In this book, Professor Godfrey St. Peter has a new house to move into with his wife, but he loves the study he had in the old one, so he’s struggling with the transition. Meanwhile, he’s grieving the loss of a young friend who died in the war and fighting his anger over the way the friend’s estate is being handled by his son-in-law. This is a complicated book and, of the books I’ve read so far, Cather’s masterpiece. It’s both emotionally and philosophically the most complex of her novels and all the characters are well-written and deep. St. Peter is drifting apart from his wife, who seems to be having a slight mid-life crisis; one of his daughters has married well and has become entirely focused on luxury; his other daughter is a discontented soul, a misfit that he’s unable to connect with. His only positive relationship was with Tom Outland, a young, brilliant scientist who died in World War I. This book never mentions the word “grief,” but that’s very much what it’s about and, unfortunately for the Professor, he’s grieving the loss of a relationship that society doesn’t exactly recognize. Grief for a close family member would be acceptable and understood by society, but a surrogate relationship is less easy to classify. Tom comes to kind of symbolize everything that the Professor longs for: freedom, conviction, spiritual joy, a life well lived. But when we finally find out the full story of Tom Outland, Cather complicates matters with an ambiguous narrative that makes us question Outland’s wisdom and whether all the ideals he represents, or perhaps only seems to represent, are really as valuable as the Professor seems to find them. The family relationships are deeply complicated here and the absent Outland hovers over the first two-thirds of the book like a specter; when his story finally unfolds in a lengthy flashback, we realize just how flawed he actually was, not at all the icon the Professor remembers. The longing for the past is a theme a lot of authors have covered, but the layering here is really beautiful; the Professor longs for a past with Tom, while Tom himself yearned for a mystical pre-historical American past – perhaps neither past really existed in exactly the way they’re remembered. There’s a deep, deep sadness that hangs over this book and the Professor is probably Cather’s most layered and fascinating character. The book really nails the ending as well as we see the Professor coming to terms with the past, the present & the future. It’s a book of deep despair and yet, ultimately, of a quiet, saddened hope. Cather wrote many good books and I consider more than just a couple to be genuine masterpieces. But if you read only one Cather, make it this one. It’s her most mature work so far and one of her most emotionally & psychologically gripping. The Professor’s House is as close to perfect as novels get, a haunting, uncertain look at the longings, the memories and the pains that make up our lives. 4 stars.
tl;dr – a complex, multi-layered masterpiece, a mature exploration of emotion & psychology of incredible depth & ambiguity; even in Cather’s brilliant bibliography, this one stands out. 4 stars.