The Diamond Mine (Historical Context)

Historical Context

Music in the Early Twentieth Century

In the first decade of the twentieth century in the United States, music was an expanding industry. Popular music came in many different forms, including ballads, ragtime, the blues, and show tunes, and Americans from all walks of life experienced it. Companies producing sheet music, instruments, phonographs, and other types of musical accessories found a huge demand for their products. Classical music was also finding an audience with Americans, due to the increasing number of symphony orchestras nationwide and the growth of the recording industry. At the same time, popular singers, like Lillian Nordica, were becoming international stars as a result of their performances.

Lillian Nordica

As James Woodress noted in Willa Cather: A Literary Life, “The Diamond Mine” “is based on the life of Lillian Nordica, whose last husband, George Young, is very thinly disguised in the story as the unscrupulous, mercenary character Jerome Brown.” Everybody knew this fact, and Young threatened to sue, but “never followed through,” as Woodress noted. Like Cressida Garnet in the story, Lillian Nordica, was known both for her strong voice and her engaging performances. Nordica studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and also in Milan. Nordica spent an extended time — from 1895 to 1909- — singing at the Metropolitan Opera, just as Cressida spent several years there. The Metropolitan Opera Association was the leading opera company in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, during the company’s “Golden Age.” While Nordica died after her 1913 farewell tour, from complications of pneumonia, in the story, Cressida dies when the Titanic goes down in 1912.

Titanic

The largest ship of its time, the Titanic was 882.5 feet long and 92.5 feet wide with a total carrying capacity of 46,329 tons. The Titanic’s maiden voyage departed from England on April 10, 1912, and was scheduled to arrive in New York. Cather’s choice to place Cressida on the Titanic is historically believable, since many famous and prominent people from Europe, Britain, and the United States were on board for the maiden voyage.

Just a few minutes before midnight on April 14, the ship struck a partially submerged iceberg in the North Atlantic waters. Immediately after the incident, the Titanic began broadcasting distress signals. After a short period of time, crewmen of the ship also begin firing rockets in hopes of attracting the attention of any nearby ships for assistance. However, the closest ship, the Californian, did not receive the distress signals. The next closest ship, the Carpathia, did catch Titanic’s distress signal but was fifty-six miles away. It took over three hours for the ship to reach the Titanic and give assistance. By the time the Carpathia reached the sinking ship, it had become too late for many. Around 1,500, of the more than 2,000 passengers and ship personnel, died. Due to the hype of the ship itself, its maiden voyage, and the notable passengers on board, the disaster received worldwide attention, and remains one of the most famous disasters in the twentieth century.

Compare & Contrast

• 1910s: The music industry continues to grow, as an increasing number of Americans buy record players and listen to recorded music from their favorite musical stars.

  Today: The music recording and publishing industry is threatened by the new MP3 file format, which stores music in a digital form. MP3 files can be downloaded from the Internet and played on various types of players. The Recording Industry Association of America, a music industry trade group, tries unsuccessfully to ban the use of some MP3 players.

• 1910s: The lives of American celebrities like Lillian Nordica become increasingly more in the spotlight. Some stars appreciate the free publicity, as it helps to boost their star power.

  Today: Many public figures feel harrassed by paparazzi, a group of reporters who try to get pictures of celebrities by following them around everywhere. Diana, Princess of Wales, one of the world’s biggest celebrities, is killed in a car crash on August 31, 1997. One of the alleged causes of the accident is the paparazzi — who apparently chased Princess Diana’s car on motorbikes in an attempt to get some pictures.

• 1910s: The luxury liner Titanic hits an iceberg on its maiden voyage, causing it to sink into the ocean a little more than two hours later, taking 1,500 people with it.

  Today: Frequently millions of dollars are spent on the production of a motion picture, including the cost of research, set design and construction, and special effects. At the time of release, James Cameron’s internationally successful film Titanic (1997) is the most expensive film ever made, with a cost of approximately $200 million. It incorporates the latest information about how the ship actually sank. The film uses the excavation of the ship as a narrative framework for telling the tragic, fictional tale of Rose, an aristocratic woman about to be married, and Jack, a poor artist with whom she falls in love.