My Antonia was at first only a modest financial success, but it was praised by H. L. Mencken, who called it one of the best novels ever written by an American, Four years later Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours (1922) and became one of the best known and most influential writers in the United States. F. Scott Fitzgerald, shortly before he published The Great Gatsby (1925), wrote to Cather apologizing for what he feared was "an instance of apparent plagiarism" from her novel A Lost Lady (1923). Sinclair Lewis, in 1930, is reported to have said that his Nobel Prize should have gone to Cather...

"The best thing I"ve done is My Antonia,"" recalled Willa Cather. "l feel I"ve made a contribution to American letters with that book."An unconventional novel of prairie life, MyAntonia tells the story of a remarkable woman whose strength and passion epitomize the pioneer spirit.Antonia Shimerda returns to Black Hawk, Nebraska, to make a fresh start after eloping with a railway conductor following the tragic death of her father. Accustomed to living in a sod house and toiling alongside the men in the fields, she is unprepared for the lecherous reaction her lush sensuality provokes when she moves to the city. Despite betrayal and crushing opposition,Antonia steadfastly pursues her quest for happiness--a moving struggle that mirrors the auiet drama of the American landscape.

Introduction by Stephanie Vaughn 

MY ANTONIA

Introduction 

BOOK I.The Shimerdas 

BOOK II.The Hired Girls 

BOOK III.Lena Lingard 

BOOK IV.The Pioneer Woman"s Story 

BOOK V.Cuzak"s Boys