Künstlerroman Essay
Section I (Mike)
The timeless literary genre of Kunstlerroman is a genre with many mandatory stages that the protagonist must experience or go through during the curse of the novel. Thea Kronberg is the protagonist in the novel The Song Of The Lark, a novel that is an exquisite example of a Kunstlerroman. Thea, therefore, bust go through all of the stages of the genre. The first stage that Thea and all other protagonist of the genre most go through is the state of confinement, meaning the protagonist is limited by there location or people around them. What makes Thea’s situation most interesting and why it is this stage that must be investigated in her story is that she is confined both by location and the people in her life.
The small fictional Colorado town of Moonstone was most likely inspired by the mining boom town of the late 19th century like Silverthorne, Leadville and Johnstown. Such communities are blatantly not conducive to the development of any short of artistic skill for many reasons. “He wished he had gone to Denver to hear Fay Templeton sing…”(5 Cather) Dr. Archie’s need to go to Denver to see music be preformed is one of these confinements that are part of small town living for Thea. Denver is a great distance from Moonstone, and it is because of this distance that Thea was not able to see as many live performances as she should have.
The great distance between Moonstone and a city of any consequence also forced Moonstone to lack the sort of artistic community that a city would have. This fact is made visible in Thea’s piano instructor. “Wunsch and old Fritz and Spanish Johnny celebrated Christmas together, so riotously that Wunsch was unable to give Thea her lesson’s the next day.”(67 Cather) It is extremely clear when analyzing this passage that Wunsch is more concerned with drinking than Thea’s studies. This incident is also not the only time that Wunsch’s drinking interferes with Thea’s musical career. It is safe to presume that one of the main reasons Thea goes to Wunsch is because of her location. If there had been a plethora of affordable music instructors in Moonstone she would have not been taught by the town drunk.
The extreme seclusion of Moonstone and the lack of a sober, professional musical instructor for Thea are two of many forms of confinement Thea must endure during the course of the beginning of The Song Of The Lark. Like all other protagonists of the Kunstlerroman Thea overcomes the adversity of her early life and grows artistically because of it.
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