My Antonia

My Antonia written by Willa Cather is one of the most recognizable stories of both immigrant and prairie life. Published in 1918 the novel is the last in what has been called Cather's Prairie Trilogy consisting also of O Pioneers! and Song of the Lark. Set mainly in Nebraska the author's home state My Antonia is a kind of memoir - a young man's recollection of his childhood in the Midwest. Specifically the narrator Jim focuses his first-person storytelling lens on the Shimerdas a traveling immigrant family whose daughter Antonia becomes one of his most dear childhood friends. Structured into five sections the novel follows Antonia from girlhood through motherhood in her life on the prairie. Immediately received as a masterpiece in writing and an innovation in story structure this modernist novel holds a very unique place in the literary tradition of this country - one that highlights the very American concept of frontier living independence and individualism through the life of a resilient immigrant woman.