Felix Delbrueck <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Roger Hecht recommended a few fiction works involving musical issues.  I
>would like to add Thomas Mann's Dr Faustus, a fascinating exploration of
>the links between music, madness, the rise of Nazism, and a whole lot of
>other things.  It's a long and difficult read (I have to admit I only read
>the first half in my 'teens, and haven't yet found the time to start again
>and finish it), but what I read and could understand at the time was
>unforgettable.  I don't know how well it works in translation, however.

Well, judging from the similarity of our experiences with the book -- I
got through about 2/3rds of it and then set it aside -- the translation
works about the same as the German (at least for my coarse American
sensibilities).  Like another poster said, "Doktor Faustus" has some
extended and illuminating musical commentary on the Beethoven op. 111
piano sonata, and an interesting section on twelve-tone theory.  In
addition, Thomas Mann has some really astounding descriptions of fictional
compositions by the central character.  As Mr. Delbrueck stated, though,
it's not really a book *about* music...the music often stands as a metaphor
for the social and political makeup of WWI and WWII Germany.

Unfortunately though, it is quite a behemoth of a book, and does, at times,
have the consistency of lead.  I slogged through as much as I could, and I
was pretty exhausted by the halfway point.  If you have a lot of time to
devote to it (I didn't, I was reading it for a class around finals time),
it is a really complex study of wartime Germanic culture and politics, and
there's some interesting music discussion to boot.  If I could do things
over again, I would probably read "Death in Venice" first to get accustomed
to Mann's style; it's good to walk before you run.

Another intriguing book which has music as a subject but is not really
about music is Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Unconsoled" (he also wrote "The
Remains of the Day", which I haven't read but is highly regarded).  This,
too, is a gigantic book, but after the first 170 pages or so things really
start to move along...but beware the three-page-long paragraphs.  It's
technically about a concert pianist arrives in an Eastern European city
to give a very important performance, but the book focuses more on his
interactions with the tripped-out townspeople and his internal musings
than the music.  All the musical discussion in this book is fictional,
however, focusing on the works of several composers who do not actually
exist (guys named Mullery and Kazan).  It is an eerie and dream-like book
in the strongest sense, and the title pretty much described how I felt
while I was reading it.  An adjective I have heard used to describe this
book is "Kafkaesque"...from what little I know of Kafka, I would agree.
Enjoy!

--everitt clark
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