An incisive inquiry into matters of fate and fallibility, Alexanders Bridge (1912) raises questions that trouble us still. Willa Cather examines questions of autonomy and responsibility as she explores the arc and descent of Bartley Alexander, a successful bridge builder who has surmounted humble beginnings to experience fame, wealth, and finally, a preventable death in the prime of his life. As such, Alexanders story may remind readers of the stories of countless others whose outsized lives, mishaps, and deaths appear in todays newspapers and television news shows.
Mengenai Pengarang
Renowned for such novels as O Pioneers! (1913) and My Antonia (1918), Willa Cather (1873 – 1947) is one of the preeminent authors of her generation. Born in Winchester County, Virginia, and at age nine relocated to the town of Red Cloud, Nebraska, Cather graduated from a rigorous academic program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and moved to Pittsburgh in 1896. Cather won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with the World War I novel One of Ours in 1923.