Death Comes for the Archbishop / Willa Cather

 

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a gorgeous novel, just luxuriously beautiful. Cather describes the land and people of New Mexico with great affection. Never hurried, her gentle prose captures the life of a sensitive, intellectual man, Bishop La Tour, who accepts a life of hardship in order to bring Catholicism to the American frontier. His dedication, sincerity, and persistence are all admirable.

I couldn't help but think of Zane Grey's fiction while I was reading this book. He also described the landscape in loving detail. Unlike Grey, Cather believed in the persistence of native populations and cultures and saw the value in them. Her tale is romantic, but not in the personal sense. There are no romantic relationships like those that provide the backbone of Grey's novels. The main connection is between the Bishop and his Church. Cather values the church, while I don't remember much religion in Grey's work, except for the unfortunate Mormons who often became his reviled bad guys.

I found myself feeling strong nostalgia at the book's end, tearing up as death came for the Archbishop. Following his friend and partner in the work, Joseph, and most of his other friends. The gathering of the community made me both happy and sad.

There are no dramatic conflicts, just the basics of religious life in a frontier area. People rarely speak of death in our time, but death comes to us all. Cather shows us a man who has lived his life well and faces his death with calm and dignity.


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