In 1911, despite being a successful and influential editor for McClure’s Magazine, Willa Cather asked for a leave of absence from her mentor and boss, S.S. McClure. Her varied duties at the magazine left her little time to write, much less to complete the serious—and for a writer, essential—effort of a first novel. With her employer’s blessing, she retired to Cherry Valley, New York with her dearest companion, Isabelle McClung, in tow. There, she finished Alexander’s Bridge (1912), a novel begun while writing and publishing her first story collection (The Troll Garden, 1905) and heavily under the influence of the literary doyens of the age—James and Wharton, especially. …
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Citation: Grasso, Joshua. "Alexander's Bridge". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 June 2021 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6787, accessed 19 April 2024.]
