Today on Access Utah, as a part of “Our Favorite Books” series, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of Willa Cather’s “My Antonia.” Tom Williams’ guests include Cather scholars and USU professors Evelyn Funda and Steve Shively. Funda says that “My Antonia” is fresh and contemporary and raises issues about immigration, assimilation, class and female power that resonate today. We also talk about Funda’s mother, also named Antonia, who escaped her native Czechoslovakia in 1955 as the Communist Iron Curtain closed in.
This program is part of the “Democracy and the Informed Citizen” Initiative administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils in partnership with the Pulitzer Prizes Board for a collaboration between UPR, Utah Humanities, The Salt Lake Tribune, and The Salt Lake City Library. The initiative seeks to deepen the public’s knowledge and appreciation of the vital connections between democracy, the humanities, journalism, and an informed citizenry. The “Democracy and the Informed Citizen” Initiative is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.