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The Benda Illustrations to My Ántonia: Cather's “Silent” Supplement to Jim Burden's Narrative

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Jean Schwind
Jean Schwind*
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota Minneapolis
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Abstract

The publishing history of My Ántonia emphasizes what is implicit in the novel's numerous references to pictorial art: the pictures in the first edition of My Ántonia are not dispensable decorations but an essential part of Cather's text. The Benda illustrations (which Cather independently commissioned against the strong opposition of her publishers at Houghton Mifflin) reinforce the central fiction of the novel, in which “editor” Cather introduces My Ántonia as the work of “author” Jim Burden. Presenting My Ántonia as a critically edited or “supplemented” text, Cather hints that W. T. Benda's series of drawings is her most important addition to the “substance” of Jim's text. In her introduction to Jim's narrative, Cather suggests that Jim Burden's literary vision is faulty and in need of correction. Cather offers this corrective by providing a pictorial subtext that offsets the romantic bias of My Ántonia and exposes Jim Burden's limitations as an author.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 100 , Issue 1 , January 1985 , pp. 51 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1985

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