My Antonia

<p>Of Antonia the passionate heroine of Willa Cather's greatest novel the narrator says that she left 'images in the mind that did not fade - that grew stronger with time'. The same could be said of the novel itself. On one level it is a straighforward story beautifully written of the struggle for survival of a family of pioneers on the vast Nebraska plains. On another it encompasses history the relationship ofhuman beings and the natural world and the destiny of the individual - even as it lovingly and unsentimentally portrays a woman whose robust spirit and enduring warmth make her emblematic of what Cather most admired in the American people.<br><br>'The time will come when Willa Cather will be ranked above Hemingway.' - <i>Leon Edel</i></p>