European Tradition and the Pioneering Women of the New World
European Tradition and the Pioneering Women of the New World

Summary/Abstract: This paper attempts at dealing with Willa Cather’s treatment of women characters from the perspective of the survival of the European tradition in the New World. As the title suggests it, we chose to clarify an issue of particular importance - the aspect of pioneering connected to the nature and experiences of Cather’s women. It can be argued that, since Willa Cather was herself a pioneer both in her beliefs about the art of writing and in the subjects, techniques and style of her writings, she transferred this quality to the women protagonists of her novels. Therefore, pioneering becomes a synonym of survival, art and - paradoxically - tradition. The paper will explore these particular aspects, attempting to demonstrate that, in an environment as remote as the Quebec of the seventeenth century, pioneering is the art of continuation of a culture through the act of imprinting the old ways of the European tradition in the medium of the New World. It deals with the satisfactions and restrictions of homemaking and with the problem of dependence vs. independence of a woman involved in this plot which connects pioneering to tradition.

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