Let this beautifully written bildungsroman be your students introduction to the (somewhat) under appreciated Willa Cather.

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather

(originally created for an 11^th grade class in American literature)

Topics to think about as you are reading Part One of the novel. You may use them as journal topics:

1. As you will notice, the novel (or novella) does not begin in a typical way with the story proper. What seems to be the function of the opening chapter?
2. The title, of course, refers to Marian Forrester, yet the story follows Niel Herbert’s growth from boyhood to young adulthood. To what extent is the story about Marian? About Niel? How are their stories intertwined?
3. Sweet Water is said to be a fictionalized version of Willa Cather’s own hometown in Nebraska. In what ways is life there idyllic (see especially chapter two)? Which individuals/forces threaten this paradise?
4. Why does Marian mean so much to Niel? What is the significance of the line from

Shakespeare—“lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds”—that Niel utters after the “discovery scene”?

1. What was your reaction to how that scene (at the end of chapter seven) is depicted?
2. What kind of man is Captain Forrester? How does he differ from the young codirectors of the failed Denver savings bank (chapter seven)? How is this novel a story about the passing of a generation?
3. Why does Niel decide to become an architect? How is he a product of Sweet Water? How is he an outsider?
4. As in all of Cather’s novels, nature in A Lost Lady is much more than simply the setting, or backdrop, of the story. Do you agree?