Willa Cather

A Willa Cather research paper may want to look at how Willa Cather presents the argument, in "The Novel Demeuble", that simplicity in literature proves to be far more enlightening. Willa Cather gives the example presented in the play, "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee William, of literature composed with peripheral objects for merely entertainment value. Cather emphasizes that much of today's literature is about quantity rather than quality due to the need to support the masses. Theoretically, Williams follows the same philosophy choosing to create quality rather than produce a mediocre piece. Focusing on the simplicity of form, Williams tends to keep his play uncomplicated so that his audience can concentrate on the emotion of the play rather than its mis-en-scene.

In her opening statements in "The Novel Demeuble", Cather states that literature as a whole has been over-equipped for a long time detracting from the raw emotion and tension found in the interaction between characters. According to Cather, this is because writers have a tendency to over-emphasize the material of the setting rather than focusing on the play of emotions that any piece of literature should provide the reader. Considering this evaluation of literature, it can be said that Williams followed the same reasoning in his play by removing the fluff of outside fixtures and concentrating the reader's attention on the emotion of the play. This is found in the premise of the entire play with its limited characters and limited scenes. Much of the dialogue takes place between three central characters set in the same two rooms, which is consistent with Cather's assertion that this enables the reader to examine more closely the tensions and emotions found between the lines of the characters' dialogue.