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    A Study Guide for Willa Sibert Cather's "The Diamond Mine"
    A Study Guide for Willa Sibert Cather's "The Diamond Mine"
    A Study Guide for Willa Sibert Cather's "The Diamond Mine"
    Ebook43 pages31 minutes

    A Study Guide for Willa Sibert Cather's "The Diamond Mine"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Willa Sibert Cather's "The Diamond Mine," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateJul 15, 2016
    ISBN9781535836227
    A Study Guide for Willa Sibert Cather's "The Diamond Mine"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Willa Sibert Cather's "The Diamond Mine" - Gale

      4

      The Diamond Mine

      Willa Cather

      1916

      Introduction

      Willa Cather’s short story The Diamond Mine was first published in McClure’s magazine in 1916, although it almost was not published at all. The story was a blatant, fictionalized account of the life of Lillian Nordica, an American soprano, and publishers feared a lawsuit. The story was reprinted four years later in the collection Youth and the Bright Medusa, which featured other stories about the lives of artists in the early twentieth century. At the time the story was written, the worldwide popularity of opera singers and other artists was increasing, and many stars, including women, were becoming rich and celebrated. However, as Cather illustrates with her opera singer, Cressida Garnet in The Diamond Mine, the money and success can inspire envy and hatred in an artist’s family and friends. This, along with the emotional toil inherent in a publicized art career, can drain a person. Critics have interpreted the story as a reinforcement of Cather’s belief that art should be done for art’s sake, and not for fame or money.

      This art theme is prevalent in many of Cather’s other works, including three other stories in Youth and the Bright Medusa: A Gold Slipper, Scandal, and Coming, Aphrodite! In addition, The Diamond Mine is often compared to Cather’s novel, The Song of the Lark (1915), which also concerns an opera singer.

      Although many critics have praised her stories that deal with artists, Cather is best-known for her stories about life on the Nebraska prairie, including her 1913 novel, O Pioneers! and One of Ours (1922), the latter of which earned the Pulitzer Prize. A current copy of The Diamond Mine can be found in Cather’s Collected Stories, published by Vintage Classics in 1992.

      Author Biography

      Willa Cather was born on December 7, 1873 in Back Creek Valley, Virginia. Her family resided in this state for the first decade of her life, then relocated to Red Cloud, Nebraska. It was not until her family’s move that Cather began attending school regularly. At this time in her life, she showed a keen interest in science and accompanied a local doctor on his house calls, eventually assisting him with his patients. Cather intended to become a physician when she grew up. During this time, she also made some decisive choices about her identity and adopted a masculine appearance and manner. She was also known to sign her name as William Cather, Jr., or William Cather M.D.

      In addition to her science and medical interests, Cather also displayed a talent for acting and writing. She often wrote plays and recitations to perform for her family’s

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