Musico-Literary Studies
For my PhD, I explored the thematic use of classical music as a source of identity and survival in contemporary novels set during twentieth- and twenty-first-century conflict. I have wider interests in this area in the thematic use of music in novels as a form of metaphor or analogy to convey difficult concepts, such as identity and memory, while always being aware of the difficulty present when trying to include music in the silent written text.
It is thanks to George Eliot's Adam Bede that I took my path into the world of literature and music. When I read her description of a character's mood as "falling at once from the key of B with five sharps to the frank and congenial C", I began to wonder whether there existed more texts which included technical musical language in them, as simile and metaphor. Researching for my BA dissertation topic, I eventually settled primarily on the contemporary novel, a form which is impacted by recent technological developments and studies in its presentation and use of music, and my BA dissertation was titled 'Music, Identity, and the Self in Three Contemporary Novels: "Does it alter us more to be heard, or to hear? Is it better to have been loved, or to love?", focussing on Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) by Madeleine Thien, An Equal Music (1999) by Vikram Seth, and Cloud Atlas (2004) by David Mitchell.
During my PhD studies I have unearthed a long list of these novels which are thematically concerned with music, leading me to focus down on a sub-trend amongst these texts: a preoccupation with conflict. My PhD research considers how Western classical music (in its most general of definitions) is described and used metaphorically in a selection of contemporary novels, which currently include: Fugitive Pieces (1996) by Anne Michaels, Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) by Madeleine Thien, The Noise of Time (2016) by Julian Barnes, Orfeo (2014) by Richard Powers, Bel Canto (2001) by Ann Patchett, and The Cellist of Sarajevo (2008) by Steven Galloway. I finished my PhD in September 2022, and am now in the process of preparing my monograph. I cross multiple disciplinary borders in my research, as I consider elements of trauma theory, conflict transformation studies, ethical issues regarding the re-writing of war, sound studies, musicology, music philosophy, and literature, to name but a few. My focus remains primarily on the literary presentation of music in the contemporary novel, as I analysed how these novels present conflict and upheaval through their thematic use of music.
Supervisors:
Dr David Ashurst (English Studies, Durham)
Dr Samuel Thomas (English Studies, Durham)
Professor Martyn Evans (Music Department, Durham; retired Oct 2019)
Publications & Presentations
'Caught in the Regime: Classical Music and the Individual in the Contemporary Novel', Open Library of Humanities, 7.2 (2021), 1–23 (open access)
This article introduces my concept of the musico-literary novel, which relies on an interdisciplinary methodology. Focusing on The Cellist of Sarajevo (Galloway) as a case-study, I demonstrate how analysis of a musico-literary novel can engage with discussions surrounding the use of music to exit violence. This article is available Open Access, and more details can be found here.
'Listening to Survive: Classical Music and Conflict in the Musico-literary Novel', Violence: An International Journal, 1.2 (2020), 371-388 (open access)
This article introduces my concept of the musico-literary novel, which relies on an interdisciplinary methodology. Focusing on The Cellist of Sarajevo (Galloway) as a case-study, I demonstrate how analysis of a musico-literary novel can engage with discussions surrounding the use of music to exit violence. This article is available Open Access, and more details can be found here.
'Classical Music, Conflict, & Identity in the Contemporary Novel' | Podcast for Late Summer Lectures (2019), Durham (UK)
A public-facing podcast introducing key elements of my PhD research into what I term the 'musico-literary novel', including recordings of specific classical music pieces in comparison with literary descriptions and depictions of the music-listening experience.
Teaching
As of October 2020, I will be teaching tutorials for the Durham English Studies Department module 'Introduction to The Novel'. This is a compulsory module for all Durham English Studies undergraduates covering the development of the English novel, including Moll Flanders (Defoe), Wide Sargasso Sea (Rhys), Midnight's Children (Rushdie), and In Cold Blood (Capote).