My Antonia

My Ántonia was Cather’s first novel to be considered a masterpiece—an evaluation that still holds true today. Published in 1918, the book established her reputation. Cather continued the focus on place and the emphasis on working-class people that had been ongoing in American literature since the local color movement of the late 1860s, but she brought the focus to a locale—America’s High Plains--that previously had not been explored in such depth. The novel’s characters are as important as setting, however, and Cather included social commentary on women’s rights as well as veiled references to sex.