans, her writing continues to inspire me.
  This year, we celebrate three major anniversaries in Cather's life. 
Seventy-five years ago, Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for ``One of 
Ours.'' One of her best known novels, ``My Antonia,'' will have its 
80th anniversary on September 21st. Finally, December 7th marks the 
125th anniversary of her birth.
  Cather's writings illustrate a Nebraska of stark landscapes, epic 
frontiers, and mysterious grandeur. Her characters are often placed in 
a Nebraska panorama to which Cather gave breathtaking expression. 
Shortly after moving from the east to Nebraska at the age of nine, 
Cather realized that that shaggy grass country had gripped me with a 
passion I have never been able to shake. It has been the happiness and 
the curse of my life.''
  For Cather in ``My Antonia,'' Nebraska is raw and vast, the material 
out of which countries are made. . . naked as the back of your hand.'' 
Out of the passion she felt for Nebraska's materials, Cather wrote with 
unparalleled sensitivity about the soil, trees, and wildflowers of the 
landscape. In The ``Song of the Lark,'' the cottonwoods are the light-
reflecting, wind-loving trees of the desert, whose roots are always 
seeking water and whose leaves are always talking about it, making the 
sound of rain.''
  The inhabitants of the land are connected to and determined by this 
landscape. Thus, in many of Cather's novels, the character is a 
pioneer, whether literally or as artist, one breaking new ground, 
finding his or her own path, creating his or her own landscape. In the 
hands of Cather's sparse and evocative prose, questions of the 
pioneering self shaped by experience and tested by difficulty indicate 
Cather's commitment through her characters to integrity.
  Readers continue to feel the special relationship between the wonder 
of Nebraska and the dignity of its people through Cather's well known 
novels ``O Pioneers, My Antonia, One Of Ours,'' and ``Death Comes for 
the Archbishop,'' as well as her poetry and other stories. I invite you 
to join me in honoring Willa Cather on the 75th anniversary of her 
Pulitzer Prize, the 80th anniversary of ``My Antonia,'' and in memory 
of her 125th birthday.
  In ``The Wild Land,'' Cather writes, The history of every country 
begins in the heart of a man or a woman.'' Thanks to Cather's artistry, 
we continue to be moved by the written recordings of Nebraska's 
history.

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