My Antonia: A Big Read Documentary
From: National Endowment for the Arts
Series: The Big Read
Length: 28:58
The program features commentary by Colin Powell, Kurt Andersen, and James McBride, among others.
In My Antonia, the adult narrator, Jim Burden, remembers his childhood through the memory of his friend, Ántonia Shimerda, a Bohemian immigrant. As Cather herself did, ten-year-old Jim has left Virginia for Nebraska by train and is shocked by the barren prairie on his first wagon ride. Unlike Cather, Jim is an orphan joining his paternal grandparents on the Nebraska Divide.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
The program features commentary by Colin Powell, Kurt Andersen, and James McBride, among others.
In My Antonia, the adult narrator, Jim Burden, remembers his childhood through the memory of his friend, Ántonia Shimerda, a Bohemian immigrant. As Cather herself did, ten-year-old Jim has left Virginia for Nebraska by train and is shocked by the barren prairie on his first wagon ride. Unlike Cather, Jim is an orphan joining his paternal grandparents on the Nebraska Divide.
Transcript
Willa Cather’s My Ántonia
CD Script
May 2009
Jo Reed Welcome to The Big Read, a program created by the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The largest reading program in American history, the Big Read is designed to unite communities through great literature and encourage each American to discover the transformative joys of reading. Today, we’ll discuss Willa Cather’s beloved pioneer novel, My Ántonia.
Russian accordion up...
Garrison Keillor [reads from Chapter 1, pages 11-12]
There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made. No, there was nothing but land—slightly undulating, I knew, because often our wheels ground against the brake as we went down into a hollow and lurched up again on the other side. I had the feeling that the world was left behind, that we had got o...
Read the full transcript
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music from Dumky Trio | Performed by Joachim Trio; Composed by Antonin Dvorak | Dvorak’s Dumky Trio. | Naxos of America | 00:00 | |
| Music from American Quartet | Vlach Quartet | Dvorak’s American Quartet. | Naxos of America | 00:00 | |
| Original accordion music | Lee Blaske | 00:00 |
Additional Credits
Written and produced by Dan Stone. Special thanks to Philip Brunelle, Ted Libbey, Molly Thomas-Hicks, Erika Koss, Kate Kaiser, and Adam Kampe.
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