- Hardcover: 572 pages
- Publisher: University of Nebraska Press; New edition edition (30 April 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0803214294
- ISBN-13: 978-0803214293
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 5.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,537,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Death Comes for the Archbishop sprang from Willa Cather's love for the land and cultures of the American Southwest. Published in 1927 to both praise and perplexity, it has since claimed for itself a major place in twentieth-century literature. When Cather first visited the American Southwest in 1912, she found a new world to imagine and soon came to feel that "the story of the Catholic Church in [the Southwest] was the most interesting of all its stories." The narrative follows Bishop Jean Latour and Father Joseph Vaillant, friends since their childhood in France, as they organize the new Roman Catholic diocese of Santa Fe subsequent to the Mexican War. While seeking to revive the church and build a cathedral in the desert, the clerics, like their historical prototypes, Bishop Jean Lamy and Father Joseph Machebeuf, face religious corruption, natural adversity, and the loneliness of living in a strange and unforgiving land. The Willa Cather Scholarly Edition presents groundbreaking research, establishing a new text that reflects Cather's long and deep involvement with her story. The historical essay traces the artistic and spiritual development that led to its writing. The broad-ranging explanatory notes illuminate the elements of French, Mexican, Hispanic, and Native American cultures that meet in the course of the narrative; they also explain the part played by the land and its people-their history, religion, art, and languages. The textual essay and apparatus reveal Cather's creative process and enable the reader to follow the complex history of the text. Volume editor John J. Murphy is a professor of English at Brigham Young University. Textual editor Charles Mignon is a professor of English at the University of Nebraska. Frederick M. Link is a professor emeritus of English at the University of Nebraska. Kari A. Ronning is assistant editor for the Willa Cather Scholarly Edition.
About the Author
A Pulitzer Prize winner, Willa Cather was a distinguished female American novelist. She also worked as a journalist, a teacher, and an editor. She got her education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. There she contributed to the Nebraska State Journal. After college she moved to Pittsburgh, where she taught high school and worked for variouse magzines. Cather's style of writing is precise and condense. Powerful characterization and settings in her novels and use of rich language made her eminent among her contemporaries. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for novel One of Ours. Her other famous novels are Alexander's Bridge (1912), O Pioneers (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915), My Antonia (1918), and A Lost Lady (1923).
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I picked up this book in the library purely because of the title. There are certain book titles which, upon seeing, compel me to pick up the book and read it, no matter the content, and "Death Comes for the Archbishop" was one of them. I was expecting to read a dark, gothic novel with deep, philosophical discussions about the nature of good and evil, perhaps with Death and the Archbishop sitting down to a game of chess or something. Instead what do I get? Some thinly veiled Christian dogma set in an "Oh, California" textbook.
But here's the strange part... I actually LIKED this book. For no tangible reason, I couldn't put it down. Now, to reiterate, this was what I would have considered, by any normal standards, to be an extremely stupid, boring book. There is no plot, to speak of. There are pages and pages, entire chapters almost, devoted solely to describing how peaceful and beautiful the arid New Mexican landscape is. And although it spans almost fifty years, it moves at the pace of a lone French missionary jorneying through the desert. But despite all this, I found myself liking it more intensely than almost any other book I've ever read. I found myself caught up in its slow, quiet, undulating rhythm. In fact, towards the end, I practically had tears in my eyes from the beauty of it all.
I would have given it a ten, if I didn't find this whole thing so damn unsettling.
But here's the strange part... I actually LIKED this book. For no tangible reason, I couldn't put it down. Now, to reiterate, this was what I would have considered, by any normal standards, to be an extremely stupid, boring book. There is no plot, to speak of. There are pages and pages, entire chapters almost, devoted solely to describing how peaceful and beautiful the arid New Mexican landscape is. And although it spans almost fifty years, it moves at the pace of a lone French missionary jorneying through the desert. But despite all this, I found myself liking it more intensely than almost any other book I've ever read. I found myself caught up in its slow, quiet, undulating rhythm. In fact, towards the end, I practically had tears in my eyes from the beauty of it all.
I would have given it a ten, if I didn't find this whole thing so damn unsettling.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I picked up this book during the summer of 1997 in Bandelier National Monument, near Santa Fe, NM. A park guide recommended it & said that Ms. Cather visited the park in the 1920's, when there were no roads to the park. This book will be a treat to anyone who has travelled to or has lived in Enchanting NM. The places that she describes (Pecos, Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque) are all very familiar places today. I could not put it down on my 4 hour flight back home from NM. Ms. Cather leads you on the Archbishop's adventures through the wild areas of NM. You will eat in the indian villages, the indian guides will lead you through a snow storm on horseback, you will sleep in a sacred cave and will have to swear to the indians that you will not reveal the secret, you will have a run in with an arrogant, corrupt missionary, you will happen upon a murderous loner in the desert and help his beaten wife escape the tyrant, you will even stay with Kit Carson for a grand dinner party!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Even though Willa Cather was not a Catholic, she has created a moving description of the dedication of a missionary bishop in New Mexico, and the difficulties he encountered in his work. Carefully crafted writing and the integration of the historical facts make this a must-read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
More than it seems -
Merely an episodic novel about two priest in the Wild West it is not. The descriptions of places are haunting. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr Stephen D Edwards
A masterpiece
Willa Cather admitted that it was misleading to describe this as a novel; she preferred to call it a 'narrative', unfolding at a leisurely pace, gently, one thing after another,... Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2010 by booksetc
God in the American Southwest
Willa Cather's novels divide into three periods. Her early novels including "O Pioneers" and "My Antonia" focus on strong women who succeed, if only at great cost, in mastering the... Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2008 by Robin Friedman
astounding vision
This book is so beautifully written it is hard to believe it is fiction. The landscapes and the era and the characters come alive better than in any film about the old west. Read more
Published on 16 July 2004 by Timothy Ecott
A disappointing religious ramble around New Mexico
...Willa Cather's novel lacks characterisation, is paternalisitic in its attitude to the 'simple but dignified' indigenous people, makes no reference to the indiginities suffered... Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2002
A beautifully written tale of two priests in New Mexico
This is a beautiful work which pulls you in on a number of levels and is at times both funny and moving. Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2000
The book was long boring, and without a solid plot
I was forced to read this book for summer reading. If my grade had not depended on my reading this i would have burned it after 30 pages. Read more
Published on 15 Aug 1999
my favorite book ever
As an English major in college and an all-around lover of literature, I have had the joy of reading some wonderful books by the world's best authors. This book is my favorite. Read more
Published on 30 Mar 1999
Page turner
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Cather's descriptions are vivid and extensive, but to my taste not boring. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 1999
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