Music in the Georgian Novel

This book investigates the literary representation of music in the Georgian novel against its musical, aesthetic and cultural background.

Pierre Dubois (Author)

9781107519411, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 April 2018

376 pages, 4 b/w illus.
24.4 x 17 x 1.9 cm, 0.66 kg

Music was an essential aspect of life in eighteenth-century Britain and plays a crucial role in the literary strategies of Georgian novels. This book is the first to investigate the literary representation of music in these works and explores the structural, dramatic and metaphorical roles of music in novels by authors ranging from Richardson to Austen. Pierre Dubois explores the meaning of 'musical scenes' by framing them within contemporary cultural issues, such as the critique of Italian opera or the theoretical shift from mimesis to the alleged autonomy and mystery of music. Focusing upon both eighteenth-century theories of music, and the way specific musical instruments were perceived in the collective imagination, Dubois suggests new interpretative perspectives for a whole range of novels of the Georgian era. This book will be of interest to a wide readership interested not only in literature, but also in music and cultural history at large.

Introduction
Part I. Sound and Sense: Moral Issues: 1. Prelude: Italian opera and English oratorio
2. The English Orpheus
3. Damnable pleasures
4. The natural voice and the ideal of purity
5. Malodorous soundscapes and musical incenses
Part II. Sentiment and Sensibility: 6. The perimeter of the sentimental mode
7. The crisis of language
8. The impression of harmony
9. The salutary remanence of discords
10. The inexpressible mystery of music
11. The music of feeling
12. Pastoral music
Part III. Sweet Music and the Sublime: 13. Theory of the musical sublime
14. The musical sublime and ideological control
15. Ann Radcliffe's feminine sublime
Part IV. Music as a Vehicle for Female Identity: 16. The musical and novelistic perimeters of feminine sensibility
17. Intimations of musical gendering: Anne Hughes, Caroline
18. Instruments of a new sensibility
19. Sensibility and affectation: Jane West, Maria Edgeworth, Elizabeth Inchbald
20. Variations on a feminine theme: Frances Burney's musical heroines
21. Jane Austen: music, woman and the middle-way
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Educational: English literature [YQE], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Literature & literary studies [D], Opera [AVGC9], Romantic music [c 1830 to c 1900 AVGC5], Classical music [c 1750 to c 1830 AVGC4], Early music [up to c 1000 CE AVGC1], Theory of music & musicology [AVA], Music [AV]