The Song of the Lark (Annotated)
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- £2.49
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- £2.49
Publisher Description
The Song of the Lark is the third work by American author Willa Cather, written in 1915. The title comes from a painting of the same name by Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton, dating from 1884 in the Art Institute of Chicago. It is generally considered to be the second novel in Cather's Prairie Trilogy, following O Pioneers! (1913) and preceding My Ántonia (1918).
Set in the 1890s in Moonstone, a fictional town located in Colorado, The Song of the Lark is the self-portrait of an artist in the making. The story depicts an ambitious young heroine, Thea Kronborg, who leaves her hometown to go to the big city to fulfill her dream of becoming a well-trained pianist, a better piano teacher.
This edition has been formatted for your reader, with an active table of contents. It has also been annotated, with additional information about the book and its author, including an overview, characters, plot, allusions, impact, biographical and bibliographical information.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cather's semiautobiographical bildungsroman about the evolution of an artist revolves around young Thea Kronborg, who leaves smalltown Colorado for Chicago in order to realize her dream of becoming a trained pianist and piano teacher. But her tutor, Mr. Harsanyi, soon discovers Thea's talent for singing and persuades her to pursue that path. Along the way, Thea is championed and romanced by Fred Ottenburg, the rich heir of a beer magnate. Christine Williams is an able reader: her narration is clear and clean, though a little dull. More problematic is Williams's rendition of Thea, which feels flat. Additionally, the narrator's speech becomes breathy during emotional moments (e.g., a kiss) a tic that affects every character, even the males. As such, it is often difficult to distinguish vocally between Thea and her beau, Fred.
