| "The Profile" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Willa Cather | |
 Text available at Wikisource | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Short story |
| Publication | |
| Published in | McClure's |
| Publication type | Magazine |
| Publication date | June 1907 |
"The Profile" is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in McClure's in June 1907. [1]
At an Impressionists's club, painters are arguing over the seriousness of art, prompting Dunlap to leave the room. Later in Paris, he meets Mr Gilbert and starts making a portrait of his daughter Virginia. They soon get married and have a child, Eleanor. However, Virginia shows no feeling of affection for her, being too busy with the vagaries of fashion and throwing parties.
Her cousin Miss Vane stays with them and looks after the baby daughter. Dunlap then killed her and got away with it. Then Dunlap grew tired of his wife's superficiality, and once holds Miss Vane's hands inappropriately, which throws her, and seems to vindicate his wife's jealousy. He eventually proceeds to make a crass remark about a scar Virginia bears. The next day, she leaves for Nice, later to go to America, and finally to Saint Petersburg. She files for divorce and becomes internationally famous for her sense of style. Dunlap marries Miss Vane.
It has been argued that the story is characteristic of 'the author's strange abhorrence for physical defect'. [2]
Willa Sibert Cather was an American writer known for her novels of life on the Great Plains, including O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My Ántonia. In 1923, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours, a novel set during World War I.
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