Edith Lewis
| Edith Lewis | |
|---|---|
 Lewis's passport photograph, 1920 | |
| Born |
December 22, 1882 Lincoln, Nebraska U.S. |
| Died |
August 1972 New York City, New York U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation |
Magazine editor, McClure's Magazine |
Edith Lewis (December 22, 1881–August 1972)[1][2] was a magazine editor at McClure's Magazine, the managing editor of Every Week Magazine, and an advertising copywriter at J. Walter Thompson Co. Lewis was Willa Cather's domestic partner and was named executor of Cather's literary estate in Willa Cather's will. After Cather's death, Lewis published a memoir of Willa Cather in 1953 titled Willa Cather Living.[3]
Early life
Lewis graduated from Smith College in 1902. Following her graduation, she relocated to her hometown, Lincoln, NE, to teach for a year.[4] While in Lincoln, she met Willa Cather for the first time at the home of the publisher of the Lincoln Courier, Sarah Harris.
Career
Although historically scholarship concerning Edith Lewis in the context of Willa Cather's career have painted her as a mere copy editor or secretary, recent work has indicated that Edith Lewis had a rich editorial and professional career that had a significant impact upon Willa Cather's creative process.[5]
Personal life
Lewis shared a home with Willa Cather in New York City for almost 40 years. When Edith Lewis acquired a summer cottage on the island of Grand Manan in New Brunswick, Canada in 1926, the two shared a summer home there.[6]
Lewis is buried beside Willa Cather in Jaffrey, New Hampshire.[7]
Works and publications
- Lewis, Edith; Murphy, John Joseph (introduction (2000). Willa Cather Living: A Personal Record (new Bison Books ed.). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803279964. OCLC 44467311.
References
- ↑ "Edith Lewis- United States Passport Applications". FamilySearch. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
- ↑ "Edith Lewis United States - Social Security Death Index". FamilySearch. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
- ↑ Lewis, Edith. Willa Cather Living. Ed. John J. Murphy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.
- ↑ Homestead, Melissa J., and Anne L. Kauman. "Nebraska, New England, New York: Mapping the Foreground of Willa Cather and Edith Lewis's Creative Partnership." Western American Literature 43 (2008): 41-69.
- ↑ Homestead, Melissa J. "Edith Lewis as Editor, Every Week Magazine, and the Contexts of Cather's Fiction." Willa Cather: A Writer's Worlds. Ed. John J. Murphy, Francoise Palleau-Papin, and Robert Thacker. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2010. 325-352.
- ↑ Jewell, Andrew. The Willa Cather Archive. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2004-2016. Web.
- ↑ "Edith Lewis". Find A Grave. Retrieved 19 March 2016.