Reviewed by:

• Cather and Opera by David McKay Powell
• Maria Mackas

Cather and Opera delivers much more than the title implies. Though David McKay Powell presents comprehensive analyses of the author's references to opera and of her employment of operatic devices—from her early short stories to her later novels—he also offers insightful commentary about Cather's life and work. Cather scholars need not have an interest in opera to find the book fascinating, though opera aficionados will appreciate Powell's vast knowledge of the art form's history in America and nuanced discussions of various operas and composers. (If you don't know opera, [End Page 286] keep a dictionary handy for terms like "verismo" and "coloratura soprano.")

After a chapter providing an overview of Cather's multilayered relationship with opera, followed by a chapter on opera in the United States during Cather's time, the book's remaining six chapters chronologically explore the author's work through an opera glass lens. Cather mentioned forty-seven operas in her fiction, with operatic references in nine of her twelve novels and about half of her short stories. Powell closely examines why Cather mentions specific operas and oratorios in her fiction, and why she fashions some novels using operatic structures.

A recurring exploration is the parallel between Cather's fiction and opera in the United States, which both grapple with "the apparent dissonance between high culture and common folk" (30). Powell writes that "opera is a self-consciously emotional medium housed in a self-consciously sophisticated cultural environment. Likewise, Cather's work tends simultaneously to exploit both the primitive and the refined. Both Cather's work and opera can be critical conundrums" (3). Powell is adept at helping the reader relate to these "critical conundrums," drawing relatable parallels to make his points and make the text accessible. For example, when discussing "The Bohemian Girl" and the reason that Cather's title has significance relating to composer Michael William Balfe's Irish Romantic opera of the same name, he writes, "the idea that Cather titled 'The Bohemian Girl' as a throwaway reference or as simple irony would be akin to an author today titling a novel The Empire Strikes Back and not expecting audiences to consider, on a page-to-page level, the reference to the film" (69–70). Similarly, in describing Cather's only recurring character, Kitty Ayrshire, who was modeled on soprano Mary Garden, he writes, "she is a fascinating, witty personality—Kate Hepburn might well have cited her as a character influence" (74).

Powell also explores "Cather's fixation on the relationship between art, the artist, and society," noting that "whereas most artistic endeavors remained male-dominated, operatic performance was distinctly the realm of the female superstar" (71–72). He writes that no other author focused as predominantly on the prima donna [End Page 287] as a literary type, citing Cather characters Selma Schumann in "A Singer's Romance," Thea Kronborg in The Song of the Lark, Cressida Garnet in "The Diamond Mine," Kitty Ayrshire in "Scandal" and "A Gold Slipper," and Eden Bower in "Coming, Eden Bower!"

In addition to presenting perceptive analysis, Powell offers useful documentation; the book includes two appendices, one listing the operas and oratorios mentioned in Cather's fiction alphabetically by composer, the other listing them chronologically by the author's works.

Powell's conclusion features the story of Truman Capote's chance meeting with Cather at the New York Society Library and their subsequent dinner. The story was told in Capote's last work, written the day before he died, in 1984 at age fifty-nine. Powell writes:

On the eve of his death, Cather was on Capote's mind. He remembered her as she tends to be remembered: wholesome, broad-faced, and countrified. A prairie gal with a Western accent. Approaching her apartment before the dinner party, Capote recollected, he "was still amazed to think Willa Cather wore sable coats and occupied a Park Avenue apartment. (I had always imagined her as living on a quiet...

审阅者：

• 大卫·麦凯·鲍威尔的《凯瑟与歌剧》
• 玛丽亚·马卡斯

凯瑟和歌剧所传达的内容远比标题所暗示的要多。尽管大卫·麦凯·鲍威尔对作者对歌剧的引用以及她对歌剧手段的运用进行了全面的分析——从她早期的短篇小说到后来的小说——但他也对凯瑟的生活和工作提供了富有洞察力的评论。凯瑟学者不需要对歌剧感兴趣，也会发现这本书引人入胜，尽管歌剧爱好者会欣赏鲍威尔对美国艺术形式历史的丰富知识以及对各种歌剧和作曲家的细致讨论。（如果您不懂歌剧，[完第 286 页]请在手边准备一本字典，查找“verismo”和“coloratura soprano”等术语。）

在概述凯瑟与歌剧的多层次关系的一章和凯瑟时代美国歌剧的一章之后，本书的其余六章按时间顺序通过歌剧镜头探索了作者的作品。凯瑟在她的小说中提到了四十七部歌剧，其中十二部小说中有九部以及大约一半的短篇小说都提到了歌剧。鲍威尔仔细研究了为什么凯瑟在她的小说中提到了特定的歌剧和清唱剧，以及为什么她用歌剧结构来塑造一些小说。

一个反复出现的探索是凯瑟的小说和美国歌剧之间的相似之处，两者都在努力解决“高雅文化与普通民间之间明显的不和谐”（30）。鲍威尔写道，“歌剧是一种自觉的情感媒介，存在于一个自觉复杂的文化环境中。同样，凯瑟的作品倾向于同时利用原始和精致。凯瑟的作品和歌剧都可能是关键难题”（3） 。鲍威尔善于帮助读者理解这些“关键难题”，通过进行相关的类比来阐明他的观点并使文本易于理解。例如，在讨论《波西米亚女孩》以及凯瑟的标题与作曲家迈克尔·威廉·巴尔夫的同名爱尔兰浪漫主义歌剧相关的意义时，他写道，“凯瑟将《波西米亚女孩》命名为一次性参考的想法或者简单的讽刺就像今天的作者将小说命名为《帝国反击战》，却没有期望观众逐页考虑对电影的引用”（69-70）。同样，在描述凯瑟唯一反复出现的角色基蒂·艾尔希尔（Kitty Ayrshire）（以女高音玛丽·加登为原型）时，他写道，“她是一个迷人、机智的人物——凯特·赫本很可能认为她对角色产生了影响”（74）。

鲍威尔还探讨了“凯瑟对艺术、艺术家和社会之间关系的关注”，并指出“虽然大多数艺术活动仍然由男性主导，但歌剧表演显然是女性超级巨星的领域”(71-72)。他写道，没有其他作家像《歌手的浪漫史》中的凯瑟角色塞尔玛·舒曼、《云雀之歌》中的西娅·克朗伯格、《钻石》中的克雷西达·加内特那样，主要关注女主角[完第 287 页]这一文学类型。我的”，《丑闻》和《金鞋》中的基蒂·艾尔希尔，以及《来了，伊登·鲍尔》中的伊登·鲍尔。

除了提供敏锐的分析之外，鲍威尔还提供了有用的文档；该书包括两个附录，一个附录按作曲家的字母顺序列出凯瑟小说中提到的歌剧和清唱剧，另一个附录则按作者作品的时间顺序列出。

鲍威尔的结论讲述了杜鲁门·卡波特在纽约协会图书馆与凯瑟的偶然会面以及随后的晚餐的故事。卡波特的最后一部作品讲述了这个故事，写于他 1984 年 59 岁去世的前一天。鲍威尔写道：

在他去世前夕，凯瑟一直在卡波特的脑海里。他对她的记忆就像人们通常对她的记忆一样：健康、宽脸、乡土。带有西方口音的草原姑娘。卡波特回忆道，在晚宴前接近她的公寓时，他“仍然惊讶地发现威拉·凯瑟穿着貂皮大衣，住在公园大道的一套公寓里。（我一直想象她住在一个安静的……