After Debussy : music, language, and the margins of philosophy / Julian Johnson.
| Author/creator |
Johnson, Julian author. |
| Format | Book and Print |
| Publication Info | New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020] |
| Copyright Notice | ©2020 |
| Description | xix, 373 pages : illustrations (some color), music ; 25 cm |
| Subject(s) |
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| Contents | Prologue. Music and language. Music, logos, musicology ; After Debussy ; Music and the margins of philosophy -- Part I. Saying nothing. Sirenes. Wordless voices ; Shipwreck and abyss ; Constellation -- Melisande and the silence of music. Framing nothing ; Orchestral voices ; Being mute -- Mallarme and the edge of language. Breathing ; Fold upon fold ; Empty words -- Part II. Appearing. Coming to presence. Apparition ; Present absence ; Evanescence -- Mirrors. Reflection ; Threshold ; Echo -- Taking place. Listening to landscape ; Le jardin clos: dwelling in music ; Landscapes without figures -- Part III. Touching. The art of touch. Debussy at the piano ; Bathers ; Towards an erotics of music -- Writing the body. L'ecriture musicale ; Imaginary bodies ; The philosopher's body -- Thinking in sound. The play of the sensible ; The grammar of dreams ; Music as thought -- Epilogue. Being musical. After words ; Before words ; The margins of music. |
| Abstract | Classical music shows a close relationship to language, and both musicology and philosophy have tended to approach music from that angle, exploring it in terms of expression, representation, and discourse. This book turns that idea on its head. Focusing on the music of Debussy and its legacy in the century since his death, this book offers a groundbreaking new perspective on twentieth-century music that foregrounds a sensory logic of sound over quasi-linguistic ideas of structure or meaning. The author argues that Debussy's music exemplifies this idea, influencing the music of successive composers who took up the mantle of emphasizing sound over syntax, sense over signification. In doing so, this music not only anticipates a central problem of contemporary thought-the gap between language and our embodied relation to the world-but also offers a solution. With a readable narrative structure grounded in an impressive body of literature, this book ranges widely across French music, demonstrating the impact of Debussy's music on composers from Faure and Ravel to Dutilleux, Boulez, Grisey, Murail and Saariaho. It ranges similarly through a set of French writers and philosophers, from Mallarme and Proust to Merleau-Ponty, Jankelevitch, Derrida, Lyotard and Nancy, and even draws from the visual arts to help embody key ideas. In accessibly tackling substantial ideas of both musicology and philosophy, this book not only presents bold new ways of understanding each discipline but also lays the groundwork for exciting new discourse between them. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 353-363) and index. |
| LCCN | 2019020716 |
| ISBN | 9780190066826 hardcover |
| ISBN | 0190066822 hardcover |
| ISBN | electronic book |
| ISBN | electronic book |
| ISBN | electronic publication |
Available Items
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions | |
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.D28 J64 2020 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |