The Bohemian Girl (short story)

1912 short story by Willa Cather

"The Bohemian Girl"

Short story by Willa Cather
Country| United States
Language| English
Genre(s)| Short story
Publication
Published in| McClure's
Publication type| Magazine
Publication date| August 1912

"The Bohemian Girl" is a short story by Willa Cather. It was written when Cather was living in Cherry Valley, New York, with Isabelle McClung whilst Alexander's Bridge was being serialised in McClure's.[1] It was first published in McClure's in August 1912.[2]

## Plot summary

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Nils Ericson gets off a train in his hometown. He gets a ride in a carriage to his family home, where his mother greets him after many years apart. He goes for a walk with his little brother, Eric. The next day, the two brothers talk about Lou Sandberg's suicide - Nils dismisses the old man for his folly.

Nils visits Clara, who asks him if he has the second will his father wrote that bequeathed him some land. His mother drives him home and expresses her disapproval of Clara's father, Joe, for being a saloon-keeper. Later, Clara meets Nils outside the saloon. He tells her he came back to see her because he loves her. She gallops off. Some time later, her father invites her and Nils along for wine and music. Later, at the Ericsons's barnraising, Nils follows Clara down to the cellar, then dances with her and says they should run away together. On her way back home from her father's one night, the two lovers run away.

A year after the couple's departure, Eric is on a train bound for New York City where he is to board a ship to join his brother and Clara in Bergen, Norway. Nils has been corresponding with Clara's father, Joe. However, Eric decides to stop at Red Oak, Iowa and return home to his mother, as he doesn't want to leave her alone in the house. Once he is back, she says she has been milking the cows instead of asking a local boy to do the job for her: she did not want people to talk. Mother and son are happily reunited.

## Characters

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* Nils Ericson
* The agent at the train station
* A driver in a carriage
* Preacher Ericson, Nils' late father
* Lady Ericson, Nil's mother
* Olaf Ericson, Cousin Henrick's son's guardian. He farms his land and 'puts the proceeds out at compound interest for them'.
* Mrs Otto
* Hilda
* Eric, Nils' little brother
* Cousin Henrick
* Peter
* Anders
* Lou Sandberg, a local who committed suicide
* Clara Olaf, Olaf's wife. Her maiden name is Vavrika. She doesn't get out of bed until 8 a.m., which is considered late in this community.
* Johanna Vavrika, Clara's aunt, fifty years old
* Joe Vavrika, a saloon-keeper and Clara's father
* Evelina Oleson, a girl who went to school with Nils and Clara
* Peter Oleson
* Yense Nelson
* Eli Swanson
* Nick Hermanson
* Fritz Sweiheart, a German carpenter
* Olena Yenson
* Fritz Oberlie

## Allusions to other works

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* The Bible is briefly mentioned.
* Cather included lines from Michael Balfe's The Bohemian Girl.[3]

## Literary significance and criticism

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It has been suggested that the story was influenced by Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary, as the barn-raising bears similarities to the wedding scene in Flaubert's novel[4]

## References

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1. ^ Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, University of Nebraska Press; Rev Ed edition, 1 Nov 1970, 'Introduction' by Mildred R. Bennett, page xxiv
2. ^ Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, University of Nebraska Press; Rev Ed edition, 1 Nov 1970, page 77
3. ^ Giannone, Richard, Music in Willa Cather's Fiction, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1968, pp. 55-56
4. ^ Brown, E.K., Willa Cather: A Critical Biography, New York: Knopf, 1953, p. 164

## External links

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* Full Text at the Willa Cather Archive

* v
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Willa Cather

Novels|

* Alexander's Bridge
* O Pioneers!
* The Song of the Lark
* My Ántonia
* One of Ours
* A Lost Lady
* The Professor's House
* My Mortal Enemy
* Death Comes for the Archbishop
* Shadows on the Rock
* Lucy Gayheart
* Sapphira and the Slave Girl
* Hard Punishments

Short stories|

* "Peter"
* "Lou, the Prophet"
* "The Elopement of Allen Poole"
* "A Tale of the White Pyramid"
* "A Son of the Celestial"
* "The Clemency of the Court"
* "The Fear That Walks by Noonday"
* "On the Divide"
* "A Night at Greenway Court"
* "Tommy, the Unsentimental"
* "The Princess Baladina – Her Adventure"
* "The Count of Crow's Nest"
* "The Burglar's Christmas"
* "The Strategy of the Were-Wolf Dog"
* "A Resurrection"
* "The Prodigies"
* "Nanette: An Aside"
* "The Way of the World"
* "The Westbound Train"
* "Eric Hermannson's Soul"
* "The Dance at Chevalier's"
* "The Sentimentality of William Tavener"
* "The Affair at Grover Station"
* "A Singer's Romance"
* "The Conversion of Sum Loo"
* "Jack-a-Boy"
* "El Dorado: A Kansas Recessional"
* "The Professor's Commencement"
* "The Treasure of Far Island"
* "A Death in the Desert"
* "A Wagner Matinee"
* "The Sculptor's Funeral"
* "Flavia and Her Artists"
* "The Garden Lodge"
* "The Marriage of Phaedra"
* "Paul's Case"
* "The Namesake"
* "The Profile"
* "The Willing Muse"
* "Eleanor's House"
* "On the Gulls' Road"
* "The Enchanted Bluff"
* "The Joy of Nelly Deane"
* "Behind the Singer Tower"
* "The Bohemian Girl"
* "Consequences"
* "The Bookkeeper's Wife"
* "The Diamond Mine"
* "A Gold Slipper"
* "Ardessa"
* "Scandal"
* "Her Boss"
* "Coming, Eden Bower!"
* "Uncle Valentine"
* "Double Birthday"
* "Neighbour Rosicky"
* "Two Friends"
* "The Old Beauty"
* "Before Breakfast"
* "The Best Years"

Short story
collections|

* The Troll Garden
* Youth and the Bright Medusa
* Obscure Destinies
* The Old Beauty and Others
* Five Stories

Collection of poems|

* April Twilights

Collaborations|

* The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science

Adaptations|

* A Lost Lady (1934 film)
* O Pioneers! (1992 film)
* My Antonia (1995 film)
* The Song of the Lark (2001 film)
* O Pioneers! (2009 opera)

Related|

* Willa Cather Birthplace
* Willa Cather House
* Edith Lewis
* Willa Cather Foundation
* WILLA Literary Award

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