Music and Myth in Modern Literature

Description

This book is the first major study that explores the intrinsic connection between music and myth, as Nietzsche conceived of it in The Birth of Tragedy (1872), in three great works of modern literature: Romain Rolland’s Nobel Prize winning novel Jean-Christophe (1904-12), James Joyce’s modernist epic Ulysses (1922), and Thomas Mann’s late masterpiece Doctor Faustus (1947). Juxtaposing Nietzsche’s conception of the Apollonian and Dionysian with narrative depictions of music and myth, Josh Torabi challenges the common view that the latter half of The Birth of Tragedy is of secondary importance to the first. Informed by a deep knowledge of Nietzsche’s early aesthetics, the book goes on to offer a fresh and original perspective on Ulysses and Doctor Faustus, two world-famous novels that are rarely discussed together, and makes the case for the significance of Jean-Christophe, which has been unfairly neglected in the Anglophone world, despite Rolland’s status as a major figure in twentieth-century intellectual and literary history. This unique study reveals new depths to the work of our most enduring writers and thinkers. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Forward Contents Acknowledgements Prelude: Chasing the Ineffable Part I: First Movement 1. Schopenhauer, Wagner and Nietzsche: The Musicalization of Myth and the Mythologization of Music in The Birth of Tragedy Musico-Mythic Beginnings Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics of Music in The World as Will and Representation Wagner: Musicalizing Nation and Myth in Beethoven Nietzsche’s Aesthetic Models of Music and Myth in The Birth of Tragedy Towards a Nietzschean Configuration in the Modern Novel Part II: Second Movement 2. Jean-Christophe: The Silent Music of the Soul The Genesis of Jean-Christophe A Born Musician: Jean-Christophe’s Early Years The Roots of Artistic Creation: Jean-Christophe the Creator Music Fictionalized: Jean-Christophe’s Compositions Divisions: Apollo, Dionysus and Franco-German Musico-Literary Relations in Jean-Christophe Jean-Christophe’s Final Voyage: Improvisation, Italy and Late Music Part III: Third Movement 3. Joyce’s ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’: Performative Music and Mythic Method in Ulysses Approaching Music and Myth in Ulysses Stephen Dedalus-Dionysus: A Portrait of the Artist’s Aesthetic Theory in “Proteus” From Apollo to Bloom: Resisting Songs in the “Sirens” And Behold: Leopold Could Not Live Without Stephen! The Apollonian and Dionysian, Side by Side in “Eumaeus” Myth Updating in Ulysses Part IV: Fourth Movement 4. The Pact: Music and Myth in Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus Demonic Origins Mann and Myth Part I: Adrian Leverkühn’s Education Kretzschmar’s Lectures Part II: Why Adrian Leverkühn Writes Such Good Music The Early Works Apocalypse Now! The Great Lament: Adrian Leverkühn’s Masterpiece and Faust’s Redemption Reprise Bibliography Index