Music and Religion in the Writings of Ian Mcewan

Music and Religion in the Writings of Ian Mcewan

Author: Iain Quinn

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2023-11-07

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1837650829

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The majority of characters in Ian McEwan's novels are educated members of the middle class, but without any great private financial means and certainly no great affluence. Despite different occupations, whether scientist (Solar), musician (On Chesil Beach, Amsterdam) or surgeon (Saturday), they are faced with moral, ethical, religious and personal dilemmas that bear resonance to a contemporary audience. Classical music is present throughout McEwan's writings (including his recent Lessons, 2022), mostly not as an accompanying theme but as a necessary part of life's pleasures and for some, essential needs. The combination of music and the unforgettable narrative moments create a unique space for McEwan to translate his views on the world. The value of music, not least as a complementary presence to silence, is portrayed not just as the source of comfort but as a known presence that is dependable to an individual on a near spiritual level. Within his writings there is also a clear understanding of the role of the Church of England as a societal, cultural and established presence within British society. In the literary descriptions of McEwan and other authors this often extends beyond the immediate theological and ecclesiastical concerns of the day. McEwan's writings demonstrate a perceptive knowledge of the nuances of this highly specific cultural dynamic. McEwan's ability to discern sentiments that easily resonate with musicians place his contribution to the field of music and literature studies in a singular position among living writers discussing classical music in Britain. This book provokes questions for those who encounter these areas for the first time in McEwan's writings, and it offers a place of sustained enquiry for those who have experienced these fields first-hand, whether as listeners, performers, congregants, audience members or scholars across literary, musical or ecclesiastical fields. Iain Quinn's book will be of interest to scholars and students of contemporary British literature, as well as those interested in words and music studies more generally.


Book Synopsis Music and Religion in the Writings of Ian Mcewan by : Iain Quinn

Download or read book Music and Religion in the Writings of Ian Mcewan written by Iain Quinn and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2023-11-07 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The majority of characters in Ian McEwan's novels are educated members of the middle class, but without any great private financial means and certainly no great affluence. Despite different occupations, whether scientist (Solar), musician (On Chesil Beach, Amsterdam) or surgeon (Saturday), they are faced with moral, ethical, religious and personal dilemmas that bear resonance to a contemporary audience. Classical music is present throughout McEwan's writings (including his recent Lessons, 2022), mostly not as an accompanying theme but as a necessary part of life's pleasures and for some, essential needs. The combination of music and the unforgettable narrative moments create a unique space for McEwan to translate his views on the world. The value of music, not least as a complementary presence to silence, is portrayed not just as the source of comfort but as a known presence that is dependable to an individual on a near spiritual level. Within his writings there is also a clear understanding of the role of the Church of England as a societal, cultural and established presence within British society. In the literary descriptions of McEwan and other authors this often extends beyond the immediate theological and ecclesiastical concerns of the day. McEwan's writings demonstrate a perceptive knowledge of the nuances of this highly specific cultural dynamic. McEwan's ability to discern sentiments that easily resonate with musicians place his contribution to the field of music and literature studies in a singular position among living writers discussing classical music in Britain. This book provokes questions for those who encounter these areas for the first time in McEwan's writings, and it offers a place of sustained enquiry for those who have experienced these fields first-hand, whether as listeners, performers, congregants, audience members or scholars across literary, musical or ecclesiastical fields. Iain Quinn's book will be of interest to scholars and students of contemporary British literature, as well as those interested in words and music studies more generally.

Music, Religion, and Society in the Writings of Ian McEwan

Music, Religion, and Society in the Writings of Ian McEwan

Author: Iain Quinn

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9781350215214

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"The book examines the role of music, religion, and society in the writings of Ian McEwan. McEwan's novels provide readers and scholars with both a portrayal of late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century British society and the views of an author who is constantly engaged in personal research. His understanding of music, religion, and society not only corresponds and expands upon those of scholars and commentators in these fields but, this book argues, also advances their arguments through a literary narrative that enables the reader to become immersed in a world that, if their own, is familiar, and if not, at least easily approachable. This book engages with a range of McEwan's writings, including Amsterdam and On Chesil Beach , and features an interview with the writer himself, building on work that explores how individuals and society at-large respond to music, religion, society, class struggles, and the complex structure of British society as it is portrayed in McEwan's narratives. In so doing, this is the first study that contextualizes and illuminates the significance of McEwan's work in the larger field of British cultural studies."--


Book Synopsis Music, Religion, and Society in the Writings of Ian McEwan by : Iain Quinn

Download or read book Music, Religion, and Society in the Writings of Ian McEwan written by Iain Quinn and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The book examines the role of music, religion, and society in the writings of Ian McEwan. McEwan's novels provide readers and scholars with both a portrayal of late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century British society and the views of an author who is constantly engaged in personal research. His understanding of music, religion, and society not only corresponds and expands upon those of scholars and commentators in these fields but, this book argues, also advances their arguments through a literary narrative that enables the reader to become immersed in a world that, if their own, is familiar, and if not, at least easily approachable. This book engages with a range of McEwan's writings, including Amsterdam and On Chesil Beach , and features an interview with the writer himself, building on work that explores how individuals and society at-large respond to music, religion, society, class struggles, and the complex structure of British society as it is portrayed in McEwan's narratives. In so doing, this is the first study that contextualizes and illuminates the significance of McEwan's work in the larger field of British cultural studies."--

Rudolph Ganz, Patriotism, and Standardization of The Star-Spangled Banner, 1907-1958

Rudolph Ganz, Patriotism, and Standardization of The Star-Spangled Banner, 1907-1958

Author: Iain Quinn

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-11-07

Total Pages: 107

ISBN-13: 100381736X

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This book examines the succession of events toward the potential standardization of the music for “The Star-Spangled Banner” from an initial letter to President Roosevelt in 1907 to the 1958 congressional hearings on the National Anthem, and the later work of the Swiss-Born American pianist, Rudolph Ganz. These events took place across five decades when a culture of public patriotism was especially pronounced for immigrant musicians. This book contextualizes the complementary experiences of a leading immigrant musician, Ganz, who successfully navigated the world of public patriotism while pursuing the realization of a standardized version. The materials are discussed through the lens of the performance practice. The legacy of standardization has not previously been examined. The response and actions of an immigrant, Ganz, in a culture of necessary patriotism for foreign-born artists shed important new light on this topic. It demonstrates the challenges, fears, and cultural expectations regarding the standardization of an important patriotic work.


Book Synopsis Rudolph Ganz, Patriotism, and Standardization of The Star-Spangled Banner, 1907-1958 by : Iain Quinn

Download or read book Rudolph Ganz, Patriotism, and Standardization of The Star-Spangled Banner, 1907-1958 written by Iain Quinn and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-11-07 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the succession of events toward the potential standardization of the music for “The Star-Spangled Banner” from an initial letter to President Roosevelt in 1907 to the 1958 congressional hearings on the National Anthem, and the later work of the Swiss-Born American pianist, Rudolph Ganz. These events took place across five decades when a culture of public patriotism was especially pronounced for immigrant musicians. This book contextualizes the complementary experiences of a leading immigrant musician, Ganz, who successfully navigated the world of public patriotism while pursuing the realization of a standardized version. The materials are discussed through the lens of the performance practice. The legacy of standardization has not previously been examined. The response and actions of an immigrant, Ganz, in a culture of necessary patriotism for foreign-born artists shed important new light on this topic. It demonstrates the challenges, fears, and cultural expectations regarding the standardization of an important patriotic work.

Jeanette Winterson’s Narratives of Desire

Jeanette Winterson’s Narratives of Desire

Author: Shareena Z. Hamzah-Osbourne

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-05-06

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1350178047

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Putting forward a new theory of fetishism - alternative fetishism - this book provides an up-to-date examination of the work of Jeanette Winterson, offering fresh perspectives and new insights on the topics of gender, sexuality, and identity in her writing. Combining contemporary theories in psychoanalytical and cultural studies, it proposes that a rethinking of fetishism allows Winterson's works to be brought into sharper critical focus by repositioning fetishism as a daily practice in society. In so doing, it argues that Winterson's work challenges orthodox, normative, and contemporary views of fetishism to reveal her own alternative version. Containing the transcript of an email Q&A with Winterson herself and covering the majority of Winterson's oeuvre, from her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985), up to the most recent, Frankissstein (2019), the book is divided into three main chapters that each discuss a particular theme in Winterson's fiction: bodily fetishism, food fetishism, and sexual fetishism. While the book's focus is on Winterson, the theoretical framework it proposes can be applied to other authors and disciplines in the Arts and Humanities, such as theatre and film, offering new ways of thinking about topics such as fetishism, feminism, psychoanalytical theory, postmodernism, gender, and sexuality.


Book Synopsis Jeanette Winterson’s Narratives of Desire by : Shareena Z. Hamzah-Osbourne

Download or read book Jeanette Winterson’s Narratives of Desire written by Shareena Z. Hamzah-Osbourne and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-05-06 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Putting forward a new theory of fetishism - alternative fetishism - this book provides an up-to-date examination of the work of Jeanette Winterson, offering fresh perspectives and new insights on the topics of gender, sexuality, and identity in her writing. Combining contemporary theories in psychoanalytical and cultural studies, it proposes that a rethinking of fetishism allows Winterson's works to be brought into sharper critical focus by repositioning fetishism as a daily practice in society. In so doing, it argues that Winterson's work challenges orthodox, normative, and contemporary views of fetishism to reveal her own alternative version. Containing the transcript of an email Q&A with Winterson herself and covering the majority of Winterson's oeuvre, from her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985), up to the most recent, Frankissstein (2019), the book is divided into three main chapters that each discuss a particular theme in Winterson's fiction: bodily fetishism, food fetishism, and sexual fetishism. While the book's focus is on Winterson, the theoretical framework it proposes can be applied to other authors and disciplines in the Arts and Humanities, such as theatre and film, offering new ways of thinking about topics such as fetishism, feminism, psychoanalytical theory, postmodernism, gender, and sexuality.

Lessons

Lessons

Author: Ian McEwan

Publisher: Knopf

Published: 2022-09-13

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 0593535219

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NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A NEW YORKER ESSENTIAL READ • From the best-selling author of Atonement and Saturday comes the epic and intimate story of one man's life across generations and historical upheavals. From the Suez Crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall to the current pandemic, Roland Baines sometimes rides with the tide of history, but more often struggles against it. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Vogue • The New Yorker “Masterful.... McEwan is a storyteller at the peak of his powers…. One of the joys of the novel is the way it weaves history into Roland’s biography…. The pleasure in reading this novel is letting it wash over you.” —Associated Press When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Two thousand miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade. Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life. Haunted by lost opportunities, Roland seeks solace through every possible means—music, literature, friends, sex, politics, and, finally, love cut tragically short, then love ultimately redeemed. His journey raises important questions for us all. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without causing damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can we really learn from the traumas of the past? Epic, mesmerizing, and deeply humane, Lessons is a chronicle for our times—a powerful meditation on history and humanity through the prism of one man's lifetime.


Book Synopsis Lessons by : Ian McEwan

Download or read book Lessons written by Ian McEwan and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2022-09-13 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A NEW YORKER ESSENTIAL READ • From the best-selling author of Atonement and Saturday comes the epic and intimate story of one man's life across generations and historical upheavals. From the Suez Crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall to the current pandemic, Roland Baines sometimes rides with the tide of history, but more often struggles against it. A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Vogue • The New Yorker “Masterful.... McEwan is a storyteller at the peak of his powers…. One of the joys of the novel is the way it weaves history into Roland’s biography…. The pleasure in reading this novel is letting it wash over you.” —Associated Press When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Two thousand miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade. Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life. Haunted by lost opportunities, Roland seeks solace through every possible means—music, literature, friends, sex, politics, and, finally, love cut tragically short, then love ultimately redeemed. His journey raises important questions for us all. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without causing damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can we really learn from the traumas of the past? Epic, mesmerizing, and deeply humane, Lessons is a chronicle for our times—a powerful meditation on history and humanity through the prism of one man's lifetime.

Postcolonial Readings of Music in World Literature

Postcolonial Readings of Music in World Literature

Author: Cameron Fae Bushnell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0415539560

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This book reads representations of Western music in literary texts to reveal the ways in which artifacts of imperial culture function within contemporary world literature. Bushnell argues that Western music’s conventions for performance, composition, and listening, established during the colonial period, persist in postcolonial thought and practice. Music from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods (Bach through Brahms) coincides with the rise of colonialism, and Western music contains imperial attitudes and values embedded within its conventions, standards, and rules. The book focuses on the culture of classical music as reflected in the worlds of characters and texts and contends that its effects outlast the historical significance of the real composers, pieces, styles, and forms. Through examples by authors such as McEwan, Vikram Seth, Bernard MacLaverty, Chang-rae Lee, and J.M. Coetzee, the book demonstrates how Western music enters narrative as both acts of history and as structures of analogy that suggest subject positions, human relations, and political activity that, in turn, describes a postcolonial condition. The uses to which Western music is put in each literary text reveals how European art music of the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries is read and misread by postcolonial generations, exposing mostly hidden cultural structures that influence our contemporary understandings of social relations and hierarchies, norms for resolution and for assigning significance, and standards of propriety. The book presents strategies for thinking anew about the persistence of cultural imperialism, reading Western music simultaneously as representative of imperial, cultural dominance and as suggestive of resistant structures, forms, and practices that challenge the imperial hegemony.


Book Synopsis Postcolonial Readings of Music in World Literature by : Cameron Fae Bushnell

Download or read book Postcolonial Readings of Music in World Literature written by Cameron Fae Bushnell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reads representations of Western music in literary texts to reveal the ways in which artifacts of imperial culture function within contemporary world literature. Bushnell argues that Western music’s conventions for performance, composition, and listening, established during the colonial period, persist in postcolonial thought and practice. Music from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods (Bach through Brahms) coincides with the rise of colonialism, and Western music contains imperial attitudes and values embedded within its conventions, standards, and rules. The book focuses on the culture of classical music as reflected in the worlds of characters and texts and contends that its effects outlast the historical significance of the real composers, pieces, styles, and forms. Through examples by authors such as McEwan, Vikram Seth, Bernard MacLaverty, Chang-rae Lee, and J.M. Coetzee, the book demonstrates how Western music enters narrative as both acts of history and as structures of analogy that suggest subject positions, human relations, and political activity that, in turn, describes a postcolonial condition. The uses to which Western music is put in each literary text reveals how European art music of the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries is read and misread by postcolonial generations, exposing mostly hidden cultural structures that influence our contemporary understandings of social relations and hierarchies, norms for resolution and for assigning significance, and standards of propriety. The book presents strategies for thinking anew about the persistence of cultural imperialism, reading Western music simultaneously as representative of imperial, cultural dominance and as suggestive of resistant structures, forms, and practices that challenge the imperial hegemony.

Make-Believe

Make-Believe

Author: David Dickinson

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2020-01-01

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 0718895479

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‘I will tell you a story that will make you believe in God.’ No story can guarantee being able to do this. Yet novelists can tell stories that make us think about what we believe about God and why. Despite repeated predictions of the death of the novel, thousands of works of fiction are published and read in Britain each year. Although Western society is less religiously observant than it was, many 21st-century novelists persist in pursuing theological, religious and spiritual themes. Make-Believe seeks to explain why. With chapters offering analyses of novels from several genres – so-called literary fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy and dystopia – David Dickinson discusses a wide spectrum of novelists. Both those who are avowedly atheistic and those who have a vested interest in perpetuating biblical stories feature. Well-known writers such as Rushdie, McEwan, McCarthy and Martell rub shoulders with some you may be meeting for the first time. Appealing to literature students and people who simply enjoy reading, whether Christian or not, this study of God in novels invites us to open our minds and allow aspects of our culture to shape our understanding of God and to change our ways of talking about the divine.


Book Synopsis Make-Believe by : David Dickinson

Download or read book Make-Believe written by David Dickinson and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-01-01 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘I will tell you a story that will make you believe in God.’ No story can guarantee being able to do this. Yet novelists can tell stories that make us think about what we believe about God and why. Despite repeated predictions of the death of the novel, thousands of works of fiction are published and read in Britain each year. Although Western society is less religiously observant than it was, many 21st-century novelists persist in pursuing theological, religious and spiritual themes. Make-Believe seeks to explain why. With chapters offering analyses of novels from several genres – so-called literary fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy and dystopia – David Dickinson discusses a wide spectrum of novelists. Both those who are avowedly atheistic and those who have a vested interest in perpetuating biblical stories feature. Well-known writers such as Rushdie, McEwan, McCarthy and Martell rub shoulders with some you may be meeting for the first time. Appealing to literature students and people who simply enjoy reading, whether Christian or not, this study of God in novels invites us to open our minds and allow aspects of our culture to shape our understanding of God and to change our ways of talking about the divine.

Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan

Author: Lynn Wells

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2009-12-07

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 1137090561

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This introduction to the work of Ian McEwan places his fiction in historical and theoretical context. It explores his biography, literary techniques and the issues of ethics and representation. Including a timeline of key dates and an interview with the author it also offers an overview of the critical reception McEwan's work has provoked.


Book Synopsis Ian McEwan by : Lynn Wells

Download or read book Ian McEwan written by Lynn Wells and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2009-12-07 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This introduction to the work of Ian McEwan places his fiction in historical and theoretical context. It explores his biography, literary techniques and the issues of ethics and representation. Including a timeline of key dates and an interview with the author it also offers an overview of the critical reception McEwan's work has provoked.

The Dead

The Dead

Author: James Joyce

Publisher: Modernista

Published: 2024-03-21

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13: 9180948383

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One of the greatest short stories in world literature. »He single-handedly killed the 19th century.« T. S. Eliot »James Joyce revolutionized 20th-century literature.« Time Magazine After a visitation from the dead - through something as concrete as someone singing a particular Irish song - Gabriel Conroy is struck by the profound realization of how superficially he has always loved his wife, Gretta. The image of the falling snow around them, deepening into a cosmic metaphor for life and death as the story progresses, has been called the most beautiful snowfall in literary history. JAMES JOYCE [1882-1941], Irish author, is a key figure in modernist literature with works such as Dubliners [1914], A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man [1916], and Ulysses [1922].


Book Synopsis The Dead by : James Joyce

Download or read book The Dead written by James Joyce and published by Modernista. This book was released on 2024-03-21 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the greatest short stories in world literature. »He single-handedly killed the 19th century.« T. S. Eliot »James Joyce revolutionized 20th-century literature.« Time Magazine After a visitation from the dead - through something as concrete as someone singing a particular Irish song - Gabriel Conroy is struck by the profound realization of how superficially he has always loved his wife, Gretta. The image of the falling snow around them, deepening into a cosmic metaphor for life and death as the story progresses, has been called the most beautiful snowfall in literary history. JAMES JOYCE [1882-1941], Irish author, is a key figure in modernist literature with works such as Dubliners [1914], A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man [1916], and Ulysses [1922].

Enduring Love

Enduring Love

Author: Ian McEwan

Publisher: Vintage Canada

Published: 2010-07-20

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 0307366995

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In one of the most striking opening scenes ever written, a bizarre ballooning accident and a chance meeting give birth to an obsession so powerful that an ordinary man is driven to the brink of madness and murder by another's delusions. Ian McEwan brings us an unforgettable story—dark, gripping, and brilliantly crafted—of how life can change in an instant.


Book Synopsis Enduring Love by : Ian McEwan

Download or read book Enduring Love written by Ian McEwan and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2010-07-20 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In one of the most striking opening scenes ever written, a bizarre ballooning accident and a chance meeting give birth to an obsession so powerful that an ordinary man is driven to the brink of madness and murder by another's delusions. Ian McEwan brings us an unforgettable story—dark, gripping, and brilliantly crafted—of how life can change in an instant.