The Willa Cather Project.

On Saturday, I got into a discussion on twitter about reading the major or complete works of certain authors with a few bloggers. We discussed some of the big names and the authors we would most like to read. Authors like Steinbeck, Dickens, Hardy, James, and more all came to mind. We all became pretty inspired and two bloggers have already posted away (you can see Adam's here-he chose Steinbeck, O's is here-she chose Trollope).

I've always thought that the most logical step for me after my 250 project would be to go back and read the complete works of an author. I am close with a few-Shakespeare, Austen, the Brontes-but I wanted to push myself by reading an author I don't know a lot about. This project will serve to educate me about that writer.

After thinking it over, I settled on Willa Cather. We have had a rocky history. I hated her novel, My Antonia, when I read it as a high school freshman (now I love it. It happens, you know?). When I took a risk and read O Pioneers! in the first year of my 250 Project, I fell madly in love. So, I've decided that Willa Cather will be my choice for a Major Works/Complete Works Project.

The goal is to read her work in order of publication. The one exception is My Antonia, since I just finished it (I will be rereading O Pioneers!....because I can). If I cannot find a copy of the work, I will simply skip it and move on (I already own all of her novels, save one, so I am more concerned with finding her short stories and essays). I'm not giving myself a goal date for this project. My hope is to finish when I feel so inspired, and to get to know a writer I don't know much about.

The List:

• April Twilights (poetry) 1903

• The Troll Garden (short stories) 1905
• "Flavia and Her Artists"
• "The Sculptor's Funeral"
• "A Death in the Desert"
• "The Garden Lodge"
• "The Marriage of Phaedra"
• "A Wagner Matinee"
• "Paul's Case" 

• Alexander's Bridge (novel) 1912

• O Pioneers! (novel) 1913

• The Song of the Lark (novel) 1915

• My Antonia (novel) 1918

• Youth and the Bright Medusa (short stories) 1920
• ***contains 4 of the stories also in The Troll Garden. These are marked with an asterisk
• "Coming, Eden Bower"
• "The Diamond Mine"
• "A Gold Slipper"
• "Scandal"
• *"Paul's Case"
• *"A Wagner Matinee"
• *"The Sculptor's Funeral"
• *"A Death in the Desert" 

• One of Ours (novel) 1922

• A Lost Lady (novel) 1923

• The Professor's House (novel) 1925

• My Mortal Enemy (novel) 1926

• Death Comes for the Archbishop (novel) 1927

• Shadows on the Rock (novel) 1931

• Obscure Destinies (short stories) 1932
• "Neighbor Rosicky"
• "Old Mrs. Harris"
• "Two Friends" 

• Lucy Gayheart (novel) 1935

• Not Under Forty (essays) 1936

• Sapphira and the Slave Girl (novel) 1940

• The Old Beauty and Others (short stories) 1948
• "The Old Beauty"
• "The Best Years"
• "Before Breakfast" 

• Willa Cather: On Writing (essays) 1949

• Five Stories (short stories) 1956
• ***Some stories were previously published. These are marked with an asterisk
• "The Enchanted Bluff"
• "Tom Outland's Story"
• *"Neighbor Rosicky"
• *"The Best Years"
• *"Paul's Case"

• Selected Letters from Willa Cather

•  I am also considering a few biographies, but haven't settled on one just yet. Anyone have some recommendations?

I'm not positive that I have all the short stories listed, but I will add as I find/discover other stories. I'm really excited about this project!

So here's a question, if you were to read any classic author's works, from beginning to end, who would it be and why?