Philip Freneau Books

For some unfathomed reason, Phillip Freneau is unknown in modern America. He was the single most important poet of revolutionary America, an unabashed proponent of freedom, and a brilliant chronicler of early America. Those who study American history are negligent if they do not include Freneau in their studies. His poetry is amazingly brilliant and the life studies of the evolving American citizen are wonderful. This particular book includes most of his best works, but there are other works of Freneau's worth perusing,also. Take the time to discover Freneau (and Washington Irving) and get acquainted with America's origins.

WILLA CATHER HAS A UNIQUE WAY OF USING OLD WORLD PROSE IN HER DESCRIPTIONS OF EARLY AMERICAN LIFE. THIS IS A COMPELLING STORY OF LIFE IN THE NEBRASKA FARM COUNTRY AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY. HER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IS VERY RICH IN THAT SHE SUBLIMBLY WEAVES THE LIFE OF CLAUDE HER MAIN CHARACTER THROUGH HIS YOUTH. IT IS AN IMPORTANT WORK BECAUSE CATHER REMINDS US OF HOW IMPORTANT COURAGE IS, AND THAT MORAL, SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL LIFE WAS AND STILL IS IMPORTANT. A FAST READ.

...,but I can make a great city of a small state". Themistocles once said these words that might have been lifted from the thoughts of Claude Wheeler, the central character in Cather's Pulitzer winning novel. Claude is out of place in rural Nebraska, the initial setting of the novel. Only on the battlefields of WWI does he finally come in to his own.

Having read the critical comments of others, I sympathize with some of thier views. Cather did perhaps overreach in this novel. And certainly other of her works deserve more attention (Song of the Lark, My Antonia, Oh Pioneers). But for those of us who would read the technical specs for the muffler of a 73' Pinto if Cather had written them, this book is pure pleasure. Frankly, I can't imagine any of her books deserving less than 5 stars.

I also take exception to comments regarding the weakness of the final chapters. I found Cather's musings on fighting for a cause incredibly stirring. They offered resolution to the soul searching and final triumph of Claude. The epic scope of this story transcends the mere trials of finding oneself and speak to what it means to be human. No mere "fiddling" indeed.

For understandable reasons, "One of Ours" is perhaps Willa Cather's most underrated novel. Published in 1922, only four years after the end of the First World War, it is widely regarded as Cather's "war novel" and, although she visited Europe to research the battle scenes, she admitted the difficulty of writing such a novel when she had no direct personal experience of war itself. Judged simply as a war novel, then, it is certainly lacking in many respects; one won't find realist depictions of military action here. In addition, criticism that she glorified the war and its sacrifices has haunted the book since its publication.

But "One of Ours" is instead a eulogy for her cousin who served as an officer at the Western front. Only very small portions of the book actually occur during battle, and those that do are less about fighting than about a Nebraska boy who finds himself away from home, billeting with a French family and becoming friends with a fellow officer. Like some of her other works, "One of Ours" is a perceptive character sketch of a Midwestern youth struggling to escape the confinement of life on the farm.

The opening chapters follow Claude Wheeler from boyhood to an abortive college career, interrupted when his father insists that he leave school to work on the farm. One of the more absorbing sections describes his informal adoption by members of the Ehrlich family, who host a faux-bohemian parlor for their college-age friends and introduce Claude to Lincoln's social giddiness, intellectual intensity, and cultural pleasures: "He had never heard a family talk so much, or with anything like so much zest." After he returns home, his life begins a less satisfactory course, first by marrying an impossible woman and then by "escaping" to the war in Europe.

Readers and critics have often misunderstood Cather's novel; eighty years later, however, it's hard to see how anyone could say the novel prettifies combat. Instead, she probes, from Claude's perspective, those aspects of the war--camaraderie, adventure, patriotism--that entice young men to risk their lives. She explores the motives of those who serve their country while simultaneously lamenting the results. At the same time, she ridicules many of her usual targets--parochialism, bigotry, and righteousness--and lovingly portrays David Gerhardt, Claude's friend in Europe (who is based on a real-life violinist named David Hochstein). Taken as a whole, then, the novel is both Cather's celebratory tribute to "one of ours" and a grief-stricken remembrance of the tragic effects of war.

Man oh man...the description of Claude and Enid's wedding night and "marriage" is timeless!

Nothing can compare with Cather's O, PIONEERS, or even her SONG OF THE LARK, but this book is pretty darn close. The writing is the same--good--as in her other books, but the one thing I DID like better about ONE OF OURS is the fact that it explores a more psychological aspect of the main character---especially that of someone during the WWI period. As with all Cather's books, they are crafted well. A few may find her a little too wordy, but consider that these were written in a time when there was no TV, few movies, and barely any radio. It's what people wanted back then.