Thanks for this -- and for introducing me to the site, to which I've now subscribed. I love these kinds of back stories and revivals or returns to neglected figures. I love the Backlisted podcast for much the same reason (and never pass up an opportunity to talk about it!): they do the same thing with neglected works.
The University of Nebraska Press is a great press. They have an excellent contemporary nonfiction series, and they a publish a great deal of fiction in translation (Antoine Volodine’s Minor Angels is one of my favorite books). Check out their catalogue, you’ll be impressed.
Btw, their main editor, Ladette Randolph, went on to become the editor of the storied literary journal Ploughshares.
I like these looks at obscure publishing figures -- even those who may be deservedly somewhat obscure.
I am a Cather fan, and on those grounds I automatically value the work Virginia Faulkner did. And my copy of My Antonia is a University of Nebraska Press edition, and it's an excellent edition. (The Willa Cather Archive (https://cather.unl.edu/), a University of Nebraska project, is a really great site too -- it was started after Faulkner died, so she didn't have direct involvement in it, but it surely built on a foundation she laid.)
Re "Yes, Faulkner had a harsh personality, especially when it came to her editorial work, but maybe that’s what the job needed." I've worked with plenty of Faulkners in publishing, the ones who cause their assistants to spend half their days crying in the bathroom, and the job never needs people like her.
I don't know if you're a Times subscriber, but if so they have a newsletter you might like which each week recommends two old books. They can be about anything, which is fascinating. I've found a bunch of good reads, such as an amazing short bio of Mayor Daley by Mike Rokyo.
It is crazy how much of literature only still exists because some small number of people said "hey this is valuable and we need to make sure it is preserved." Most people do not care about this sort of thing, and yet somehow it does seem very valuable and important to me!
I love that books like this exist. Thank you for writing about it. I hope the book isn't too laudatory because she sounds like a toxic force in the workplace, and that's not ok and shouldn't have been ok then! Regardless thank you for the interesting post.
This sounds like just my thing! I like biographies that offer a view of history, or a scene, through individual experience. Plus I'm working on one about a woman writer who was well known in the 1940s-1960s and forgotten now, and was Boston married, and I'm now wondering if she ever crossed paths with Faulkner.
I haven't read this biography, but I know much of the Faulkner/Slote lore from years as a Cather scholar, so it's entertaining to hear the third-hand account by way of Bigelow. The Nebraska - New York connection continues. Lots of NY money gets funneled into the historic sites in Red Cloud, which is a fantastic place to visit. The most restored sites for any American author, in part because Cather mined real places and real people extensively for her novels (so there are many sites to be visited) and also because Red Cloud got left behind and most of those properties were acquired for pennies.
Anyone interested in Cather should know about the fantastic site at UNL: https://cather.unl.edu/
Searchable database of her letters, e-texts of many scholarly editions of her novels, speeches, interviews, and more.
She did win the Pulitzer, should have won the Nobel. Cover of TIME. First American woman included in the Encyclopedia Brittanica Great Books collection. Left a top job at McClure’s Magazine to take a chance on being a novelist. The incredible thing (to me) is that Cather keeps getting discovered. She wrote one of the Great American Novels (My Antonia) and has an oeuvre had has held up better than any of her contemporaries.
Truman Capote was a massive fan of Willa Cather. That's the only reason I've heard of her. Surprised you didn't touch on that. I'm looking forward to getting to her catalogue sometime soon.
Lincoln, Nebraska (which I've never visited) is noteworthy, basically, for the University -- and for Charlie Starkweather, with his murderous girlfriend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Starkweather
I'm only a moderate Willa Cather fan, so I'm likely to pass on the book. But this is Yet Another remarkable NK essay, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks a lot.
Thanks for this -- and for introducing me to the site, to which I've now subscribed. I love these kinds of back stories and revivals or returns to neglected figures. I love the Backlisted podcast for much the same reason (and never pass up an opportunity to talk about it!): they do the same thing with neglected works.
Backlisted is great! I find it hard to keep up, but I really like what I have heard.
Naomi, I am over the moon with gratitude. If I get hit by a runaway dump truck this afternoon, I'll die happy. Thank you.
The University of Nebraska Press is a great press. They have an excellent contemporary nonfiction series, and they a publish a great deal of fiction in translation (Antoine Volodine’s Minor Angels is one of my favorite books). Check out their catalogue, you’ll be impressed.
Btw, their main editor, Ladette Randolph, went on to become the editor of the storied literary journal Ploughshares.
I like these looks at obscure publishing figures -- even those who may be deservedly somewhat obscure.
I am a Cather fan, and on those grounds I automatically value the work Virginia Faulkner did. And my copy of My Antonia is a University of Nebraska Press edition, and it's an excellent edition. (The Willa Cather Archive (https://cather.unl.edu/), a University of Nebraska project, is a really great site too -- it was started after Faulkner died, so she didn't have direct involvement in it, but it surely built on a foundation she laid.)
Re "Yes, Faulkner had a harsh personality, especially when it came to her editorial work, but maybe that’s what the job needed." I've worked with plenty of Faulkners in publishing, the ones who cause their assistants to spend half their days crying in the bathroom, and the job never needs people like her.
I don't know if you're a Times subscriber, but if so they have a newsletter you might like which each week recommends two old books. They can be about anything, which is fascinating. I've found a bunch of good reads, such as an amazing short bio of Mayor Daley by Mike Rokyo.
It is crazy how much of literature only still exists because some small number of people said "hey this is valuable and we need to make sure it is preserved." Most people do not care about this sort of thing, and yet somehow it does seem very valuable and important to me!
Can’t wait to read this!
I love that books like this exist. Thank you for writing about it. I hope the book isn't too laudatory because she sounds like a toxic force in the workplace, and that's not ok and shouldn't have been ok then! Regardless thank you for the interesting post.
And Neglected books is amazing too, great site!
This sounds like just my thing! I like biographies that offer a view of history, or a scene, through individual experience. Plus I'm working on one about a woman writer who was well known in the 1940s-1960s and forgotten now, and was Boston married, and I'm now wondering if she ever crossed paths with Faulkner.
I haven't read this biography, but I know much of the Faulkner/Slote lore from years as a Cather scholar, so it's entertaining to hear the third-hand account by way of Bigelow. The Nebraska - New York connection continues. Lots of NY money gets funneled into the historic sites in Red Cloud, which is a fantastic place to visit. The most restored sites for any American author, in part because Cather mined real places and real people extensively for her novels (so there are many sites to be visited) and also because Red Cloud got left behind and most of those properties were acquired for pennies.
Anyone interested in Cather should know about the fantastic site at UNL: https://cather.unl.edu/
Searchable database of her letters, e-texts of many scholarly editions of her novels, speeches, interviews, and more.
It’s incredible that Cather is such a thing! Thanks for commenting.
She did win the Pulitzer, should have won the Nobel. Cover of TIME. First American woman included in the Encyclopedia Brittanica Great Books collection. Left a top job at McClure’s Magazine to take a chance on being a novelist. The incredible thing (to me) is that Cather keeps getting discovered. She wrote one of the Great American Novels (My Antonia) and has an oeuvre had has held up better than any of her contemporaries.
https://ianmcniff.substack.com/p/why-i-write-this?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=2lo6de
Truman Capote was a massive fan of Willa Cather. That's the only reason I've heard of her. Surprised you didn't touch on that. I'm looking forward to getting to her catalogue sometime soon.
Lincoln, Nebraska (which I've never visited) is noteworthy, basically, for the University -- and for Charlie Starkweather, with his murderous girlfriend: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Starkweather
I'm only a moderate Willa Cather fan, so I'm likely to pass on the book. But this is Yet Another remarkable NK essay, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks a lot.