Overview

Modern literature has always been obsessed by music. It cannot seem to think about itself without obsessing about music. And music has returned the favour. The Routledge Companion to Music and Modern Literature addresses this relationship as a significant contribution to the burgeoning field of word and music studies. The 37 chapters within consider the partnership through four lenses—the universal, opera and literature, musical and literary forms, and popular music and literature—and touch upon diverse and pertinent themes for our modern times, ranging from misogyny to queerness, racial inequality to the claimed universality of whiteness. This Companion therefore offers an essential resource for all who try to decode the musico-literary exchange.

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9781032232874

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This book is an important and very welcome addition to the rapidly-expanding area of word and music studies. Both ‘literature’ and ‘music’ are interpreted very broadly to include a wide ranging array of discussions in which the creative tension between these two signifying systems is explored. The notion of the universal in music is problematized, followed by a broad investigation of disparate musical forms, ranging from opera to heavy metal, with an equally broad range of literature. The thirty seven contributors come from a large variety of disciplinary backgrounds and provide a fascinating contemporary snapshot of word and music studies. Dr Michael Halliwell, Associate Professor Vocal Studies and Opera, University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music President, International Association for Word and Music Studies ‘This volume will be of immense value to scholars and students of modern music and modern literature as well as to those with interdisciplinary interests. It also has much to offer readers with wide-ranging theoretical interests in issues of modernity. As a whole, the volume contributes significantly to current conversations about music and literature - severally and in combination - and to wider conversations about the importance of the arts and humanities. Collectively, the chapters in this book offer a fertile and compelling exploration of key questions of music and modernity.’ Delia DaSousa This book is an important and very welcome addition to the rapidly-expanding area of word and music studies. Both ‘literature’ and ‘music’ are interpreted very broadly to include a wide ranging array of discussions in which the creative tension between these two signifying systems is explored. The notion of the universal in music is problematized, followed by a broad investigation of disparate musical forms, ranging from opera to heavy metal, with an equally broad range of literature. The thirty seven contributors come from a large variety of disciplinary backgrounds and provide a fascinating contemporary snapshot of word and music studies. Dr Michael Halliwell, Associate Professor Vocal Studies and Opera, University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music President, International Association for Word and Music Studies ‘This volume will be of immense value to scholars and students of modern music and modern literature as well as to those with interdisciplinary interests. It also has much to offer readers with wide-ranging theoretical interests in issues of modernity. As a whole, the volume contributes significantly to current conversations about music and literature - severally and in combination - and to wider conversations about the importance of the arts and humanities. Collectively, the chapters in this book offer a fertile and compelling exploration of key questions of music and modernity.’ Delia DaSousa

Author Information

Rachael Durkin is Senior Lecturer in Music in the Department of Humanities at Northumbria University. Peter Dayan is Honorary Professorial Fellow in Word and Music Studies at the University of Edinburgh. From 2014 to 2019, he was also Obel Visiting Professor at the University of Aalborg in Denmark. Axel Englund is Professor of Literature and Wallenberg Academy Fellow in the Department of Culture and Aesthetics at Stockholm University. Katharina Clausius is Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Intermedial Studies in the Département de littératures et de langues du monde at the Université de Montréal.

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