Death Comes for the Archbishop (Identities and Issues in Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Willa Cather
- First Published: 1927
- Genres: Long fiction, Historical fiction, Character study
- Subjects: Nineteenth century, Missions or missionaries, Religion, Southwest, Catholics or Catholic Church, Mexico or Mexicans, Clergy, Priests, Deserts, Frontier or pioneer life, Religious life, Cathedrals
- Locales: Canada, Arizona, New Mexico, Southwest (U.S.)
The Work
Willa Cather populates Death Comes for the Archbishop with characters who seem features of the landscape. They have depth but they represent types rather than particular personalities. They do not develop and change so much as they reflect a movement by the Catholic church in the mid-1800’s to reinforce its teachings and to locate potential converts.
One New Mexico missionary, Jean Latour, is reflective and intellectual. Another, Joseph Vaillant, is impulsive, enthusiastic, adept at garnering funds for the cause. Latour has admirers, but Vaillant is...
[The entire page is 1155 words long]
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