Torabi, Joshua Arash; (2020) Music and Myth in Modern Literature: From Nietzsche's 'The Birth of Tragedy' to Romain Rolland's 'Jean-Christophe', James Joyce's 'Ulysses' and Thomas Mann's 'Doctor Faustus'. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

Abstract

This work, written in four movements, focuses on representations of music and myth, and the relationship between the two, in three works of modern literature: Romain Rolland’s 'Jean-Christophe', James Joyce’s 'Ulysses' and Thomas Mann’s 'Doctor Faustus', taking as a starting point Friedrich Nietzsche’s early model of aesthetic mythology in relation to the “spirit of music”, presented in his first major work, 'The Birth of Tragedy', as the foundation of what he describes as “aesthetic existence”. This study’s engagement with 'The Birth of Tragedy' is twofold: firstly, it seeks to expound the intrinsic relationship between music and myth, first given explicit license in Nietzsche’s book, and analyse how this connection occurs in 'Jean-Christophe', 'Ulysses' (with relation to Homer’s 'Odyssey') and 'Doctor Faustus' (with reference to the Faust myth). Secondly, it will juxtapose Nietzsche’s theories of music and myth, particularly the “Apollo/Dionysus dichotomy” and his conception of “Dionysian music”, with Rolland, Joyce and Mann’s literary depictions of music and myth and the characterisation of their protagonists. The first movement explores the genesis of Nietzsche’s 'The Birth of Tragedy' via Schopenhauer’s 'The World as Will and Representation' and Wagner’s 'Beethoven' essay, with the aim of elucidating the central tenets of Nietzsche’s book, which underpin the methodology of this thesis. The second movement critically evaluates Rolland’s 'Jean-Christophe', focusing on the depiction of music, notions of artistic creation and the life of the fictional composer, Jean-Christophe Krafft, with reference to Nietzsche’s early aesthetic models of music and myth. The third movement considers the role of music and myth in Joyce’s 'Ulysses', with particular reference to the literary uses of music in relation to what T. S. Eliot called Joyce’s “mythic method”. It demonstrates how Joyce responds to Wagner’s notion of the "Gesamtkunstwerk" (often translated as "total artwork") and how Joyce implements and develops the leitmotif as a literary technique in Ulysses. The final movement looks at the intersections of music and myth in Thomas Mann’s music novel, 'Doctor Faustus'. Mann’s retelling of the Faust myth in connection with the book’s innovative musical focus makes it the ideal text in which to explore conceptions of music and myth and their interrelation.

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