"A Death in the Desert" is a short story by

Willa Cather Willa Sibert Cather (; born Wilella Sibert Cather; December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947) was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including '' O Pioneers!'', '' The Song of the Lark'', and '' My Ántonia''. In 192 ...

. It was first published in '' The Scribner's'' in January 1903.

Plot summary

Everett is on a train from

Holdrege, Nebraska Holdrege is a city in Phelps County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 5,495 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Phelps County. The Nebraska Prairie Museum is located in Holdrege. History Holdrege was established in 1883 whe ...

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming, as well as the county seat of Laramie County, Wyoming, Laramie County, with 65,132 residents, per the 2020 US Census. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne ...

. He is a man that looks like his older prodigy brother Adriance—this similarity haunts him throughout the entire novel and robs him of his own personality. He will always be Adriance's brother.

Characters

*Everett Hilgarde *Charley Gaylord *Two girls on the train. *Adriance Hilgarde *Katharine Gaylord *Maggie Gaylord *The Parson *Diana, a chaste actress in New York City.

Allusions to other works

*Katharine Gaylord mentions Richard Wagner's ''

Das Rheingold ''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National ...

'',

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is ...

's ''

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. It traces Western civilization (as well as the Islamic and Mongolian conquests) from the height of the Roman Empire to th ...

'', and Heinrich Heine's ''Florentine Nights''. Moreover,

Gussie Davis Gussie Lord Davis (December 3, 1863 – October 18, 1899) was an American songwriter born in Dayton, Ohio. Davis was one of America's earliest successful African-American music artists, the first black songwriter to become famous on Tin Pan Alley ...

' song "In the Baggage Coach Ahead" is mentioned - albeit 'in' is elided.

Literary significance and criticism

It has been argued that the title of the story was influenced by Willa Cather's reading of Robert Browning. Allusions to

Alexandre Dumas, fils Alexandre Dumas (; 27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was a French author and playwright, best known for the romantic novel ''La Dame aux Camélias'' (''The Lady of the Camellias''), published in 1848, which was adapted into Giuseppe Verdi's 1 ...

' '' La dame aux camelias'' and

Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ; – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem ''De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated into En ...

's '' De rerum natura'' have also been found.Woodress, James, ''The Troll Garden'' by Willa Cather, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983b, p. 126

References

External links

''Full Text''
at th
''Willa Cather Archive''
1903 short stories Short stories by Willa Cather Works originally published in Scribner's Magazine {{1900s-story-stub