A Wagner Matinee

I will start out this blog by saying that I was not ready to jump to the Realism period. I had not really heard of the author we are learning about now. I was not sure what to do because I did not know how I would figure out how to find out about this author. So, I looked in the beginning part of the story and read about Willa Cather. Here is a quote from the beginning sentence, "Readers best remember Willa Cather for her portrayal of the pioneer life and landscape" (Cather 519). I typed this quote down because it makes sense as to what Emerson had focused on. Emerson wrote a story on nature and how the mind works. (Emerson) and that is what Cather also wrote about in her stories. That is a key characteristic that each one of these authors shared in part of their stories.

Now for the second part of my blog I will talk about the story "A Wagner Matinee." In the beginning of the story, the author shares with the reader that she received a letter from her Aunt Georgiana (Cather 521). He is very excited at first and gives good description on how excited he is to have received this letter. Also coming with her excitement was a nervous feeling because he wanted to make sure that he showed his Aunt on how good of a person he will be (Cather 522). I have never had that problem because one, I do not live on my own, and two I really do not care on how much a person thinks of me. Here is a quote from the story, "I felt suddenly a stranger to all the present conditions of my existence, wholly ill at ease and out of place amid the familiar surroundings of my study" (Cather 521). This quote shows how nervous he was to think that his Aunt might not approve of where he is living. So since his Aunt is coming over, he decides to buy opera tickets because he knows she loves music and always will. Emerson and Cather are alike because Cather brought music as an element and brought it to a whole new meaning while on the other hand Emerson brought nature as an element and also brought that to a new meaning. Both of these writers were great writers of their time.

Bibliography

Willa, Cather. “A Wagner Matinée.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 521-526. Print.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Nature." Ralph Waldo Emerson Texts. Web. 06 Feb. 2012.