Thomas Hardy, metaphysics and music [Elektronisk resurs] / Mark Asquith.
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Asquith, Mark. (författare)
- ISBN 9780230508019
- Publicerad: Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2005
- Engelska 248 p.
- Relaterad länk:
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http://dx.doi.org/10... (Table of Contents / Abstracts)
Innehållsförteckning
Sammanfattning
Ämnesord
Stäng
- Introduction 'The Road to Norcombe Hill': Hardy's Musical Evolution 'Silent Workings of the Invisible Hand': Hardy's Metaphysical Evolution The 'Spider's Web': Metaphysics into 'Music Drama' 'The Plucked Harp String': Desire, Courtship Ritual and the Debate Concerning Speech Theory A Tale of 'Tragical Possibilities': Music and the Birth of Consciousness in The Return of the Native 'A Tragedy Appropriate for its Time': Music and the Story of a 'Man of Character' 'All Creation Groaning': A Deaf Ear to Music in Jude the Obscure Conclusion Bibliography Index.
- Following the success of Far From the Madding Crowd, in 1876 Hardy began a campaign of reading through which he sought to give his novels the intellectual weight necessary to prevent him from being labelled a rural writer. Through scholarly analysis of Hardy's Notebooks, letters and contemporary periodicals, this book explores Hardy's engagement with the Victorian intellectual world, particularly the debates concerning evolution, free will and determinism, mesmerism and musical aesthetics. The 1870s witnessed an enormous interest in musical theory: it was during this period that the ideas of Arthur Schopenhaur and Richard Wagner were popularised in this country, whilst domestic luminaries such as Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer focussed on the status, origins, and function of music. This book contextualises Hardy's novels within such debates, offering fascinating new insights into his employment of musical motifs to reflect shifting attitudes to human consciousness and the depiction and transmission of emotions. The Hardy who emerges, is not the 'good little Thomas Hardy' so patronisingly dismissed by Henry James, but one of the most innovative and experimental artists of his day.
- 'One of the best books on Hardy published in recent years...I was struck by how coherent, well-illustrated and informative it is, opening up a world of musicological debate and making sense of it; relating it to the way that the nineteenth century thought about emotion, embodiment and their transmission; and of course applying it in numerous incisive ways to a range of Hardy's work, taking in issues including the Darwinian landscape, social life, courtship and the chorus...An impressive and elegant book.' - Tim Armstrong, Royal Holloway, UK.
Ämnesord
- Romantic music (c 1830 to c 1900). (bicssc)
- Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900. (bicssc)
- Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers. (bicssc)
- Music. (eflch)
Klassifikation
- AVGC5 (ämneskategori)
- DSBF (ämneskategori)
- DSK (ämneskategori)
- MUS (ämneskategori)
Inställningar
Hjälp
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