A not-very-engaging-or impressive first novel from an author who later achieved something marvelous with Death Comes for the Archbishop, which I read a couple years ago. Even the author herself noted the weakness of this work in a preface she reluctantly wrote for a new edition in 1922. This is the story of a successful bridge-builder whose life is unraveling. He is forced to cut corners on his latest project; he half-heartedly re-connects with an old flame although he acknowledges that he has married the perfect woman for him, and loves his life. He seems to have no gumption to stand up for his work or his marriage, and he is such a flat and uninteresting character that I couldn't care less whether he ever found his spine or not.
Reviewed in 2014 ( )

This was my second reading of Alexander's Bridge. When I first read this novel I was in my mid-20s and saw Alexander as a tragic hero. Now, in my mid-40s, it speaks to me as a cautionary tale of what can happen when you lead a life of action without reflection. It seems that Alexander has lost touch with who he is and what he wants. I see him as a victim of his inability to be true to himself.

In some ways, Alexander's plight made me think of a recent cartoon making the rounds on Facebook: “Inside every middle aged person is a teenager wondering what the hell happened.” I can relate.

Alexander has been a man of action, but he's also been on autopilot. Underneath his hyper-masculine frame and worldly success, his foundation is weak. At one point Professor Wilson even says he thought he saw cracks in Alexander's foundation (and ironically declares him "sound" just before the cracks start growing). At home Alexander follows his wife's interests and at work he's gotten to the point where he consents to using improper materials and accepts the minimum safety standards for his latest and largest bridge project. With Hilda he can pretend he's young and free. He latches on to the loss of his youthful idealism and laments on how he feels trapped by demands. He doesn't dig deeper and reflect on how he can achieve what he desires--feeling free and powerful.

Up until the end, Alexander doesn't make a decision or take decisive action. The last time he and Hilda meet it's implied that he's going to leave his wife. He writes a letter to his wife, but then doesn't send it the next morning. Alexander never squares things with himself. The strain becomes overwhelming and, as they say, something's gotta give.

Had he lived, would he have have taken control of his life? He does say to Philip that anything he does can be made public, which up until now we know isn't true, but would he have eventually spoken his truth? Or would he never have given his wife that letter? And if he did, was the letter another garbled message like the one he'd once sent Hilda? Was leaving his wife necessarily what he really wanted? We'll never know. He died in his prime, his marriage intact, but he took down a whole bunch of people with him.

Read again for Willa Cather Novel Reading Challenge 2012 http://wildmoobooks.blogspot.com/2012/01/alexanders-bridge-thoughts-comments.htm... ( )

22. Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather
published: 1912
format: 97-page paperback
acquired: June 2020
read: Jun 5
time reading: 2:26, 1.5 mpp
rating: 4
locations: Boston, London and New York – especially London.
about the author: born near Winchester, VA, later raised in Red Cloud, NE. December 7, 1873 – April 24, 1947

Cather's first novel is one she sort of wanted to take back. She later published an essay on how her real first novel was [O Pioneers!] (pub. 1913), and this one instead a kind of false start, overly influenced by and designed to impress the literary crowd she had become a part of. It's a nice novel, but one that only hints at Cather's later strengths.

One thing I felt was different here was the persistent exploration of psychology. The book is roughly a tragedy, one of Bartley Alexander, an American engineer. He has made himself something of a heroic bridge builder, called to work in Canada, London, Paris and Tokyo among other places. But his admirers can see how unhappy he is. Early on we're told he probably doesn't remember his own childhood. His admiring one-time professor explains "He was never introspective. He was simply the most tremendous response to stimuli I have ever known." And later, "No past, no future for Bartley; just the fiery moment. The only moment that ever was or will be in the world."

The same professor foreshadows our bridge-builder's future - right to him. He tells him, "The more dazzling the front you presented, the higher your facade rose, the more I expected to see a big crack zigzagging from top to bottom...then a crash and clouds of dust." Further, he observes to himself, "... that even after dinner, when most men achieve a decent impersonality, Bartley had merely closed the door of the engine-room and come up for an airing. The machinery itself was still pounding on."

Cather doesn't stop there with Bartely. But the stage is set. This force of nature runs, almost naturally, almost carelessly into an extra-marital affair, and then heads to disaster. The strain of managing his secret second life starts to pull him apart, without him able to understand it. (bridge metaphors intended) As the book goes forward, Bartley's internal tension increases, and the text reflects that.

The main complaint about the book, from Cather herself, as well as other critics, is that themes are oversimplified. And probably they are. But for 2.5 hours reading, it was a nice insight into her early thinking and writing.

2021
https://www.librarything.com/topic/330945#7524281 ( )

This book was initially three stars, but Cather paints the moment of crisis so well, that you glimpse her brilliance at portraying the human psyche. A fast, fairly engaging read. ( )

Alexander's Bridge was Willa Cather's first book, published in 1912.

Alexander Bartley is a bridge builder who has acquired international fame for his ability to build the worlds most daring and advanced bridges. But he doesn't like the attention he receives and yearns for a simpler life. He is married to an intelligent woman who is an heiress and American socialite. They live in Boston and he enjoys their life together although he must be away from home often.

When he runs across a former flame in London, he becomes involved with her again, agonizing over the unfairness to both women. Juggling work on a bridge in Canada that is not going well, his wife in Boston, and his lover in London, becomes more than Alexander can cope with and he begins to unravel.

I like that Cather made all of the characters, including Alexander, sympathetic. Although written over 100 years ago, it could easily be written for the current time. Even in this first book the writing is beautiful. Her skills will grow and her next book, O! Pioneers, will be more nuanced. Still, this novella is well worth reading. ( )