My Mortal Enemy

Sometimes when I have witnessed the happy beginning of a love story, when I have witnessed a shared emotion elevated into beauty by imagination, generosity, and the flaming courage of youth, I have once more heard that strange complaint breathed into the stillness of night by a dying woman, like a confession of the "Why must I die like this, alone with my mortal enemy."

Myra Henshawe is the main character of Willa Cather's novel My Mortal Enemy. As a young woman, she sacrificed her financial security to wed for love—a daringly romantic act that became a family tradition. However, it's possible that this cynical, sarcastic, and possibly evil woman was created for a purpose larger than love.
Cather depicts the development of the human spirit as it begins to rebel against the limitations of everyday pleasure and seek an otherworldly fulfilment in her portrait of Myra and in her exquisitely nuanced account of her marriage. The drama and strong moral imagination in My Mortal Enemy make it a memorable piece.