A Night at Greenway Court

Infobox short story |
name = A Night at Greenway Court
title_orig =
translator =
author = Willa Cather
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Short story
published_in = Nebraska Literary Magazine
publication_type = Periodical
publisher =
media_type =
pub_date = June 1896
english_pub_date =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

A Night at Greenway Court is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in "Nebraska Literary Magazine" in June 1896 [Willa Cather's Collected Short Fiction, University of Nebraska Press; Rev Ed edition, 1 Nov 1970, page 492] ,. Four years later a revised version was published in the "Library" [Sheryl L. Meyering, "A Reader's Guide to the Short Stories of Willa Cather", G.K. Hall & Co, 1995, p. 157] .

Plot summary

Richard Morgan, a citizen from Winchester, Virginia, visits his friend Lord Fairfax. There, he meets Philip Maurepas, a Frenchman who tells them about his years in India. He expresses his disdain for the King, to Viscount Chillingham's dismay. They compare the political orders both in England and in France. Maurepas then attacks Fairfax because of the painting of a woman with a lily that he has. The next day, Fairfax acts regally and Fairfax pretends nothing happened. The narrator concludes that he acted in accordance with his Virginian duty.

Characters

*Richard Morgan, the narrator.
*"'Richard Morgan's father.
*Josiah Goodrich, a friend of Richard Morgan's.
*M. Philip Marie Maurepas, a gambler who left France because of his debts. He learnt his English in India.
*Lord Thomas Fairfax
*Viscount Chillingham
*Mr Courtney, a pastor.
*Fernando Fairfax, a forebear of Thomas's.
*Mistress Crawford, Thomas's housekeeper.
*Murzapha Jung, Dupleix's ally.
*Nabob of the Carnatic, Dupleix's enemy.
*Tecunda Sahib, Nabob's enemy.

References to actual history

* George I of Great Britain, Oliver Cromwell, and Robert Walpole are mentioned with regards to British history.
*Maurepas mentions Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais and Joseph François Dupleix.

Literary significance and criticism

The story has been deemed Poesque [Mildred R. Bennett, "The World of Willa Cather", University of Nebraska Press, 1961, page 5] . It has also been said to be 'straight out of' William Makepeace Thackeray's "Henry Esmond" [Catherine M. Downs, "Becoming Modern: Willa Cather's Journalism", Susquehanna University Press, 2000, page 141] . Others have stressed the influence of John Esten Cooke, who wrote about Greenway Court [Bernice Slote, "The Kingdom of Art", Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966, p. 41] , or Anthony Hope [James Woodress, "Willa Cather: Her Life and Art", New York: Pegasus, 1970, p. 28] .

ee also

*Greenway Court, Virginia

References

External links

* [http://libtextcenter.unl.edu/cather/writings/shortfiction/greenway.html Full text]