I often refer to my wife as “My Willa Cather Woman.” I used to call her my “Willa Cather Girl,” but I saw that as somewhat sexist and a slap at Maria, who is very much a woman, and at Ms. Cather herself, who was no girl. Maria has much in common with the real Willa Cather, one of my favorite writers.

When I got an e-mail about her new biography, Chasing Bright Medusas, by Benjamin Taylor, whose last book was about his friendship with the turbulent and complex writer Philip Roth, I immediately ordered it. Willa Cather, writes Taylor “was her own raw material.”

Cather is best known for her beautiful books about the prairie women who helped settle America but have never gotten much credit for it. The prairie moves were all about the men.

Maria reminds me of Cather; she works hard, battled a lot of ghosts, is fearless in her work, and supports me. The story of Willa Cather is defined by a lifetime of struggle, determination, genius, and, finally,  success. Maria’s track was very similar. Her art very comes comes from her own life, she is her own material.

As a writer, Cather was unknown and ignored for much of her writing life until she jumped to the front of the literary world with her books O Pioneers (1913), The Song Of The Lark (1915, and my favorite, My Antonia (1918.  In interviews, Taylor has said Cather was well into middle age and worked through years of provincial journalism in Nebraska, teaching spells while in hot pursuit of fame and immortality.

Cather’s biography is getting raved all over the place, and after reading the reviews, I came to see my comparison was more than justified. Maria is not an author but a fiercely determined artist who fought obstacle after obstacle to be an artist who sells almost all of her work immediately and has won admiration and praise for her work.

I’ve given Maria all of the Catha books, and she has devoured them all.

Maria also spent a lifetime of struggle getting to be an artist. I don’t claim she is immortal, but I can see she is successful, a creator of imaginative and unique work.  She has become the artist she always wanted to be. She is courageous and determined.

Seeing her climb trees and get on ladders to keep the farm intact and whole, I see the connection to Cather through her work, spirit, and determination. She will get whatever she wants, whether I’m around or not.

She lit up when I gave her the book today; she said this is one she is eager to read. Maria has never compared herself to Willa Cather or anyone else; she is way too humble for that. She just wants to be Maria. But if you don’t t hink she should be an artist, I’d get out of the way.

But I don’t have to be humble on her behalf. Giving my Willa Cather woman, who fought from painful beginnings to personal and creative triumph, this biography is a great pleasure.