The New York Times reports on publication (finally) of The Selected Letters of Willa Cather, the first time much of her correspondence will be available publicly:
For scholars it’s a major literary event, a chance at last to flesh out the understanding of a writer often seen as a remote bluestocking in big skirts and old-fashioned hats. Cather, the letters reveal, was a powerfully engaged literary businesswoman who corresponded with H. L. Mencken, F. Scott Fitzgerald and other notables of the day — and once playfully took those skirts off, as a charming youthful letter recounts, to clamber down a windmill in a thunderstorm.
I myself am particularly interested in any correspondence she may have had with Hamlin Garland. This also makes me—a fellow Nebraskan—want to get out to Red Cloud and visit the Cather-related sights.
Update: Page Turner has a nice essay about what’s actually in the letters, including a decent discussion of the controversy over Cather’s sexuality. Meanwhile, at my alma mater, there is a great video series on the letters.