scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

Singing Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow: Interfaces of Song, Narrative, and Sonic Performance

01 Jan 2017-Partial Answers (The Johns Hopkins University Press)-Vol. 15, Iss: 1, pp 117-133
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the novel's acoustic background, pointing to the formal structure of songs and its role in locating singing human voices in opposition to noises emitted by technological devices such as V2 rockets.
Abstract: Thomas Pynchon’s interest in music is audibly reflected in the rich intertextual environments of his works such as Gravity’s Rainbow , a novel which includes numerous allusions to musical pieces, descriptions of performances, and song lyrics. The latter stand out from prose narrative as they introduce new diegetic dimensions to the novel by offering playful commentary on its plot and characters. The present study examines the novel’s acoustic background, pointing to the formal structure of songs and its role in locating singing human voices in opposition to noises emitted by technological devices such as V2 rockets. A classification scheme shows how Pynchon’s formal experimentation juxtaposes written and oral variants of language, thus connecting songs to one of the novel’s thematic centers — problematics of order. This function of songs is examined in an episode of Vaslav Tchitcherine’s mission of promoting literacy among oral tribes of Kazakhstan, that serves as a commentary on the conventional character of writing systems and their ability to transform the poetic quality of language into a systematic structure.
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors investigates the fifteen-year evolution of the Soviet Union's strategy towards its multi-ethnic jurisdiction from the 'Lenin Constitution' of 1923 through to the consolidation of the 'Stalin Constitution' in 1936.
Abstract: Weighing in at over five hundred pages, this formidable work of scholarship investigates the fifteen-year evolution of the Soviet Union's strategy towards its multi-ethnic jurisdiction from the 'Lenin Constitution' of 1923 through to the consolidation of the 'Stalin Constitution' of 1936. The touchstone of such a complex and convoluted topic is the principle of what is now termed 'affirmative action': received wisdom holds that the Soviet Union adopted 'korenizatsiia' or 'indigenisation' in the 1920s as \"a prophylactic policy designed to defuse and prevent the development of nationalism\" (p. 126) by simultaneously favouring the minority nonRussian nationalities and penalising the majority Russian nation. In the course of the 1930s, however, affirmative action was abandoned and then reversed, initially as a 'Great Retreat' and most calamitously in a 'Great Terror' which reasserted Russian dominance and victimised the previously-privileged non-Russians to create a covert 'Russian Empire' legitimised by the meretricious doctrine of the 'Friendship of Peoples'.

89 citations

Book ChapterDOI
30 Jun 2019
TL;DR: In this article, a review of the literature is used as a way to frame and focus a research project, which can help to enhance conceptual sensitivity and make claims about the possible significance of a work.
Abstract: Q: Why do a review of the literature? 1. As a way to frame and focus a research project  When research questions are formed without sustained reference to the literature, the study is likely to be marred by 1. Naïve research instruments that lack conceptual underpinnings 2. Problems with sense-making because the researcher is not alert to themes that may be identifiable 3. Problems with claims-making because the researcher lacks the knowledge to state its significance for theory, policy or practice.  Knowledge of the literature can help: 1. Tighten research questions 2. Enhance conceptual sensitivity 3. Provide a source for making comparisons 4. Provide a cache of descriptive data 5. Provide questions for initial observations and interviews 6. Stimulate questions during the analysis 7. Suggest areas for theoretical sampling 8. Confirm findings, or, findings can be used to show where current literature is incorrect, simplistic, or partial 9. Model ways of making claims about the possible significance of your work

69 citations

Book
01 Jan 2005

38 citations

Book ChapterDOI
30 Jun 2019

8 citations

References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: Pynchon, in particular, metaforiza the preocupacion modernista sobre la relatividad del lenguaje a la hora de transcribir la realidad externa.
Abstract: Una de las historias cortas de Pynchon, Entropy, metaforiza la preocupacion modernista sobre la relatividad del lenguaje a la hora de transcribir la realidad externa Para superar las dificultades que el lenguaje impone en electo de la comunicacion, Pynchon propone la musica como codigo alternativo al mismo La estructura musical de Entropy, mediante un coherente juego entre forma y contenido, intenta resolver la falta de union entre significante y significado linguisticos La historia sigue la estructura de una fuga: exposicion, desarrollo y stretto Estas tres partes se desarrollan mediante la alternancia de dos voces /niveles: la fiesta de Mulligan (el sujeto de la fuga), y la casa de Callisto (la respuesta en contrapunto) Como acompanamiento musical, la lluvia, canciones, los ruidos de la calle, y voces secundarias modulan el desarrollo de la narrativa A nivel textual, el narrador orquesta y dirige esta complicada estructura de sonidos, voces y otras referencias musicales

3 citations


"Singing Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's ..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Pérez-Llantada Auría, Carmen....

    [...]

  • ...The thematic value of music in Pynchon’s work is discussed in, for instance, Kathryn Hume and Thomas J. Knight (1985, 1986), William Vesterman (1975), and Carmen Pérez-Llantada Auría (1991)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
22 Sep 2008
TL;DR: The World Without Gravity as discussed by the authors is the fourth movement of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, which is based on "Die Welt ohne Schwere" ('The World without gravity').
Abstract: Henry-Louis de la Grange, a scholar of Gustav Mahler's life and works, tells us that an "early plan of the Fourth Symphony, put together some time before that symphony was composed … contained a 'Scherzo in D major' entitled 'Die Welt ohne Schwere' ('The World Without Gravity')" (2.800). Given this suggestive title, any reader well trained by Pynchon to see connections and affiliations in the most trivial detail may recall the dialogue between Saure Bummer and Gustav Schlabone in Gravity's Rainbow and wonder whether Gustav's given name is meant to evoke Mahler's, and wonder also whether the song's words, if any exist, have some relevance to Pynchon's novel. Any account of the German dialectic in music that Schlabone trumpets would surely include Mahler, a contemporary of Strauss and a composer much admired by Schonberg for taking German music the first steps away from tonality, deploying dissonances first initiated by Wagner (Friedrich 167). La Grange describes the fruitful period in which Mahler wrote a series of songs including "Die Welt ohne Schwere," but he says nothing about the song's words. The instrumental music itself, according to La Grange, became the fourth movement of Mahler's Fifth Symphony.

3 citations