Ready Reference Treatise: A Lost Lady

By Raja Sharma

“A Lost Lady” by Willa Cather was first published in 1923. The story of the novel revolves around Marian Forrester and her husband, Captain Daniel Forrester.

The husband and wife live in the Western town of Sweet Water, along the Transcontinental Railroad.

Although the book has been written in the third person, the major part of the story is presented from the perspective of Niel Herbert, who happens to grow up in Sweet Water. He is the witness to the decline of Mrs. Forrester. He feels very deeply for the lost lady.

With the decline of the lady, the West itself declines from the idealized period of noble pioneers to the age of exploitation in the capitalist society.

Ready Reference Treatise: A Lost Lady
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Major Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Part One
Part Two
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Jan 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310993404

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: A Lost Lady

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: A Lost Lady

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2016 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather was first published in 1923. The story of the novel revolves around Marian Forrester and her husband, Captain Daniel Forrester.

The husband and wife live in the Western town of Sweet Water, along the Transcontinental Railroad.

Although the book has been written in the third person, the major part of the story is presented from the perspective of Niel Herbert, who happens to grow up in Sweet Water. He is the witness to the decline of Mrs. Forrester. He feels very deeply for the lost lady.

With the decline of the lady, the West itself declines from the idealized period of noble pioneers to the age of exploitation in the capitalist society.

The book was published shortly before The Great Gatsby that includes several of the characteristics of the present novel. A Lost Lady is primarily a transcendent of realism.

The novel presents the society in transition from an old culture to a new culture. The idealized past is being gradually left behind, and power struggle in the society is becoming more obvious. Because of this transition, there is a conflict between idealism and roughness of the new society.

A Lost Lady is Willa Cather’s first modernist novel. The novel falls into the category of ‘literary regionalism.’ It happens to be a narrow description of a culture within a national experience.

The; present book was written towards the end of the Age of Reform. The regional elite were being gradually replaced by national elite.

Small town gentry were beginning to lose its power and glory because of the big industry and big business houses in the towns. As the national ceiling on wealth was significantly on the rise, the status of the small town gentry began to collapse during the 20th century.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

The novel is set in a small town called Sweet Water near the Transcontinental Railroad. It lies on the Western plains. The Forresters are the finest family in that small town. Mrs. Forrester has her widespread reputation of