The Song of the Lark [with Biographical Introduction]

almost perfect book for me. beautiful woman from Colorado, starts to discover herself out west in Arizona, and winds up in New York city to chase her dream of singin' opera. good insight in to what it takes to succeed in the world of opera.

I thought the book looked large, but I ordered it anyway. However, it was like 81/2 by 11 inches and too big and heavy to send to a friend in Switzerland. I found a new copy for $3.99 at a local bookstore though!

ISBN 0-14-118104-4 This annotated Penguin edition of Willa Cather's Kunstlerroman is an invaluable resource for students & teachers providing information at first hand. The notes appear at the end of the book, so they do not take away from the enjoyment of reading Cather's prose.

The plot of this book was interesting --how a great singer develops. But, published in 1915, it was written in the style of its time, with long, descriptive narratives. It was well-written, but I skimmed over many paragraphs.

Well, not my favorite Will Cather book, but well written.
Not up to the caliber of her other books, my opinion.
Willa did however get her point across rather well.
So, have patience and enjoy.

The plot of this book was interesting --how a great singer develops. But, published in 1915, it was written in the style of its time, with long, descriptive narratives. It was well-written, but I skimmed over many paragraphs.

Well, not my favorite Will Cather book, but well written.
Not up to the caliber of her other books, my opinion.
Willa did however get her point across rather well.
So, have patience and enjoy.

An early work of Cather shows her writing muscles. It unfolds gently and pulls in the reader to the life of these stalwart pioneers. Thea's yearning mirrors those of the others around her , dreaming of better days, yet nostalgic about their past.

Very very disappointing. Writing 2nd rate. Characters not authentic. Too many slaws of character and reflecting opinions of a narrower time in America. I would expect a good/great writer to rise above the small mindedness of that day, at least on a philosophical plane. And this book earned a Pulitzer Prize? Unbelievable! Very very disappointing.

I read and reviewed several Willa Cather novels some years ago. After reading other novels set in the American West together with studies of Great Plains history and of homesteading, I decided it was time to revisit this unusual American writer. I was looking to understand her understanding of the American West and its people in view of the deflationary, ironic accounts that have become common since her time.

I was familiar with Cather's "O Pioneers!" and "My Antonia" but I hadn't read "The Song of the Lark" (1915) which is generally grouped with these two novels as part of a Prairie Trilogy. "The Song of the Lark" is much longer and more challenging than its companions; and it is much more concerned with the world of music and art than are the other two books. The book offers a detailed portrayal of a small fictitious eastern Colorado town called Moonstone at the close of the 19th Century but it includes much more besides, including Chicago, the ancient Indian cliff dwellings in Arizona, and New York City. The book is written in six lengthy parts and follows the life of Thea Kronberg from her time as a child of 11, one of seven children of a Methodist minister and his wife in Moonstone, through her rise to become a great Wagnerian operatic soprano.

The book moves slowly with many characters in each section and extensive descriptive passages. The descriptions of Moonstone and its people are the most extensive, varied, and, for most readers, the most convincing part of the book. The strongest parts show Thea's budding love of the piano and of voice through her studies with an itinerant teacher, Wunsch who recognizes Thea's gifts. The parts of the story in which Wunsch introduces his gifted pupil to Gluck's opera "Orpheus and Euridyce" and special meaning for me. Thea also learns music from Spanish Johnny and other residents of the Mexican section of Moonstone. She is already attractive to men in the persons of the town doctor, Howard Archie, and a railroad worker, Ray Kennedy, who dreams of marrying Thea when she comes of age. When Kennedy dies in a railroad accident, he leaves Thea the proceeds of a small insurance policy which she uses to fund musical studies in Chicago.

The novel proceeds to show Thea's awkwardness in Chicago combined with her passion for music and her overweening ambition. Thea's focus shifts from piano to voice. She becomes involved with a wealthy young man, Fred Ottenberg, heir to a brewery fortune. The novel shows Thea gradually coming to a sense of herself and of her rare musical gift, particularly when she and Ottenberg visit the Indian cliffs in Arizona.

The story moves slowly until, after study in Germany which is not specifically described in the novel, Thea becomes a singer of Wagnerian opera, a diva and a prima donna. Wagnerian opera is not a part of music where I have cared to go but it is central to Thea's art. She has a single-minded focus on her art and on her unique talent. In some ways, to the reader and probably in part to Cather as well, she becomes a less than sympathetic character. The later parts of the novel are less convincing than the earlier sections, as Cather herself realized in the Preface to the book, because the show the primary character at the pinnacle of success rather than as a struggling young woman. Cather wrote that "I should have disregarded conventional design and stopped where my first conception stopped, telling the latter part of the story by suggestion merely. What I cared about, and still care about, was the girl's escape; the play of blind chance, the way in which commonplace occurrences fell together to liberate her from commonness. She seemed wholly at the mercy of accident; but to persons of her vitality and honesty, fortunate accidents will always happen."

"The Song of the Lark" lags in places. The book offers more and something a little different than what prompted my reading. It is a portrayal of the development of a special talent and the escape from what might be viewed as a humdrum life at least as much as it is a portrayal of the American West. However, the book still is for the most part integrated and successful. The book portrays American life both in its routine and its promise while emphasizing the importance of places and of people upon its heroine. The book convinced my that I had done wisely in returning to Cather for insight into the American West, the American character, and the American experience.

Robin Friedman

Willa Cather has written some wonderful books, such as 'My Antonia' and 'O, Pioneers.' 'Song of the Lark' is not up to her usual quality. The idea is promising; Thea, a young, small-town girl is musically gifted in piano and voice. The story shows her struggle to become successful, how it changes her and how she affects the people who want to help her. Unfortunately, Cather often stops the action and has other characters sing Thea's praises. Thea is unusual. Thea is beautiful. Thea is talented. Thea is brilliant. Thea is apparently so talented that one of her teachers is exhausted after each lesson. We get it. This makes the story drag. Thea herself is not totally sympathetic. This is fine in theory, as many fascinating literary characters are not sympathetic, but Cather seems to want us to sympathize with Thea no matter what. She becomes a driven, single-minded artist, which she probably needs to be to succeed, but some of the things she does are downright unpleasant. For example, on a vacation home, she learns that a former friend has died. Her will asks that Thea sing at her funeral. Thea initially wants to refuse, saying she is "tired of singing at funerals." She initially is a tolerant person, going to the Spanish part of town because she loves the music, but by the end of the book she is tossing around the N-word.
The book is unrealistic in that veryone in the book goes to extraordinary lengths to help her. One creepy incident is a grown man who decides when Thea is about 10 that he wants to marry her and will wait for her to grow up. He never behaves inappropriately, but it's still creepy.
If you have never read one of Cather's books, please start with her short stories or one of her other books.

I liked this book. Cather's trilogy consists of 1) O Pioneers, 2) Song of the Lark, and 3) O Antonia. Cather plays with strong, creative women, living under poor circumstances but overcoming them. Her insight is very good, almost tender. As a reader of time slips, and mysteries, it is refreshing not to see gore, blood, anger, or outward conflicts. The conflicts are intellectual and the circumstances are cast in context of the times. The creativity and devotion of these women, patterned after real women, are astounding.

Are there compelling reasons to write a review of a book published nearly 100 years ago? Shouldn't the jury be out by now? Shouldn't the literary world have had sufficient time and reviews to gauge the book's worth? Why take time to write one more review?

Well, I loved this book. I only keep reading books if they keep being excellent and this book did not disappoint.

Why should a modern person consider reading this book about a portrait of a young female artist's motivations and development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

The book champions paths of action that may help any person work toward financial independence, artistic fulfilment, and passionate expression.

The story is a fairy tale about a young woman who rises up in the world of opera singing against incredibly difficult odds. In leaving her small Colorado home town to move to Chicago, leaving all of her friends and family: "She was going away to fight, and she was going away forever."

It's a story with a happy ending.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead.

This story, written by a woman, is a story where a married middle aged man, a doctor, in a loveless marriage, falls in love with a young girl, closely follows her growth her whole life, corresponds with her regularly, and at the young woman's request, plays a key role in facilitating her professional and artistic dreams coming to fruition:

Early in the story, Dr Archie, the married middle aged man, visits the young girl, Thea: "As he lifted and undressed Thea, he thought to himself what a beautiful thing a little girl's body was,--like a flower. It was so neatly and delicately fashioned, so soft, and so milky white. Thea must have got her hair and her silky skin from her mother. She was a little Swede, through and through. Dr. Archie could not help thinking how he would cherish a little creature like this if she were his."

"The doctor thought she was the prettiest thing he had ever seen, and very funny, with her telescope and big handbag. She made him feel jolly, and a little mournful, too. He knew that the splendid things of life are few, after all, and so very easy to miss."

Later in the story, when Thea is a grown woman, and Dr. Archie an older man: "He realized now that she had counted for a great deal more to him than he knew at the time. It was a continuous sort of relationship. He was always on the lookout for her as he went about the town, always vaguely expecting her as he sat in his office at night. He had never asked himself then if it was strange that he should find a child of twelve the most interesting and companionable person in Moonstone."

This book was published 40 years before Nabakov's "Lolita."

Dr. Archie discovers what another character, Landry, describes late in the book: "It's full of the thing every plain creature finds out for himself, but that never gets written down. It's unconscious memory, maybe; inherited memory"

In another story line, the heroine, Thea, is courted by a very charming, wealthy, and socially connected man, Frederick. Thea spends many months dating, falling in love, and traveling with Frederick, only to discover later that he is already married. But in the end, he divorces his wife, and Thea and Frederick appear to become a happily married couple.

Who knew women were writing such sophisticated stories in the early 1900s?

So, let's cut to the chase: I read Willa Cather because even 100 years ago, she was smarter than I am today. And she's probably smarter than you. I don't read Cather because she can tell me what life was like in rural towns and big cities around the turn of the century. I'm not a fan of historical recollections. I read Cather because she understood an extraordinary amount about the human condition, sexual drives, relationship desires, and personality patterns. She was a keen observer of human behaviors - able to discern and explain distinctions where most of us would not be able to see, describe, or differentiate them.

"Nothing is far and nothing is near, if one desires. The world is little, people are little, human life is little. There is only one big thing--desire. And before it, when it is big, all is little. It brought Columbus across the sea in a little boat"

"There is no work of art so big or so beautiful that it was not once all contained in some youthful body, like this one which lay on the floor in the moonlight, pulsing with ardor and anticipation"

The heroine, Thea, is not pollyanish. She says, "Mrs. Harsanyi, it seems to me that what I learn is just to dislike. I dislike so much and so hard that it tires me out." She is a demanding and discriminating person: "In the natural course of things she would never have loved a man from whom she could not learn a great deal."

Willa Cather knew the depth of focus, amount of work, and extraordinarily difficult odds it took to become a financially independent female artist in a "man's world." As she explains near the end of the book: "Her secret? It is every artist's secret,"--he waved his hand,--"passion. That is all. It is an open secret, and perfectly safe. Like heroism, it is inimitable in cheap materials . . . Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness. The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is."

Cather knew some important truths and kindly took the time to write them down eloquently to share them with us - uncommonly valuable truths - even a hundred years later.

As Cather states her feelings regarding writer's obligations, being concise is essential and her style dictates this. Each word is integral and the reader must focus on her delicious choice of words. The setting of the canyon was particularly interesting as well as Thea's connection with the varied characters with whom she comes in contact.

Rereading this book brought back memories of middle school lit classes on American writers. this book remained in my memory because of the delightful descriptions of life in the home of the cliff dwellers. That seemed so exotic to me, and still does. My imagination was fired by the thought that our western peoples could create those dwellings and exist in them for ages. I lived in the flat shaded woodlands of the Eastern native peoples and was amazed at the contrast in lifestyles. i still found myself in wonder when, in later years, I was able to see those .
.
.wondrous spots. I reread the book because of this; I never felt that the characters were well presented and the ending was predictable.

This review will first cover the audio book and then give my general impressions of the novel.
What I look for in audio books is a good narrator and this one was done very well. Pam Ward was the reader and she did an excellent job with the characterizations. She used distinct voices and tones for each character. It made it very easy to keep up with who was talking. This was a very enjoyable way to go through the novel. The audio quality was excellent.

This is my 2nd book by Willa Cather, and I still enjoy her style and ability to develop characters. The main character was an exceptionally talented young woman and we get to see her life and her impact on her family and friends. She portrays the drive and perseverance that a person of talent exhibits in order to be successful. I liked how Cather showed the heroine in her glory along with her weaknesses.

I related to the character in her other book, `My Antonia', more than I did this character, yet I still enjoyed this book. I will seek out and read more of Cather's novels.

.Thankfully Cather discovered you can do more with less (The Professor's House and Death Comes for the Archbishop) but the novel was sleep-inducing. It's too long. Cather is one of those writers where the longer the work the worst she gets. And it would be different if Thea was totally likeable like Alexandra or Antonia but she comes across as condescending throughout most of the novel. That's a minor flaw to me compared with the fact the climax of the novel is so subtle, you'll completely miss it if you don't pay attention (hint: Ancient People). I mean I read all through tedium for that! This novel would have made a good short story but it has no business being boring like it is.

Plot summary so you don't miss anything (and believe me you won't): Thea grows up in a judgmental small town. She leaves. She struggles. She finds herself. She becomes famous. Her supporters bask in her glory. The end.

If you are new to Cather, stay away and start with many a favorite "O Pioneers!" or "My Antonia". I only lightly recommend it for hardcore Cather fans.

The penguin classic editions are sure nice little books. It's my first Wila Cather book and I was expecting much more (actually not more, but better) from the reviews I've read. The style is of a quiet, unpretentious storyteller, almost intimistic tone; but it doesn't deliver anything. I was waiting and waiting for the great moment in the narrative, thinking the story would produce at any time some interesting twist, some exciting and unpexpected bonus, but there's nothing extraordinary. The plot flows in a totally predicatable way. Predictability is not the reason why it fails, though, is its plain lack of interest all through. Let me be fair: it could be interesting, and her style would be much more appreciated, if she had reduced the book to 100 pages at most. The book is way too long for what it gives us. The landscapes that the critics seem to relish are just a little insert among the several hundred chit-chat pages.

After reading almost the whole book a gave up at the finish line. I wouldn't discourage other would-be readers from further delving into this lady's prose. It has its enchantment. But one has to be in the mood for it, or be very idle.

The Song of the Lark was definately an interesting novel with a simple, yet developed plot. The characters were absolutely fascinating! Still, I found it inconcievably laborious to read. The pages drew on and on, taking an entire section (2 hours of my time) to basically lay out the statement, "Thea gets away on vacation, falls in love with ____ (no spoilers!), and returns to the city refreshed and happy." Though the descriptions were well written and intersting, they totalled all-in-all to purely ostentatious. So I found the whole thing about mediocre, but I'll give Cather one thing--Classic literature is NOT my thing, and by reading this I may be inclined to select another of her books in the distant future, as I need time to escape the dullness. Wierd or not after this review, I recomend the novel.

This remains the best book about what it means to become an artist, how it happens. Cather's unique sympathy with music in general but singing in particular is here at its most articulate. Unlike other great writers (and she is one of them, no mistake about that) who wrote about music (Tolstoy, Proust, Mann...), Cather's music is celebratory, ecstatic, the life-force itself. I have worked with singers for a half-century, and this is the book I give any gifted young person with a fire in the belly to become an artist.

Thea gives up all the usual things that most girls want to get everything that she wants. The rich vocabulary made this story shine. Mostly the story moved along but I found it just a little wordy during the last few chapters.