Product Description

Construction engineer Bartley Alexander is a troubled, middle-aged man torn between Winifred, his American wife--a cold woman with clearly defined standards--and Hilda Burgoyne--an alluring mistress in London who has helped him recapture his youth and sense of freedom. Alexander's relationship with Hilda gnaws away at his sense of propriety and honor and eventually proves disastrous. (He is with Hilda when a messenger, unable to find him, fails to warn him that a bridge he is constructing is about to collapse.) A fascinating study of a man's growing awareness of the breach in his integrity, this book is essential reading for fans of this great American novelist. Unabridged republication of a standard edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1296186 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Review
Cather makes a world which is burningly alive, sometimes lovely, often tragic' Helen Dunmore 'She is undoubtedly one of the twentieth century's greatest American writers' OBSERVER

From the Publisher
Bartley Alexander, an engineer famous for the audacious structure of his North American bridges, is at the height of his reputation. He has a distinguished and beautiful wife and an enviable Boston home. Then, on a trip to London, he has a chance encounter with an Irish actress he once loved. When their affair re–ignites, Alexander finds himself caught in a tug of emotions — between his feelings for wife, who has supported his career with understanding and strength, and Hilda, whose impulsiveness and generosity restore to him the passion and energy of his youth. Coinciding with this personal dilemma are ominous signs of strain in his professional life. In this, her first novel, originally published in 1912, Willa Cather skillfully explores the struggle between opposing sides of the self, a facility that was to become a hallmark of her craft.

About the Author

Marilee Lindemann is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has published articles on Willa Cather, Sarah Orne Jewett, and is completing a study of Cather.

Customer Reviews

A Bridge to Her Better Work
This was Willa Cather's first novel, and, while showing glimpses of her later talent, is mostly disappointing. The metaphor of the bridge--the conduit to both the past and the future--figures prominently in this story of a Boston architect torn between his ongoing "mid-life" crisis and his energetic, passion-filled past.

The story contains some heavy-handed symbolism (e.g., the bridge), melodramatic action ("With one [hand] he threw down the window and with the other--still standing behind her--he drew her back against him), and awkward phrasing: "'He was simply the most tremendous response to stimuli I have ever known.'"

Still, the story moves along well, and there is an interesting Henry James-like contrast of Europe and America. The beginning nicely portrays the Boston upper class, and the dramatic conclusion includes passages of great strength and imagination. It is in this last chapter, especially, that her skills are most evident. Willa Cather is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of "O Pioneers!" "My Antonia," and other great works. Definitely recommended for those with an interest in her work.

An ersatz Edith Wharton masquerading as Willa Cather
Light on plot, heavy on symbolism, and a little predictable, Cather's first novel (a novella, actually) still contains moments of brilliance, especially in its strong characterizations and occasional flashes of wit. The story concerns a Boston architect who is contendedly married but suddenly embarks on an affair in London with an old flame from his youth. He soon becomes tormented over his double life but finds himself unable to resolve his conflicted feelings. Heavily indebted to the Gilded Age novelists, "Alexander's Bridge" reads like a typical first novel from a writer who shows a lot of promise.

Later in life, Cather wrote an essay entitled "My First Novels (There Were Two)," as close to an apology for a first novel as most writers ever make. She admitted that most of the "younger writers" in her peer group followed the manner of Henry James and Edith Wharton, "without having their qualifications"; she "thought a book should be made out of 'interesting material.'" Only while writing her next novel, "O Pioneers!," did she realize that "taking a ride through a familiar country"--the rural Nebraska of her youth--was "a much more absorbing process." Nevertheless, "Alexander's Bridge" hints at the virtuoso novelist she was later to become, and it's certainly better than many writers achieve in an entire lifetime.

strong first novel by Cather
Alexanders Bridge is the first novel by Willa Cather and it is surprisingly strong for a first novel. The bridge metaphor obviousily plays a major role in the novel and is used for good effect and the dynamics of Alexanders relationships between his wife and with his first love who on reuniting becomes his mistress. His turmoil is well described and his final decision no surprise. At times the symbolism is too much and Cather uses it to dominate the story instead of supplementing it .This is still quite good and shows her genius which became more apparent in later works