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Music and Myth in Modern Literature

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Music and Myth in Modern Literature Music and Myth in Modern Literature This book is the first major study that explores the intrinsic connec­ tion 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 mas­ terpiece 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. Josh Torabi is a literary scholar, and currently a visiting research fellow in the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film at Queen Mary Uni­ versity of London. He works on European modernism, with a particular focus on the relationship between literature and music. He has published articles on Friedrich Nietzsche, James Joyce and Thomas Mann. Among the Victorians and Modernists Edited by Dennis Denisoff This series publishes monographs and essay collections on literature, art, and culture in the context of the diverse aesthetic, political, social, tech­ nological, and scientific innovations that arose among the Victorians and Modernists. Viable topics include, but are not limited to, artistic and cultural debates and movements; influential figures and communities; and agitations and developments regarding subjects such as animals, commodification, decadence, degeneracy, democracy, desire, ecology, gender, nationalism, the paranormal, performance, public art, sex, socialism, spiritualities, transnationalism, and the urban. Studies that address continuities between the Victorians and Modernists are wel­ come. Work on recent responses to the periods such as Neo-Victorian novels, graphic novels, and film will also be considered. Desire and Time in Modern English Fiction: 1919–2017 Richard Dellamora Catherine Crowe: Gender, Genre, and Radical Politics Ruth Heholt Peril and Protection in British Courtship Novels A Study in Continuity and Change Geri Giebel Chavis The Intelligent Unconscious in Modernist Literature and Science Thalia Trigoni Music and Myth in Modern Literature Josh Torabi For more information about this series, please visit: https://www. routledge.com/Among-the-Victorians-and-Modernists/book-series/ ASHSER4035 Music and Myth in Modern Literature Josh Torabi First published 2021 by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Josh Torabi The right of Josh Torabi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this title has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-55079-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-09188-2 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon LT Std by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. For Isabel Contents Acknowledgements ix Prelude: Chasing the Ineffable 1 PART I First Movement 13 1 Schopenhauer, Wagner and Nietzsche: The Musicalization of Myth and the Mythologization of Music in The Birth of Tragedy 15 Musico-Mythic Beginnings 15 Schopenhauer’s Metaphysics of Music in The World as Will and Representation 16 Wagner: Musicalizing Nation and Myth in Beethoven 22 Nietzsche’s Aesthetic Models of Music and Myth in The Birth of Tragedy 31 Towards a Nietzschean Configuration in the Modern Novel 39 PART II Second Movement 47 2 Jean-Christophe: The Silent Music of the Soul 49 The Genesis of Jean-Christophe 49 A Born Musician: Jean-Christophe’s Early Years 55 The Roots of Artistic Creation: Jean-Christophe the Creator 62 Music Fictionalized: Jean-Christophe’s Compositions 70 Divisions: Apollo, Dionysus and Franco-German Musico-Literary Relations in Jean-Christophe 80 Jean-Christophe’s Final Voyage: Improvisation, Italy and Late Music 89 viii Contents PART III Third Movement 103 3 Joyce’s ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’: Performative Music and Mythic Method in Ulysses 105 Approaching Music and Myth in Ulysses 105 Stephen Dedalus-Dionysus: A Portrait of the Artist’s Aesthetic Theory in “Proteus” 110 From Apollo to Bloom: Resisting Songs in the “Sirens” 120 And Behold: Leopold Could Not Live Without Stephen! The Apollonian and Dionysian, Side by Side in “Eumaeus” 132 Myth Updating in Ulysses 150 PART IV Fourth Movement 161 4 The Pact: Music and Myth in Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus 163 Demonic Origins 163 Mann and Myth 165 Part I: Adrian Leverkühn’s Education 168 Kretzschmar’s Lectures 168 Part II: Why Adrian Leverkühn Writes Such Good Music 178 The Early Works 178 Apocalypse Now! 186 The Great Lament: Adrian Leverkühn’s Masterpiece and Faust’s Redemption 193 Reprise 205 Bibliography 207 Index 219 Acknowledgements To Isabel Wall, who has read, commented on, and contributed to this book at every stage of its development, I cannot adequately express my thanks. During the early stages of my research Robert Vilain and Steffan Davies offered critical assistance and encouraged me to pursue doctoral research. It was during my time studying for an MA at the University of Bristol, under their guidance, that my interest in the music and myth connection, and the scope for future research, was established. My doctoral thesis, upon which this book is based, would not have come to fruition without the encouragement of Sonu Shamdasani, Martin Liebscher and Rüdiger Görner. Their unwavering support, crit­ ical suggestions and insightful comments were of profound importance to the completion of this work. I’d like to thank Sonu for overseeing every aspect of this project from its inception; Martin for his integral contribution to the Nietzschean elements of this work, including his help in determining the scope of Nietzsche’s presence in it; and Rüdiger, who was instrumental in the development of this project, not least for introducing me to Romain Rolland’s Jean-Christophe, and for being an inexhaustible well of knowledge on musico-literary matters. I am grateful to the readers of my thesis, Ernest Schonfield and John Walker, whose helpful comments have undoubtedly improved the quality of this monograph. From 2015 to 2019 I was a doctoral student in the School of European Languages, Culture and Society at University College London (UCL) and would like to thank UCL’s Doctoral School for nominating my application for an Exchange Scholarship at Yale University and for the generous funding which allowed me to take up this unique opportunity. I’d like to extend my thanks and gratitude to Professor Kirk Wetters for supporting my application, and for welcoming me to the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Yale; his perceptive feedback and generosity during my time at Yale are truly appreciated. I’d like to thank the Zürich James Joyce Foundation for deeming my project worthy of generous scholarship funding. There is nowhere better x Acknowledgements to study Joyce and his works. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Fritz Senn, Ursula Zeller, Ruth Frehner, Frances Ilmberger and Silke Stebler. I’d also like to extend my thanks and gratitude to Michelle Witen, who kindly agreed to meet with me in Switzerland. Her work on Joyce and music is an inspiration, and her specific suggestions helped me formulate my chapter on Ulysses. I’d like to thank my mother Valerie and my late father Hamid for the years of unwavering support and unconditional love, which got me to this point. I’d also like to thank Catherine and William Wall for their generosity in trying times. Thanks to the Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London, for offering me a Visiting Scholarship, which provided me with the time and resources needed to complete this book. Conversations with friends and colleagues at UCL helped shaped this work in various ways. In particular I would like to thank Gaia Domenici, Arthur Eaton, Matei Iagher, Oliver Knox, Sarah Marks, Jelena Martinovic, Tommaso Priviero, Dee McQullian, Kazue Niki, Jennifer Rushworth, Jonathan Shann, Francisca Stutzin, Alex Woodcock and Dangwei Zhou. I am grateful to have been a part of the research seminars regularly held at the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations at Queen Mary University of London. Many valuable discussions have taken place dur­ ing these sessions, which helped sharpen my thinking and develop my research. At Routledge I would like to thank Michelle Salyga, my editor, and Bryony Reece, for their enthusiastic response to this project, and for seeing it through publication. Parts of this work have benefitted from publication in journals, and I am very grateful to a number of editors and readers. The third move­ ment first saw light as a conference paper presented at the XXI Simposio de la Sociedad Española de Literatura General y Comparada and was subsequently published in Estudios de Literatura 1 (vol.
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