my mortal enemy

My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather  (Knopf, 1926)

A very short (120 pages) novel published by Cather in 1926.  The books is divided into two sections, set ten years apart.  In the first section, Nellie Birdseye, 15, leaves her provincial Midwestern hometown to visit New York City with her Aunt Lydia.  They are taken  under the wing of the Henshaws, a glamorous wealthy couple, originally natives of the same Midwestern town, who famously eloped because Myra’s (Mrs.  Henshaw’s) wealthy guardian threatened to cut her out of his will if she married the self-made and socially inferior Henshaw.  He (the guardian) was true to his word, but the Henshaws flourished anyway in New York City, and delight and charm Nellie and her Aunt with their gracious hospitality and warm friendliness.  But toward the end of her stay in New York City, Nellie begins to perceive cracks in the beautiful facade of the Henshaw’s life and marriage.

Ten years later, Nellie arrives in a coastal Californian town to teach at newly founded college, and finds that the Henshaws are living in the same cheap rooming house that she inhabits.  They have fallen on hard times, and Mrs. Henshaw is seriously ill and bedridden.  But both Henshaws are delighted to see Nellie, and their friendship is rekindled and flourishes, although Mrs. H. has grown bitter and despondent as a result of her fall from grace and illness.  She lashes out at her friend and husband, who both devotedly stand by her until she dies.

I felt there was something slight and undeveloped about this book, some theme or feeling that fails to make itself fully felt.  But what is there is gentle and beautiful — a sad and compelling story about the treacherous arc of life, and the quiet beauty of Cather’s prose is matched by the elegant Knopf production, complete with line drawings heading each chapter, and blocks of color surrounding the page numbers at the top of each page.