Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark, the latest in Rodopi’s Dialogue Series, is a collection of thirteen new essays exploring Cather’s 1915 classic novel about the coming-of-age of Thea Kronborg, a gifted young opera singer. As in previous editions in the Dialogue series, this volume on Cather’s novel offers analyses by both new and emerging scholars on complex and controversial issues. Specific areas of focus include: the role of the West and the railroad, race and race relations, the performing arts, as well as Cather’s complex construction of “culture” throughout the novel. Thea’s role as a possible feminist icon receives a fresh, insightful look, while other writers explore the nature of gift and gift-giving as well as the novel’s relation to other literary movements and genres. Scholars and the general public will welcome the ways these new critical insights offer a fresh look at this modern classic.
