O PIONEERS

Willa Cather's O PIONEERS!, first published in 1913, tells the story of Alexandra Bergson, the daughter of a Swedish pioneering family, who successfully takes over the management of the family farm upon her father's death. The story encompasses Alexandra's difficult relationships with her brothers, Oscar and Lou, her love for a neighbor, Carl Lindstrom, and the tragic romance between her youngest brother, Emil, and a married woman. The setting is as important as the events of the story, however. Alexandra's near-obsessive love for the huge sky and vast plains of Nebraska is part of what fuels ...