fiction about music or musicians?
Zornlist: Here's a question you all might be able to help me with. I'm toying with the idea of 'music in literature' as a topic for a class, and I'm trying to think of substantial fiction that is either about a musician, or about a musical milieu, or a type of music. Some examples of what I mean: Toni Morrison, 'Jazz' Michael Ondaatje, 'Coming Through Slaughter' Oscar Hijuelos, 'The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love' James Baldwin, 'Another Country' (at least the first section) Michael Thelwell, "The Harder They Come" I think Rushdies "Ground Beneath Her Feet" deals with rock music? what about MacInnes, "Absolute Beginners"? The book doesn't have to focus exclusively on music, but it ought to use it in some important way-- for example, Hanif Kureishi's "Buddha of Suburbia" deals with punk/glam at times. Or Langston Hughes' "Not Without Laughter" has some discussion of jazz/blues. Musics and/or literatures other than the US would be a great help. Thanks! Andy Miller
One must-read novel: Rafi Zabor's "The Bear Comes Home". On Tue, 2003-10-07 at 10:01, Miller, James Andrew (UMC-Student) wrote:
Zornlist:
Here's a question you all might be able to help me with. I'm toying with the idea of 'music in literature' as a topic for a class, and I'm trying to think of substantial fiction that is either about a musician, or about a musical milieu, or a type of music. Some examples of what I mean:
Toni Morrison, 'Jazz' Michael Ondaatje, 'Coming Through Slaughter' Oscar Hijuelos, 'The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love' James Baldwin, 'Another Country' (at least the first section) Michael Thelwell, "The Harder They Come" I think Rushdies "Ground Beneath Her Feet" deals with rock music? what about MacInnes, "Absolute Beginners"?
The book doesn't have to focus exclusively on music, but it ought to use it in some important way-- for example, Hanif Kureishi's "Buddha of Suburbia" deals with punk/glam at times. Or Langston Hughes' "Not Without Laughter" has some discussion of jazz/blues. Musics and/or literatures other than the US would be a great help.
Hi, I'm not sure if this is what you expect (as it is not really a fiction): there's this great book by Douglas Hofstadter called "Gödel, Escher, Bach". It links Gödel's mathematical theorem, M.C. Escher's paintings and engravments and J.S. Bach's music. Each chapter starts with some fiction with characters taken from a book by Lewis Caroll. Anyway, it's a great book that I would highly recommend ;-) Regards, -- Thierry Miller, James Andrew (UMC-Student) wrote:
Zornlist:
Here's a question you all might be able to help me with. I'm toying with the idea of 'music in literature' as a topic for a class, and I'm trying to think of substantial fiction that is either about a musician, or about a musical milieu, or a type of music. Some examples of what I mean:
Toni Morrison, 'Jazz' Michael Ondaatje, 'Coming Through Slaughter' Oscar Hijuelos, 'The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love' James Baldwin, 'Another Country' (at least the first section) Michael Thelwell, "The Harder They Come" I think Rushdies "Ground Beneath Her Feet" deals with rock music? what about MacInnes, "Absolute Beginners"?
The book doesn't have to focus exclusively on music, but it ought to use it in some important way-- for example, Hanif Kureishi's "Buddha of Suburbia" deals with punk/glam at times. Or Langston Hughes' "Not Without Laughter" has some discussion of jazz/blues. Musics and/or literatures other than the US would be a great help.
Thanks! Andy Miller
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A CASE OF LONE STAR, by the amazing Kinky Friedman. SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER and STREET OF NO RETURN, both by David Goodis. If I had to pick one book that summed up what it feels like to be a professional musician, I'd have to say THE KNOCKOUT ARTIST by Harry Crews. skip h NP: Frank Zappa, HALLOWEEN audio DVD
For french speaking people (I don't think it was ever translated), there's the funny and strange "Le Temps du Twist" from Joel Houssin, which is an SF book about teenagers discovering that by playing Led Zeppelin bootlegs in their old car they find themselves at the place and date of the corresponding concert. Unfortunately by tinquering with time, they found themselves in a time where a guy broke Jimmy Page's first guitare, and Page has become a painter, Led Zeppelin doesn't exist ! now isn't it a strong plot ? Kerouac has some really nice piece about music in "On the Road". Gregoire.
Thomas Bernhard's the Loser is kinda about Glenn Gould and William Gaddis' Agape Agape is pretty great and brings up a variety of musicians and composers. Both are really great as well. matt.
Mike Moorcock's early writings of the Ladbroke Grove scene are pretty essential - Hawkwind, Pink Faries, Deviants, Calvert, Jimi Hendrix, Wm. Burroughs, etc. Sadly, I don't think many of the key Moorcock's key short stories (such as the Black Corridor) are in print, though I know the two Hawkwind books were re-printed during the late 90s. --- "matt." <matthewtaylor@alaska.com> wrote:
Thomas Bernhard's the Loser is kinda about Glenn Gould and William Gaddis' Agape Agape is pretty great and brings up a variety of musicians and composers. Both are really great as well.
matt.
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Andy wrote: JAM> I'm toying with the idea of 'music in literature' as a topic for a JAM> class, and I'm trying to think of substantial fiction that is JAM> either about a musician, or about a musical milieu, or a type of JAM> music. If I started cracking open boxes & staring at spines I could probably come up with dozen in an hour or so, but the one that crawls directly from my unaided memory is Josef Skvorecky's _The Bass Saxophone_. It's in print from Ecco. -- Jim Flannery newgrange@newgrangemedia.com One cannot judge the value of an opinion simply by the amount of courage that is required in holding it. -- George Orwell np: nr: Lawrence Sutin, _Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley_
Two Jazz novels: Ross Russell's The Sound, (hard to find) a Roman à clef about Bird by the owner of Dial Records who recorded him. John Clelland Holmes' The Horn, a more literary novel with characters that could be Billie Holiday and Lester Young. Ken Waxman --- "Miller, James Andrew (UMC-Student)" <jam189@mizzou.edu> wrote: > Zornlist:
Here's a question you all might be able to help me with. I'm toying with the idea of 'music in literature' as a topic for a class, and I'm trying to think of substantial fiction that is either about a musician, or about a musical milieu, or a type of music. Some examples of what I mean:
Toni Morrison, 'Jazz' Michael Ondaatje, 'Coming Through Slaughter' Oscar Hijuelos, 'The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love' James Baldwin, 'Another Country' (at least the first section) Michael Thelwell, "The Harder They Come" I think Rushdies "Ground Beneath Her Feet" deals with rock music? what about MacInnes, "Absolute Beginners"?
The book doesn't have to focus exclusively on music, but it ought to use it in some important way-- for example, Hanif Kureishi's "Buddha of Suburbia" deals with punk/glam at times. Or Langston Hughes' "Not Without Laughter" has some discussion of jazz/blues. Musics and/or literatures other than the US would be a great help.
Thanks! Andy Miller
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===== Ken Waxman mingusaum@yahoo.ca www.jazzword.com - Jazz/improv news, CD reviews and photos ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca
Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed deals with the birth of Jazz and other music related topics.
I'd suggest Lars Amund Vaage's book 'Rubato'. Dunno if it's been translated to enlish, though. It's a story of a pianist who dropped any interest in music in the face of personal problems, and his comeback to the theme. pretty intresting from the point of view of music, and good fiction. MG ----- Original Message ----- From: "Miller, James Andrew (UMC-Student)" <jam189@mizzou.edu> To: <zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2003 7:01 PM Subject: fiction about music or musicians?
Zornlist:
Here's a question you all might be able to help me with. I'm toying with the idea of 'music in literature' as a topic for a class, and I'm trying to think of substantial fiction that is either about a musician, or about a musical milieu, or a type of music. Some examples of what I mean:
Toni Morrison, 'Jazz' Michael Ondaatje, 'Coming Through Slaughter' Oscar Hijuelos, 'The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love' James Baldwin, 'Another Country' (at least the first section) Michael Thelwell, "The Harder They Come" I think Rushdies "Ground Beneath Her Feet" deals with rock music? what about MacInnes, "Absolute Beginners"?
The book doesn't have to focus exclusively on music, but it ought to use it in some important way-- for example, Hanif Kureishi's "Buddha of Suburbia" deals with punk/glam at times. Or Langston Hughes' "Not Without Laughter" has some discussion of jazz/blues. Musics and/or literatures other than the US would be a great help.
Thanks! Andy Miller
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participants (11)
-
Gregoire Hamon -
Ivan Lapse -
Jim Flannery -
Joseph Zitt -
Keith McMullen -
Ken Waxman -
Marcin Gokieli -
matt. -
Miller, James Andrew (UMC-Student) -
skip heller -
Thierry Raguin