Comparative Literature 691A - S-Lit And Music

This course examines the relationship between music and the 20th- 21st-century novel. How does music influence narrative form? How do texts appropriate musical elements in order to create the illusion of orality and presence? What political and ideological assumptions accompany music in literature? In our discussions, we will also address the status of musical metaphors in literary criticism. Readings will include selections from Abani, Kundera, Carpentier, Cortazar, Morrison, Chamoiseau, Coetzee, Djebar, Bakhtin, Said, Sartre, Huston, Levi-Strauss, Lacoue-Labarthes, and Derrida. Students who have French or Spanish will be encouraged to read those texts in the original language.