Willa Cather, The Garden Lodge

Sometimes early situations and relationships place us under such stress that we develop survival mechanisms and patterns of behavior that help us cope. Having survived and dealt with traumatic stress, we may discover that the special behavior that once served us has become an enduring pattern of how we deal with the world. Is it to our benefit or harm? Caroline Noble, Willa Cather’s central character in tonight’s story, “The Garden Lodge,” is a woman endowed with many gifts. Her early survival meant turning away from her artistic talents to become a practical manager of family finances and affairs. How is she to deal with this now, when she is out of any of the dangers that faced her as a young woman? A beautiful and subtly observed portrait from Cather’s first collection of stories, The Troll Garden.