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adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
What I want to know is, why doesn't Goodreads have a button that's "Read it already... but currently reading it again anyway"? :)
Would have been 5 stars save for what I felt was uneven pacing in the back half of the book.
I added this to my field exam list because I am interested in how fiction with no overt same-gender sexuality, by authors who are now seen as gay or lesbian but did not describe themselves in those terms, come to be considered queer lit. Cather is pretty interesting in that regard. I chose this particular novel because I read an article, which I know cannot find, about the publication of Cather's letters and queerness that suggested that Song of the Lark was her queerest novel. Apparently it was also her favorite.
On a personal level, I loved Cather's descriptions of people and places. The picture she paints of Colorado, and of Arizona, is gorgeous. Equally stunning is her insight into the experience of loving your small town, yet realizing you need to leave it, and can never really go back.
Reading this book did make me keenly aware of differences in social norms across time, in that I had to work through my discomfort about an adult man (several, really) being in love with a twelve-year-old girl. At least those men did it in a respectful, admiring-her-as-a-whole-person type way. Thea thinks at one point that it's odd that Ray and Dr. Archie and Wunsch and Spanish Johnny all sought their "second selves" in her and not in each other (Pt. 2, Ch. VIII). Which to me seems to have to do with her gender, her beauty and her age. They can project onto her because she hasn't had a failed career or a bad marriage; and they can sublimate their more intellectual/artistic fascination with and hopes for Thea into more intelligible, conventional romantic feelings, in the cases of Dr. Archie and Ray.
There is a lot more to be said about how this book deals with the marriage plot. It's always there and not there. Thea's actual romances and romantic troubles mostly happen outside the events of the book and are recollected in dialogue later, and her actual marriage we only hear about through another character's perspective. There's this weird moment right before the epilogue where Cather says that because this is a kunstlerroman, we have to leave Thea: all we can understand of an artist is her "simple and concrete beginnings"--"her achievement" and her "intellectual and spiritual development... can scarcely be followed in a personal narrative."
On a personal level, I loved Cather's descriptions of people and places. The picture she paints of Colorado, and of Arizona, is gorgeous. Equally stunning is her insight into the experience of loving your small town, yet realizing you need to leave it, and can never really go back.
Reading this book did make me keenly aware of differences in social norms across time, in that I had to work through my discomfort about an adult man (several, really) being in love with a twelve-year-old girl. At least those men did it in a respectful, admiring-her-as-a-whole-person type way. Thea thinks at one point that it's odd that Ray and Dr. Archie and Wunsch and Spanish Johnny all sought their "second selves" in her and not in each other (Pt. 2, Ch. VIII). Which to me seems to have to do with her gender, her beauty and her age. They can project onto her because she hasn't had a failed career or a bad marriage; and they can sublimate their more intellectual/artistic fascination with and hopes for Thea into more intelligible, conventional romantic feelings, in the cases of Dr. Archie and Ray.
There is a lot more to be said about how this book deals with the marriage plot. It's always there and not there. Thea's actual romances and romantic troubles mostly happen outside the events of the book and are recollected in dialogue later, and her actual marriage we only hear about through another character's perspective. There's this weird moment right before the epilogue where Cather says that because this is a kunstlerroman, we have to leave Thea: all we can understand of an artist is her "simple and concrete beginnings"--"her achievement" and her "intellectual and spiritual development... can scarcely be followed in a personal narrative."
“Si, era como una flor ahíta de sol, pero no las blandas flores alemanas de su infancia. Wunsch la había encontrado, esa comparación que antes había buscado sin darse cuenta: era como la flor amarilla de la chumbera que se abre en medio del desierto; más espinosa y más dura que las flores femeninas que él recordaba; menos dulce, pero maravillosa.”
"El Canto de la Alondra" es la segunda novela de Willa Cather que forma parte de su Trilogía de la Pradera. Escrita en 1915 entre Pioneros y Mi Antonia, se sitúa en Colorado, en un pequeño pueblo ferroviario llamado Moonstone, aislado y rodeado de dunas donde transcurre la infancia y primera adolescencia de la protagonsta, Thea Kronborg, un escenario fundamental a lo largo de toda la novela. Hacia mucho que me moría por leer esta novela y realmente ha valido la pena, tanto que se ha convertido en mi favorita de la trilogía. Willa Cather que pasó toda su infancia en Nebraska (el estado vecino de Colorado) en la época de la inmigración escandinava, vuelve a volcar sus experiencias en El Canto de la Alondra, sembrando la novela de toda una serie de personajes secundarios resultado de esa colonización ( no solo escandinava, sino mejicana, checa…), que se quedan ya grabados: convirtiéndose en momentos en una historia coral y global, porque Willa Cather no se corta un pelo a la hora de narrarnos estos roces sociales y raciales entre los diferentes grupos y digamos que de alguna forma la autora cuestiona esta exclusión por razones sociales que sufrían mejicanos o españoles.
Lo que nos viene a contar Willa Cather en El Canto de la Alondra, es la historia de transición desde su infancia hasta su vida adulta de Thea Kronborg, una niña con un enorme talento para la música, que desde muy temprana edad se liberará de las ataduras provincianas para hacer una carrera en la música. Hija de un pastor metodista de ascendencia sueca y criada entre siete hermanos, Thea fue desde su nacimiento una niña de una individualidad muy marcada, en una época en este detalle llamaba poderosamente la atención, más tratándose de una mujer.
"¿Acaso no sabes que la mayoría de las personas del mundo no tienen nada de individuos? Nunca tienen una idea o una experiencia individual. Muchas chicas van al mismo internado, debutan en la misma temporada, bailan en las mismas fiestas, se casan en grupos, tienen hijos al mismo tiempo, envian a sus hijos a la escuela juntos y así va renovándose la cosecha humana. Esas mujeres no saben más sobre la realidad de esas formas de vida que sobre las guerras cuyas fechas aprenden. Extraen sus experiencias más personales de novelas y de obras de teatro; todo es de segunda mano en ellas. Pues bien, tu no podrías vivir así".
Esta primera parte de la novela, la más extensa en la que se nos cuenta la infancia y adolescencia de Thea en Moonstone, es para mí la más fascinante porque Willa Cather la siembra de personajes, paisajes desérticos, momentos que marcarán a Thea no solo por el resto de su vida sino para el resto de la novela. Por mucho que Thea abandone en su adolescencia Moonstone para afincarse en Chicago y más tarde en Nueva York, Moonstone siempre estará presente durante toda la novela. La evolución personal del personaje de Thea me ha parecido prodigioso porque asistimos a la creación de una artista con sus luces y sus sombras, sus dudas y sus momentos de bajada a los infiernos, así que a lo largo de sus más de 500 páginas asistimos a varios retratos del mismo personaje a medida que va evolucionando y desarrollandose su personalidad. Una novela de profunda carga psicológica, porque no solo somos testigos del crecimiento personal de Thea, sino de varios de los personajes a lo largo de toda la novela, es quizás por esto, que se ha convertido en mi novela favorita de Willa Cather, sin ninguna duda.
"Pero algún día podré mirarla a la cara y reír porque hice por ella todo lo que pude. Creo en ella. No hará nada vulgar. Es una persona extraordinaria en un mundo muy, muy ordinario".
https://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/12/el-canto-de-la-alondra-de-willa-cather.html
"El Canto de la Alondra" es la segunda novela de Willa Cather que forma parte de su Trilogía de la Pradera. Escrita en 1915 entre Pioneros y Mi Antonia, se sitúa en Colorado, en un pequeño pueblo ferroviario llamado Moonstone, aislado y rodeado de dunas donde transcurre la infancia y primera adolescencia de la protagonsta, Thea Kronborg, un escenario fundamental a lo largo de toda la novela. Hacia mucho que me moría por leer esta novela y realmente ha valido la pena, tanto que se ha convertido en mi favorita de la trilogía. Willa Cather que pasó toda su infancia en Nebraska (el estado vecino de Colorado) en la época de la inmigración escandinava, vuelve a volcar sus experiencias en El Canto de la Alondra, sembrando la novela de toda una serie de personajes secundarios resultado de esa colonización ( no solo escandinava, sino mejicana, checa…), que se quedan ya grabados: convirtiéndose en momentos en una historia coral y global, porque Willa Cather no se corta un pelo a la hora de narrarnos estos roces sociales y raciales entre los diferentes grupos y digamos que de alguna forma la autora cuestiona esta exclusión por razones sociales que sufrían mejicanos o españoles.
Lo que nos viene a contar Willa Cather en El Canto de la Alondra, es la historia de transición desde su infancia hasta su vida adulta de Thea Kronborg, una niña con un enorme talento para la música, que desde muy temprana edad se liberará de las ataduras provincianas para hacer una carrera en la música. Hija de un pastor metodista de ascendencia sueca y criada entre siete hermanos, Thea fue desde su nacimiento una niña de una individualidad muy marcada, en una época en este detalle llamaba poderosamente la atención, más tratándose de una mujer.
"¿Acaso no sabes que la mayoría de las personas del mundo no tienen nada de individuos? Nunca tienen una idea o una experiencia individual. Muchas chicas van al mismo internado, debutan en la misma temporada, bailan en las mismas fiestas, se casan en grupos, tienen hijos al mismo tiempo, envian a sus hijos a la escuela juntos y así va renovándose la cosecha humana. Esas mujeres no saben más sobre la realidad de esas formas de vida que sobre las guerras cuyas fechas aprenden. Extraen sus experiencias más personales de novelas y de obras de teatro; todo es de segunda mano en ellas. Pues bien, tu no podrías vivir así".
Esta primera parte de la novela, la más extensa en la que se nos cuenta la infancia y adolescencia de Thea en Moonstone, es para mí la más fascinante porque Willa Cather la siembra de personajes, paisajes desérticos, momentos que marcarán a Thea no solo por el resto de su vida sino para el resto de la novela. Por mucho que Thea abandone en su adolescencia Moonstone para afincarse en Chicago y más tarde en Nueva York, Moonstone siempre estará presente durante toda la novela. La evolución personal del personaje de Thea me ha parecido prodigioso porque asistimos a la creación de una artista con sus luces y sus sombras, sus dudas y sus momentos de bajada a los infiernos, así que a lo largo de sus más de 500 páginas asistimos a varios retratos del mismo personaje a medida que va evolucionando y desarrollandose su personalidad. Una novela de profunda carga psicológica, porque no solo somos testigos del crecimiento personal de Thea, sino de varios de los personajes a lo largo de toda la novela, es quizás por esto, que se ha convertido en mi novela favorita de Willa Cather, sin ninguna duda.
"Pero algún día podré mirarla a la cara y reír porque hice por ella todo lo que pude. Creo en ella. No hará nada vulgar. Es una persona extraordinaria en un mundo muy, muy ordinario".
https://kansasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/12/el-canto-de-la-alondra-de-willa-cather.html
The first two thirds of the book I thoroughly enjoyed. It's a fruitful blending of everything I loved about "Death Comes for the Archibishop" and "O Pioneers!": the strong central female character – Thea – finds mental and spiritual nourishment from the natural world, in particular the salt hills of her childhood in Colorado and a desert canyon in Arizona. She discovers her talent, and decides how she wants it to manifest. Her introspection, inner conflicts, and self-determination made her an intriguing character.
Throughout her life, she has several male friends, teachers, and mentors whose love for her is pure and supportive. I did not enjoy the last third of the book, because a huge time jump was accompanied by a total shift in focus from Thea to two of the men in her life. I would have been much more interested in Thea's perception of herself and her talent in her adulthood, rather than her childhood friend's struggle to reconcile young Thea with adult Thea.
The book was longer than I expected. Cather's abrupt departure from the strong central lead and nature imagery made the last third particularly tedious to finish. And I know this novel is apparently semi-autobiographical, but I was lowkey disappointed in Thea's complete lack of female friendships/relationships/mentorships. Aside from her kinship with her mother, Thea actively avoids interacting with other women.
Also, the N-word was used a couple of times, including once by Thea in a really derogatory way. Of course, this book was published in 1915, and I understand that times were different. That doesn't mean I have to like it, or even ignore it. I certainly can't ignore the tinge of betrayal I felt when Thea said it.
Cather's prose is at its best when she's painting scenes of nature. I've read three of her novels so far, and I love, love, love reading the first sentence of a paragraph and instantly knowing that the sentences that follow are going to fill me with warmth and take me away.
Throughout her life, she has several male friends, teachers, and mentors whose love for her is pure and supportive. I did not enjoy the last third of the book, because a huge time jump was accompanied by a total shift in focus from Thea to two of the men in her life. I would have been much more interested in Thea's perception of herself and her talent in her adulthood, rather than her childhood friend's struggle to reconcile young Thea with adult Thea.
The book was longer than I expected. Cather's abrupt departure from the strong central lead and nature imagery made the last third particularly tedious to finish. And I know this novel is apparently semi-autobiographical, but I was lowkey disappointed in Thea's complete lack of female friendships/relationships/mentorships. Aside from her kinship with her mother, Thea actively avoids interacting with other women.
Also, the N-word was used a couple of times, including once by Thea in a really derogatory way. Of course, this book was published in 1915, and I understand that times were different. That doesn't mean I have to like it, or even ignore it. I certainly can't ignore the tinge of betrayal I felt when Thea said it.
Cather's prose is at its best when she's painting scenes of nature. I've read three of her novels so far, and I love, love, love reading the first sentence of a paragraph and instantly knowing that the sentences that follow are going to fill me with warmth and take me away.