General Introduction
– Positively doctoral
– The informality of Minnesotans

Situating “Neighbour Rosicky”
– Idealization of immigrant life and tradition
– The story’s quaintness
– Cather’s critical reputation
– The soul and economics
– Cather’s conversion
– A Nebraska of the mind

Old and New
– Immigrants and Anglo-Saxons
– Keeping Polly happy
– Self-giving and traditional anxiety
– Interesting people are interested people
– The lack of contention
– Tension, not conflict
– Transcending binaries

City and Country
– Definitional relativism
– Economic structures
– The natural ideal
– Moving from life to death
– How flippant is Cather?
– The limitations of memory
– The energy of the city

Work
– Women’s work!
– Is Rosicky urban or rural?
– Working in multiple contexts
– Gender and sexuality
– Work vs. personal wealth

Love
– Natural life with people
– Rosicky in London
– The benefit of the other
– Christianity in the story
– Michial emotes

Death
– Geographic afterlife
– Death as continuation
– The fate of the family
– Giving meaning to death
– Literary allusions

Other Observations
– New influences
– Recurring snows