Behind the Singer Tower

Behind the Singer Tower is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in Collier's in May 1912.^[1]

Plot summary

The Mont Blanc Hotel, a luxurious hotel in New York City gets set on fire, thus killing many prominent figures. This prompts the narrator to think back to the time a similar thing had happened, only to poor people. Caesarino, a poor worker, had died in a fire as his family was coming from Ischia to visit him. This led the narrator to sue the building manager, Stanley Merryweather. Both men are now well known to dislike each other. The narrator reflects that Caesarino might have been better off on his native island, but he was lured by the New York idea...

Characters

the narrator, a journalist.
Fred Hallet, an engineer.
Johnson, a journalist.
A lawyer from the District Attorney's office.
Zablowski, a Jewish doctor from the Rockefeller Institute.
Graziani, a tenor.
Stanley Merryweather.
Fanny Reizenstein, Stanley Merryweather's wife.
Caesarino, an Italian American builder.

Allusions to other works

There are allusions to Sandro Botticelli, and the Song of Songs.

Allusions to actual history

It has been argued that the story might have been prompted by the Windsor Hotel fire of March 17, 1899.^[2]

Literary significance and criticism

It has been suggested that the story was influenced by Gustave Flaubert's Salammbô and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.^[3]

References

↑ Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, University of Nebraska Press; Rev Ed edition, 1 Nov 1970, page 54
↑ Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, University of Nebraska Press; Rev Ed edition, 1 Nov 1970, 'Introduction' by Mildred R. Bennett, page xli
↑ Haller, Evelyn, "'Behind the Singer Tower': Willa Cather and Flaubert.", Modern Fiction Studies, 1990, 36:39-54

External links

Full Text at the Willa Cather Archive

Works by Willa Cather

Novels	Alexander's Bridge O Pioneers! The Song of the Lark My Ántonia One of Ours A Lost Lady The Professor's House My Mortal Enemy Death Comes for the Archbishop Shadows on the Rock Lucy Gayheart Sapphira and the Slave Girl

Short stories	"Peter" "Lou, the Prophet" "The Elopement of Allen Poole" "A Tale of the White Pyramid" "A Son of the Celestial" "The Clemency of the Court" "The Fear That Walks by Noonday" "On the Divide" "A Night at Greenway Court" "Tommy, the Unsentimental" "The Princess Baladina – Her Adventure" "The Count of Crow's Nest" "The Burglar's Christmas" "The Strategy of the Were-Wolf Dog" "A Resurrection" "The Prodigies" "Nanette: An Aside" "The Way of the World" "The Westbound Train" "Eric Hermannson's Soul" "The Dance at Chevalier's" "The Sentimentality of William Tavener" "The Affair at Grover Station" "A Singer's Romance" "The Conversion of Sum Loo" "Jack-a-Boy" "El Dorado: A Kansas Recessional" "The Professor's Commencement" "The Treasure of Far Island" "A Death in the Desert" "A Wagner Matinee" "The Sculptor's Funeral" "Flavia and Her Artists" "The Garden Lodge" "The Marriage of Phaedra" "Paul's Case" "The Namesake" "The Profile" "The Willing Muse" "Eleanor's House" "On the Gulls' Road" "The Enchanted Bluff" "The Joy of Nelly Deane" "Behind the Singer Tower" "The Bohemian Girl" "Consequences" "The Bookkeeper's Wife" "The Diamond Mine" "A Gold Slipper" "Ardessa" "Scandal" "Her Boss" "Coming, Eden Bower!" "Uncle Valentine" "Double Birthday" "Neighbour Rosicky" "Two Friends" "The Old Beauty" "Before Breakfast" "The Best Years"

Short story collections	The Troll Garden Youth and the Bright Medusa Obscure Destinies The Old Beauty and Others Five Stories

Collection of poems	April Twilights

Non-fiction	On Writing Not Under Forty

Collaborations	The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science

Adaptations	A Lost Lady (1934 film) O Pioneers! (1992 film) My Antonia (1995 film) The Song of the Lark (2001 film) O Pioneers! (2009 opera)

Willa Cather Birthplace Willa Cather House Willa Cather Foundation WILLA Literary Award

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