Book Notes: Willa Cather, a writer for the ages

Despite being written nearly a century ago, The Professor’s House by Willa Cather seems timeless. The main theme could easily apply today in its comparison of how much or little we value the natural world compared to materialism and scientific advancement. Herb Sherer led a discussion of the novel, published in 1925, for the Book Club’s July meeting.

The protagonist, a Midwest professor named Napoleon Godfrey St. Peter, feels without purpose after completing his magnum opus, a monumental work on the history of the American Southwest.

His book has brought him fame and sufficient wealth for his family to move to a new, larger home; but he lags behind. After completing what he feels is his life’s work, he hangs on to the past and prefers to distance himself from his family by keeping his old study and spending much time in solitude.

Cather illustrates the impact of modern society and science on members of the professor’s immediate family, in particular their relationship with the secondary character of the book, the professor’s young colleague, Tom Outland, a brilliant scientist, mathematician, and archeologist. Cather’s novel also contrasts the history of the people of the American Southwest to the modern life of the 1920s.

Through the book’s characters, Cather gives us pause to explore the impact of technology and materialism on our own lives and encourages us to engage in solitude and reflection on the natural world. To quote Cather, “Art and religion (they are the same thing, in the end, of course) have given man the only happiness he has ever had.”
—Mary Jane Towle, Book Club member

Book Notes: Praise for A Gentleman in Moscow

In 1922 Count Alexander Rostov is put under house arrest in the elegant Hotel Metropol in Moscow. He is to remain there for the rest of his life. His crime: being an aristocrat at the time of the Russian revolution.

Count Rostov’s many friends on the Metropol staff enrich his dismal situation, and through his kind, respectful interactions with both staff and guests he forges bonds that will serve him well. He befriends a young girl who leads him on adventures throughout the secret back passages of the hotel. He enters into a love affair with a beautiful actress and develops friendships with a rooftop beekeeper, an orchestra conductor, and a Kremlin official. The count’s job as a waiter enables him to spy on the Bolsheviks and provide information to an American journalist.

UMRA’s book group members loved his “glass-half-full” attitude and gentlemanly treatment of all the persons with whom he interacted during his decades-long stay at the Metropol. There are snippets of historical facts about the years after the revolution and several infamous characters appear in the pages (Lenin, Trotsky, Khrushchev). However, this is not a history lesson. It’s a book about the qualities of a gentleman who deals with dire circumstances and comes out on top.

—Stephanie Daily, Book Club member