"The Treasure of Creative Power": A Portrait of the Young Female Artist in Willa Cather's The Song of the Lark

This article provides an analysis of the portrayal of the woman artist in Willa Cather’s novel The Song of The Lark while exploring the importance of creativity and art-making processes in the development of a woman’s positive self-identity, as is the case with Thea Kronborg, the protagonist of this modernist Künstlerroman, and with the author herself. Therefore, by examining the above-mentioned issues through the lenses of literary theories, as well as through art research and music studies, this article posits that Thea’s process of self-growth comes through locating the vocation of artistic creativity in music learning and opera singing in particular. This paper ultimately aims to prove that music is not only a genuine source of inspiration for musicians and singers, but it can also be a force that writers use in their literature to re-create stories and move toward richer self-expression.