Music Figures, Inspiration and the Performance of Identity in the Contemporary Transnational Novel

Abstract

The thesis explores four twenty-first century novels across four genres of music including Richard Powers’s The Time of Our Singing, 2001 (classical), Esi Edugyan’s Half-Blood Blues, 2011 (jazz), Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, 2001 (opera) and Tiffany Murray’s Diamond Star Halo, 2011 (rock/pop). The study delves into the role of music figures — people who compose, perform and/or appreciate music — in shaping a range of political, social and historical discourses surrounding music and identity. Topics including myth, inspiration and performance are engaged to trace what music means to people and how it inspires. The ways that people communicate music and how it produces their individual and collective senses of identity is explored by traversing history, geography and culture across transnational lines.

Date of Award	15 Jan 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Allan David JOHNSON (Supervisor) & Rocio G DAVIS (Supervisor)