Musical patterns in William H. Gass’s “A Fugue” and The Pedersen Kid

Marcin Stawiarski (1)

1 UNICAEN UFR LVE - Université de Caen Normandie - UFR Langues vivantes étrangères

This article aims to investigate musico-literary intermediality in William H. Gass's works by examining both "A Fugue", a passage from The Tunnel (1995) and his novella The Pedersen Kid (1961). The paper focuses on Gass's conception and use of language, musicality and musicalization. One of the questions raised is to what extent texts that do not necessarily present a direct link to music can be given a musical reading. By analyzing Gass's novella the article demonstrates that the intermedial context conveys semiotic meanings that may allow a better understanding of the contents relating to initiation and rites of passage that the story draws upon, thus providing a new reading of Gass's text. On a more general level, the article reflects upon the textual effects produced by musico-literary intermediality and their impact on time structures in fiction.

Mots clés: art critique; musicalization of fiction; rite of passage; William Gass; intermedial studies; fugue

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Art et histoire de l'art; Littératures; Musique, musicologie et arts de la scène

Marcin Stawiarski. Musical patterns in William H. Gass’s “A Fugue” and The Pedersen Kid. The Ekphrastic Turn: Inter-art Dialogues, Common Ground Research Networks, 2015. ⟨hal-02266730⟩