In my previous post (“Cather’s Characters”, posted 16 July), I discussed fifteen character sketches in Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark (and a couple of sketches in Jane Austen’s Emma). I noted that all the sketches in The Song of the Lark concern secondary or tertiary characters. There is no sketch of the principal … Continue reading More on Character Sketches

I my previous post I began to discuss the little character sketches in Willa Cather’s novel, The Song of the Lark. There are, by my count, fifteen of these. Here’s a list of the sketches I’ve found: 1. Thea Kronborg’s mother, p. 14–15.2. Thea’s father, pp. 17-18.3. Thea’s aunt Tillie, pp. 20–21.4. Thea’s friend, Mrs. … Continue reading Cather’s Characters

Willa Cather was born in Virginia in 1873, she grew up in Nebraska, but she lived most of her adult life in New York City, and she died in 1947. She’s often considered a mid-Western realist, but that description really doesn’t begin to describe her writing. Her style is mostly rather understated; her use of … Continue reading Portraits in Willa Cather’s “The Song of the Lark”