Alexander's Bridge

Our last Willa Cather, and her first. (There‘s something poetic about that.) While it is not her masterpiece, there‘s something really genuine here. The struggle of making a difficult choice, or set of choices. Explained better here https://cather.unl.edu/scholarship/catherstudies/4/cs004.wasserman I highlighted some quotes that “spoke Cather” to me, and I‘ll put them in the comments. #catherbuddyread.

Lcsmcat @Graywacke @CarolynM @batsy @jewright @Louise @Sace @Tamra @Suet624 @arubabookwoman @Currey @catebutler @Catherine_Willoughby @crazeedi @mdm139 @Tanisha_A @emilyhaldi @rubyslippersreads @KathyWheeler of course let me know if you want off or on this list. 4y

Lcsmcat “He had preconceived ideas about everything, and his idea about Americans was that they should be engineers or mechanics. He hated them when they presumed to be anything else.” 4y

Lcsmcat “He had expected that success would bring him freedom and power; but it had brought only power that was in itself another kind of restraint.” 4y

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Lcsmcat “There was only one thing that had an absolute value for each individual, and it was just that original impulse, that internal heat, that feeling of one's self in one's own breast.” 4y

Lcsmcat “The mind that society had come to regard as a powerful and reliable machine, dedicated to its service, may for a long time have been sick within itself and bent upon its own destruction.” 4y

Lcsmcat Finally, the diagram from Encyclopedia Britannica helped me see the type of bridge as a metaphor for Alexander‘s life, tension and compression indeed. 4y

Currey @Lcsmcat Great diagram of the bridge, good article and wonderful quotes. I certainly understood the book to be about indecision and the personality split it causes but I did not realize it came from Cathers deciding about London. 4y

CarolynM I'm afraid this book just made me angry. I'm really impatient with the whole "he couldn't help himself" line with infidelity. I thought he treated both women appallingly. How about the choice to behave decently rather than selfishly? (edited) 4y

batsy I've probably taken on too many buddy reads & had a little too much going on in life because I completely forgot to read this 🙈 Hope to squeeze it in within the next day or so and follow the discussion :) 4y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM In life, I totally agree with you. But I thought it worked to make Cather‘s point. Even dying he couldn‘t make up his mind! 4y

Lcsmcat @Currey That was an interesting twist, I thought. We could have had an expat Cather, and how different that writer would have been! 4y

Lcsmcat @batsy It‘s a really quick read. But I get it - I tend to want to join all the book discussions! 4y

Currey @CarolynM Totally agree with you on treatment of women. It would be too simple to say that Hilda represents his youth and Mrs. Alexander all that is strong and stable in maturity but Cather treats Bartley with a fair amount of scorn also don‘t you think? He is never happy with what he has and he is killed by his own failings. 4y

Lcsmcat @Currey He‘s killed by his failings, but also his success. His second-in-command didn‘t halt construction because he felt he had to wait for the boss to make the decision. Had Alexander been less of a big shot, would Philip have pulled the plug on his own? 4y

TEArificbooks @CarolynM I agree with you and almost stopped reading it. @Currey I also wonder if she killed him in the end as a warning to all men to just keep it zipped and don‘t cheat on your wives. And all his back and forth maybe as a warning that you can‘t be happy and will be sick with guilt if you cheat 4y

TEArificbooks I wonder if his job of bridge builder was also a metaphor for deciding between the women and trying to have them both 4y

TEArificbooks Cather made Alexander so despicable and made me hate him so much, I wonder if this happened to her or her mom or someone else important to her 4y

Lcsmcat @mdm139 @CarolynM I have to admit to being surprised at the level of anger against Alexander. Was I happy with his decisions? Absolutely not. But my overwhelming emotion was sorrow. He is a sad little man who wrecked his own life, knows he‘s wrecking it, and can‘t gather the strength to stop. He thought he knew who he was and his identity crumbles before his eyes. I pity the women, but I also pity him. 4y

Graywacke Completely forgot this was today. I‘m reading and now and will comment when I finish. (So far, 1/3 through, I find it interesting how deeply WC is going into his character and hanging around exploring it. Several of your quotes above come from that.) 4y

Louise @Lcsmcat @Graywacke I‘m sorry to be so absent recently. We are trying to organize a move while also dealing with family medical issues, so I‘m not getting much serious reading done. Please keep tagging me so I can jump back in when life gets more normal again. Are we not reading Not Under Forty? Who is the next author? I‘m glad this group is continuing. You all are such thoughtful readers, and I enjoy the discussions! Until soon! 💗 4y

Lcsmcat @Louise I‘m sorry you‘re having a rough month. We miss you, and we‘ll be here when you‘re able to get back. Hugs. 4y

Graywacke My first thoughts on finishing is to think through the parallels between the fatal bridge and his life. I liked how she made the text tense as the book approached the bridge collapse point - his mind reflecting the structural strain and approaching a breaking point. 4y

Louise Thanks, @Lcsmcat. I look forward to getting back to you all and joining book discussions again! 🤓 4y

Graywacke @CarolynM @mdm139 like @Lcsmcat I wasn‘t angry with Bartley. Disappointed with his affair. But there was more going on. I think Wilson seemed to understand him best - he wasn‘t brilliant, but has a inner force that couldn‘t rest and spent a significant part of his life trying to manage that. The book is an interesting psychological study. 4y

Graywacke @Currey @Lcsmcat “killed by his failings” - curious to me how that‘s not precisely true. (Although also it is) He never fully broke down in his head, and he was mostly killed by the accident of time. He wasn‘t around soon enough to see and address the critical and unexpected failure in design. 4y

Graywacke (Or did Hilda cause him to miss the first telegram?) 4y

TEArificbooks @Graywacke I think he missed the telegram because he either was with hilda or thinking about hilda and his wife and his indecision and he dropped the ball and missed the telegram. His mind (if not his body) was else where and it wasn‘t on the job and it ultimately cost him and his workers their lives. 4y

CarolynM @Currey I don't know about scorn, I thought we were being asked to have some sympathy for his dilemma and I really didn't because it was totally the product of his own choices. @mdm139 If I'd thought of that I might have liked the story more, but taking all those other men with him seems a bit extreme for simple karma! I agree with you about his self absorption being the cause of the missed telegram. I think that's probably the moral of the story. 4y

Lcsmcat @Graywacke I agree about Wilson understanding him best. And he was a start at Cather‘s “detached narrator” style. She developed it further, but that was kind of a beginning. 4y

Lcsmcat Tagging everyone again to get a discussion going about what‘s next. We sort of said Wharton, and sort of Not Under Forty, but a lot of you didn‘t express an opinion. What do you want to read together next? (Not to interrupt the discussion about this book, just to remind everyone.) 4y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat trying to come down firmly one way or the other, I found that I can‘t. I‘m ok either way. In my head i like Not Under 40 for completeness and Wharton for discovery. 4y

Louise I have just ordered Not Under Forty because Cather‘s approach to her own writing and the writing of others really interests me. But as the book is a collection of 6 essays, it would then beg the question: Do we read a collection of Cather‘s letters, too? While these are both things that interest me, for the purposes of this group, my vote would be to move on to Wharton. (edited) 4y

Louise I‘m interested in Wharton. Other possibilities would be to explore the nyrb classics (a different author/classic each time) or to read someone like Italo Calvino, whose work is playfully philosophical and mind-bending. Or to read a novel from a different country every month. (edited) 4y

TEArificbooks @Louise there is already a group that reads a novel from a different country every month (and eats food from there) It is called #foodandlit. Please join us, it is quite fun. 4y

TEArificbooks I personally have been picking an classic author to read all their works for years now. I have read Austen and Hemingway and happened to do Cather while the buddy read was going on. I would not mind Wharton, I have only read Ethan Frome. I was also thinking a male author might be good since we just read Cather like Steinbeck, or Fitzgerald. Or the Bronte sisters. Just some other ideas for a new author. 4y

Louise @mdm139 Thanks for letting me know about the #foodandlit group. I‘ve been reading my way around the world very slowly because it‘s so hard to choose just one book from each country. I‘ll take a look at what that group is reading. Sounds fun! You‘ve made some nice suggestions for this group too. There are so many interesting authors whose works would be fun to delve into! 4y

TEArificbooks @Louise the groups is giving a country each month and you can read any books set in that country or by an author from the country. There is no set book we all read, but some books are more popular and a few of us just happen to read the same book. This month is Russia and a few of us are reading the Secrets we Kept. We don‘t hold a discussion like this group. We just post our own reviews on what we read and ate. 4y

Currey I have only read Ethan Frome but that was rather devastating. I could move on to Wharton or another author if others prefer. 4y

Lcsmcat Ok, to try to get everyone‘s opinions on what to read next in one place, here‘s a one-question survey monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/J3VQ9SN Answer it there and I‘ll tabulate the votes. 4y

Louise @mdm139 Thanks for that explanation. I like the freedom in that set-up! 4y

batsy Thank you @Lcsmcat and sorry for the delay! I voted for Wharton (but I'm happy to join in for any other author that gets the vote as long as I'm able to get copies of the books :) 4y

Graywacke @Lcsmcat thanks! (I went with Wharton) 4y

batsy I just finished, & don't feel so much anger for Alexander as sorrow. He did make me impatient at times, but there's a larger issue of him not being able to identify what would make him true to himself & live his life according to those principles, I think. In that sense I also feel sympathy for his wife, because forging a life with someone like that comes at a cost. And then it all came to an abrupt end for both, & she's left with the regrets. 4y

Lcsmcat @batsy I had the same reaction. It was all just so sad. 4y

CarolynM I'm sure I commented re what's next, but it seems not to have posted☹️ I'm going to read Not Under 40 for completeness and I'd love to share it with this group, but I understand if it's not something everyone wants to read. We also talked about reading a Cather biography, which I would definitely be interested in doing. If we're moving on, I voted for Wharton. 4y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM I thought you had posted about NU40 too. Maybe it was on the last story? We‘ve only gotten 4 votes so far and 19 or 20 people are on the tag list, so I‘m hoping for a few more responses before we make a decision. 4y

CarolynM Yes, that's probably it. Sorry for repeating myself. 4y

Lcsmcat @CarolynM No apology necessary! I‘m just happy you expressed an opinion! 😀 4y

Louise @CarolynM @Lcsmcat I just received NU40 in the mail and am definitely interested in reading it. So, though I voted for Wharton in the survey, I am also interested in continuing with Cather. There is a lot of great material on her! I have a book of her letters and would also like to read what her partner wrote about her. Her writing about writing and other writers is good too! But I understand if the group wants to stick to fiction and move on. 4y

CarolynM @Louise I'd be happy to continue Cather buddy reading with you if the group decision is to move on. 4y

Louise @CarolynM I‘d love that! Thanks for suggesting it! 4y

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