James Woodress goes beyond previous biographers in drawing on some fifteen hundred letters, interviews, speeches, and reminiscences. He separates much fact from fiction and takes into account the ever-growing body of Cather criticism.

The author of My Ántonia and Death Comes for the Archbishop was in love with life: here are her passions, prejudices, and quirks of personality. Thoroughly grounded in Cather's writings, which were autobiographical to an uncommon degree, Willa Cather: A Literary Life is likely to stand as the definitive biography of her for years to come.

James Woodress, a professor of English at the University of California at Davis, is the author of Willa Cather: Her Life and Art and other books.

"The most cogent, balanced biography of Cather to date, one that explores her many dimensions as a journalist, magazine editor, teacher, and novelist. . . . Altogether, this smoothly written, richly detailed biography augments Willa Cather's claims to literary greatness."—New York Times Book Review

"Woodress . . . does a model job of . . . letting Cather shine forth as author and woman, an undertaking justified by both her status as an indisputably major American writer and the fact that her stories and novels closely reflected her life experience."—Publishers Weekly

"Well written, unflagging in its interest, and warmly sympathetic, this biography is a worthy complement to Cather's distinguished work. Highly recommended."—Library Journal