A Letter from Willa Cather to President TomaS Masaryk

Honored Sir, 

Your letter, sent to me through your Legation at Washington, confers upon me great honor and gives me great pleasure. I am glad to have carried a message from the Bohemian (波希米亚) neighbors, whom I grew up with, to their home country of the

Czech Republic.

I have just returned to New York, where I had the pleasure of taking Annie Pavelka, the living "Antonia" in my book My Antonia, and six of her children to the first screening of A Lost Lady. I have the good fortune to proserve relations with most of my characters. "Antonia" and her splendid children are flesh and blood realities. Every time I go back to them, I feel how much more interesting and lovable they are than my picture of them. I wish I could present them to you in person.

I regret that I cannot satisfactorily meet your kind request for biographical (传记的) material. I avoid biographers, asking them to wait until I get my work further along. My first novel was published in 1912, and a period of twelve years is hardly long enough for a writer to find the form best suited for writing. I was not young when I began to write, and though living is a good preparation for writing, I do need more time to acquire a simple and modest way of presenting my work, however well I know what I wish to present.

I am able to send you a very good photograph taken recently. I enclose a short biographical account which my publishers use for publicity purposes, and some casual reviews. Biographies usually begin to come along just about the time a writer has no more to say, and I do not feel that time has yet come to me.

I beg you, President Masaryk, to believe in my grateful appreciation of your letter.

Respectfully yours,

Willa Cather