This is the first book I’ve read from my new Classics Club list and my third by Willa Cather. I’m grateful to the recent Classics Spin for choosing it for me because although I do like Cather’s writing I seem to need something to push me into picking up her books. This one could have lingered on my list for a long time otherwise, which would have been a shame as once I started reading it I loved it. It’s certainly my favourite of the three I’ve read so far (the others are The Professor’s House and My Ántonia).
Death Comes for the Archbishop is set in the nineteenth century and follows the stories of Bishop Jean Marie Latour and his friend Father Joseph Vaillant, two French missionaries who have been sent into the newly formed diocese of New Mexico – territory which has recently been acquired by America. As they begin their work of spreading their faith to the people of New Mexico, they face a number of challenges. The landscape, although beautiful, is harsh and often inhospitable; the railroad has not yet arrived so travel must be by mule over difficult terrain. When they do eventually reach other settlements, they are disappointed to find that the Catholic priests already established in these communities are, in most cases, not suitable for the job. They are either corrupt, greedy, too powerful, too weak or insufficiently devoted to their religion.
It is the task of Father Latour, with the help of Father Vaillant, to decide how to tackle these problems, while also learning to love his new home and getting to know the people who have lived there for generations. These include not only Americans and Mexicans, but also the Hopi, Navajo and other Native American people, whom Cather writes about with sensitivity and sympathy. Each group have their own customs, traditions, stories, histories and superstitions and as all of these things are new to the Bishop and his friend, the reader is able to learn along with them.
I have never been to New Mexico so as I read I found myself turning to Google for images of the deserts and hills, mesas and pueblos, plants and trees that are mentioned in the novel. After Latour visits the pueblo of Acoma and hears about the legend of the Enchanted Mesa, for example, I wanted to see what it would be like to live in such a harsh and isolated location. Cather writes beautifully about the New Mexico landscape; her use of colour is wonderful, helping to bring her descriptions to life. Here is the moment when Latour arrives at Santa Fé for the first time:
As the wagons went forward and the sun sank lower, a sweep of red carnelian-coloured hills lying at the foot of the mountains came into view; they curved like two arms about a depression in the plain; and in that depression was Santa Fé, at last! A thin, wavering adobe town…a green plaza…at one end a church with two earthen towers that rose high above the flatness. The long main street began at the church, the town seemed to flow from it like a stream from a spring. The church towers, and all the low adobe houses, were rose colour in that light,–a little darker in tone than the amphitheatre of red hills behind; and periodically the plumes of poplars flashed like gracious accent marks,–inclining and recovering themselves in the wind.
My favourite aspect of the novel is the relationship between Bishop Latour and Father Vaillant. The two men have known each other since they were students together at the seminary in France and I found the depiction of their friendship very moving, particularly later in the book when Father Vaillant has the chance to take up a new mission far away; the Bishop, who can’t bear to lose his companionship, must decide whether to keep his friend with him for selfish reasons or to let him go and give him the chance to develop his own career elsewhere and carry out the work which will make him happy. The characters are based on real historical figures – Jean-Baptiste Lamy and Joseph Projectus Machebeuf – but I like the names Cather has chosen for them. Vaillant, meaning ‘valiant’, is perfect for Joseph, who is brave and energetic, warm and friendly, while Latour (‘the tower’) is quieter and more reserved, finding it more difficult to open up and make friends. Their different qualities, different strengths and weaknesses are what make them such a successful partnership.
Death Comes for the Archbishop has no real plot, being more a series of little stories and vignettes spread across a number of years and describing the various experiences Latour and Vaillant have as they travel around the New Mexico diocese. I do prefer novels that strike a balance between the plot-driven and the character-driven, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this book – it got my new Classics Club journey off to a great start! I’m looking forward to reading more Willa Cather and I think the next one I pick up will be either Shadows on the Rock or A Lost Lady.
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Book 1/50 from my second Classics Club List
She Reads Novels 
I began reading Cather after hearing someone read Death Comes for the Archbishop on the radio. It’s a real gem. The writing is beautiful.
The first Cather novel I read was The Professor’s House, but I think this would have been a better one for me to have started with. It’s so beautifully written.
I haven’t read that one, just My Antonia, Song of the Lark, Death Comes for the Archbishop, and Sapphira and the Slave Girl (which I can’t remember).
It’s a long time since I read this, but I remember loving it and I am so glad that you did too. Willa Cather’s writing is so evocative.
I’m pleased you loved this book too. All three of the Cather novels I’ve read so far have been beautifully written and I’m looking forward to reading more.
I really enjoy Willa Cather’s novels; I’m hoping to read either Alexander’s Bridge or Sapphira and the Slave Girl this year. 😀
They both sound good. I hope you enjoy whichever one you read.
This book has been on my TBR forever and though I hear nothing but good things about this book, I never seem to get round to it. But I must read it now! Your review is excellent!
It had been on my TBR for a while too, since I read my first Willa Cather book in 2010. I hope you get round to it soon. I think it’s as good as everyone says it is. 🙂
Cather is one of those writers that I say repeated I must read and then somehow never manage to find time for. I’m better with a proper plot, so this may not be the best place to start. Are either of the others you have read more plot driven?
Cather’s writing is always beautiful, but she doesn’t seem to be the sort of author you would read for the plot. Having said that, of the three novels I’ve read, My Antonia is definitely the most plot driven, so could be a better place for you to start.
A lovely review of what sounds like a lovely read. I still haven’t read any of her books, although My Antonia is on my Classics Club list, so hopefully I’ll make her acquaintance soon…
My Antonia is a good one. I hope you enjoy it.
I loved this book, and I’m lucky enough to have been to NM three times, so was able to imagine it well. Glad you enjoyed it too.
I’m envious that you’ve been there three times! Cather’s descriptions make the scenery sound stunning.
I loved this novel. The relationship between Bishop Latour and Father Vaillant is really poignant , and the descriptions of landscape are gorgeous.
I’m glad you loved it too. I thought the friendship between Bishop Latour and Father Vaillant was beautifully portrayed.
I’m looking forward to my first foray into Willa Cather’s work; I’ve heard so much about her writing. This might be the one to start with.
Yes, I think this would be a good one to start with, or maybe My Antonia. I hope you find that you like Willa Cather’s writing as much as I do.
I read My Antonia for a CCspin a while back. I loved it so much that I’ve been acquiring her back list ever since. Maybe I should put them all on my next spin so I will make time to read another one 🙂
Maybe I should do that too! Her books all sound so intriguing, I’m not sure why I haven’t already read more of them.
Better than My Antonia, one of my most loved books, is really saying something! The New Mexico setting is so strong and vibrant, in real life, that I can imagine it would have been a character itself in the story. I hope you get to visit it someday.
My Antonia is great too, but I preferred the writing in this one and the descriptions of New Mexico.