Song of the Lark
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Author:Willa Cather
English Language
365 pages
668.76 KB
PDF
Thea, the subject of this early Willa Cather novel is flawed, and not really a heroine at all. She is an artist; her art is music. Her family and neighbors in Moonstone Colorado barely recognize what this means; most just find her odd. Thea is a loner. She has no friends her own age. Her siblings do not like her. But, she is the subject of attention from the town doctor, a railroad worker, a drunkard piano teacher, and Mexican laborers. All recognize something special in her; all contribute to her early struggle to find her art, and herself.
It is a railroad accident that changes her life. When her friend, Ray Kennedy, dies in a railroad accident, he leaves Thea a $600 inheritance. These funds take her to Chicago to study piano. There she struggles in poverty, and is discouraged, but she also gets her first glimpse of who she is as an artist.
This is a timeless story about struggle. What does it take to be an artist? What does the artistic commitment mean? Thea does not visit her mother before her death because she had a special opportunity to sing a Wagnerian part in Germany. Her response seems selfish, and uncaring. Her sweetheart turns out to be unavailable, he is unhappily married. Thea has little personal life; people are somewhat incidental to her. Her life models that of a true artist. The normal relations that most people need to thrive, are peripheral to her life as an artist. It is that devotion to the art of singing that fills her life.
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