1. Music and Literature 2. Repetition in Music and Literature 3. Musico-literary Interaction in Modern Ireland and the Musical Aesthetic of Samuel Beckett 4. Beckett’s Semantic Fluidity: Repetition in the Later Work 5. Beckett and Feldman: Time, Repetition and the Liminal Space 6. Improvising Beckett: Chance, Silence and Repetition
John McGrath is a lecturer in Music at University of Surrey.
"Samuel Beckett's experiments at the intersection of music and
literature are among the most unique and interesting of their kind.
McGrath's study contributes new elements to our understanding of
Beckett's work in this area, particularly in its potential to
enrich the thinking of musicians and composers. Not "just" a book
on Beckett, it makes Beckett the starting point for a number of
fruitful meditations on repetition, representation, improvisation,
and structural experimentation in the arts. The chapters on Morton
Feldman and Scott Fields are especially welcome in this
regard."
Erci Prieto, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA"John
McGrath’s Samuel Beckett, Repetition and Modern Music is the newest
scholarly entry on this subject and a valuable addition for the
critical insights it provides through meticulous analyses. The
fundamental idea underlying McGrath’s research is his concept of
Beckett’s semantic fluidity, a writing style that accommodates and
encourages readers to bring their own ideas and perspectives into
the work."
Michael Palmese, Louisiana State University, USA"McGrath’s volume
provides a valuable contribution to Beckettian scholarship and
drama academics, as well as offering a new framework theorizing
repetition, which may be of interest to a wide range of music
scholars working in the analysis of 20th and 21st century genres
from the avant-garde, minimalism, jazz, pop and hip-hop."
Monica Esslin-Peard, University of Liverpool, UK
"…John McGrath packs a great deal into a seemingly narrowly framed
monograph…his analysis of repetition in the prose works of late
Beckett shift into tight and revealing focus when he looks at the
data…McGrath’s book is salutary in flagging the deliberately
jarring tactics of the avant garde, and getting the reader to grasp
what remains permanently uncanny about our pleasure in Beckett and
Feldman’s exploration of both the playful humour and subtle
queasiness to be found within their repetitive forms."
Drew Daniel, The Wire
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