A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Woman: The Artist Heroine In The Song Of The Lark

The latter half of the nineteenth century saw the emergence of a unique type of American fiction which dramatizes the fate of talented women. Raising the perplexing question of whether the roles of "woman"and "artist"could be compatible, it most sharply reflects the conflict confronting women during an era of radical changes. Depictions of women artists in this type of work are often bleak. Few female artists have successful careers or manage to resist the conventional formula that require them to subordinate artistic ambition to domestic and financial needs. Against this background, Willa Cather responded to the dilemma with her third novel The Song of the Lark, in which the talented heroine Thea Kronborg triumphs as a real artist. It is credited as "the first successful kunstlerroman by an American woman"in which the artist heroine is not defeated by the conventional claims of family and society. In this semi-autobiography Willa Cather made her boldest assertion and revealing commentary on her professional role as a woman writer. The present thesis intends to, by analyzing Cather's dramatizing of the artist heroine, explore Cather's ideals and credos concerning woman artist and female authorship.