Paul's Case

Willa Cather’s short story “Paul’s Case” was published in 1905 in McClure's Magazine. In its original iteration, the story was titled “Paul’s Case: A Study in Temperament,” but it was later shortened to the current title. The story became a popular one of Cather’s, in part because it was one of the only few that she allowed to be anthologized, but also for the debates over its interpretation. “Paul’s Case” was turned into a TV movie for PBS’s The American Short Story anthology series and into an opera.

This study guide cites Willa Cather: Stories, Poems, & Other Writings from the Library of America 1992 edition.

Although it has been removed in subsequent publications, the story’s original subtitle—“A Study in Temperament”—aptly encapsulates the trajectory and literary goals of Cather’s work. The story centers on the titular Paul, a young man from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. At the beginning, Paul is facing a disciplinary tribunal at his school. School administrators and various teachers are present, as is Paul’s father (Paul’s mother is deceased). Immediately, Cather describes Paul’s physical appearance as being at odds with the banal surroundings: “[T]here was something of the dandy about him, and he wore an opal pin in his neatly knotted black four-in-hand, and a red carnation in his button-hole” (468).