1st-year tutorial, Fall, 2002
| Jonathan Chenette Dept. of Music |
chenet@grinnell.edu | x3065, FA254 |
Mon, 10-11 Th, 3-4:30 |
- We will read novels and stories with musicians as protagonists and study the music that inspired their authors. Why have writers been drawn to musicians as fictional characters, and how can insights into the music color our reading of the stories? Our material will range widely, from Willa Cather's portrayals of singers and fiddlers on the prairie and Thomas Mann's depiction of a demonic composer in Doctor Faustus <or Oscar Hijuelos's depiction of a composer in A Simple Habana Melody>. Recent novels will include Vikram Seth's story of chamber music players in contemporary London, An Equal Music, and Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, the purported musings of a DJ and failing record store owner whose love affairs play out over the backdrop of his collection of classic vinyl.
- To develop critical reading, writing, discussion, and information literacy skills through studies of fictional portrayals of musicians.
- Cather, Willa. The Song of the Lark.
1915. New York: Marriner-Houghton, 1988.
- Fulwiler, Toby and Alan R. Hayakawa. The College Writer's Reference. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 1999.
Hornby, Nick. High Fidelity. New York: Riverhead-Penguin, 1995.
Seth, Vikram. An Equal Music. New York: Vintage-Random, 1999.
ONE OR THE OTHER OF THE FOLLOWING:
Hijuelos, Oscar. A Simple Habana Melody (from when the world was good). New York: Harper, 2002.
Mann, Thomas. Doctor Faustus. 1947. Trans. John E. Woods. New York: Vintage-Random, 1997.
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