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Neighbor Rosicky | Introduction

‘‘Neighbour Rosicky,’’ written in 1928 and collected in the volume Obscure Destinies in 1932, is generally considered one of Willa Cather’s most successful short stories. In it, she returns to the subject matter that informed her most important novels: the immigrant experience on the Nebraska prairie. Unlike My Antonia and O Pioneers!, two novels which compellingly explore the frontier experiences of young and vigorous immigrant women, ‘‘Neighbour Rosicky’’ is a character study of Anton Rosicky, a man who, facing the approach of death, reflects on the meaning and value of his life. In tracing Rosicky’s journey from Bohemia to Nebraska, Cather explores the intimate relationship between people and the places they inhabit. Though the story considers the pain of separations, ‘‘Neighbour Rosicky’’ also celebrates the small triumphs of life. Written not long after the death of her father, the story reflects a new maturity in Cather’s treatment of loss. Critics often remark on the story’s graceful acceptance of death’s inevitability. Like many of the novels and stories that Cather wrote in the decades after World War I, ‘‘Neighbour Rosicky’’ also criticizes the unthinking materialism that marked the 1920s. Though some early critics found her approach sentimental, critics in later decades tended to applaud Cather’s portrait of an immigrant farmer whose honesty, integrity, and emotional depth help him achieve a meaningful and happy life for himself and for his family.

Neighbor Rosicky Summary

‘‘Neighbour Rosicky’’ begins at the office of Dr. Ed Burleigh where Anton Rosicky learns that he has a bad heart. Readers also learn that Rosicky, a farmer on the Nebraska prairie, is a native of Bohemia, a region in what is today Slovakia.... » Complete Neighbor Rosicky Summary

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1. Neighbor Rosicky: Introduction
2. Neighbor Rosicky: Summary
   1. Part 1 Summary
   2. Part 2 Summary
   3. Part 3 Summary
   4. Part 4 Summary
   5. Part 5 Summary
   6. Part 6 Summary
3. Neighbor Rosicky: Willa Cather Biography
4. Neighbor Rosicky: Themes
5. Neighbor Rosicky: Style
6. Neighbor Rosicky: Historical Context
7. Neighbor Rosicky: Critical Overview
8. Neighbor Rosicky: Character Analysis
   1. Anton Rosicky
   2. Polly Rosicky
   3. Rudolph Rosicky
   4. Other Characters
9. Neighbor Rosicky: Essays and Criticism
   1. Life and Death
   2. Cather’s Complex Tale of a Simple Man, ‘Neighbour Rosicky'
   3. Observation and Narration in Willa Cather’s Obscure Destinies
   4. Harmony in "Neighbour Rosicky"
   5. The Agrarian Mode in Cather’s ‘Neighbour Rosicky
10. Neighbor Rosicky: Compare and Contrast
11. Neighbor Rosicky: Topics for Further Study
12. Neighbor Rosicky: What Do I Read Next?
13. Neighbor Rosicky: Bibliography and Further Reading
14. Neighbor Rosicky: Pictures
15. Copyright

Related Topics

1. Willa Cather

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