Lit Me With Music

Graham Swift wrote a novel with a more-than-meets-the-eye title: Here We Are . The novel centers around a trio of stage performers: a magician named Ronnie, his assistant, Evie, and the show’s compère, Jack. Although the narration makes a series of jumps into the past and future, the main action of the story is set in the summer of 1959, in Brighton. Over the summer season, readers follow the evolution of their brand of seaside entertainment and of their personal relationships. There is a handful of musical references in the novel: “When the Red Red Robin (Comes Bob’ Bob’ Bobbin’ Along)”, “Sunny Side Up”, “By the Light of the Silvery Moon”, “Shine on Harvest Moon”, “I’ve Got A Crush on You”. The epigraph is a line from Joni Mitchell's song “ Both Sides Now ” . There is also a TV reference: “Saturday Night at The London Palladium”. One of the first things the author does as he introduces the characters is to let us know who can sing and who cannot. Jack can really carry a tune f...

  Zora Neale Hurston a écrit un roman dont le titre est une phrase: Their Eyes Were watching God . Le livre raconte l’histoire de Janie, une jeune femme Afro-américaine embarquée dans une aventure émotionnelle et sociale. Élevée par sa grand-mère, qui est une ancienne esclave, elle a mené une existence d’une relative insouciance lorsque débute son récit. Les hommes qu’elle rencontre semblent représenter les grandes étapes de sa vie amoureuse. Son premier baiser avec Johnny Taylor. Son premier mariage avec Logan Killicks. Plus tard, Joe Starks et Tea Cake, les personnages masculins les plus importants de l’histoire, l’emmènent à vivre dans différentes villes et villages. Le premier, un homme ambitieux venu de la Géorgie, emmène Janie à Eatonville. Le second, un jeune homme non-éduqué, emmène Janie à Jacksonville puis dans un territoire baptisé “the muck”, (entre Clewiston et Belle Glade). Les impressions et les sentiments sont musicaux. Par exemple, l’éveil à la sensualité est ...

Zora Neale Hurston wrote a novel with a sentence for a title: Their Eyes Were Watching God . It tells the story of Janie, a young African-American woman on a social and emotional journey, from adolescence to maturity. Raised by her grandmother, a former slave, she has led a relatively sheltered existence when her narrative begins. The men she encounters seem to represent the various stages of her love life. Her first kiss with Johnny Taylor. Her first marriage with Logan Killicks. Afterwards, Joe Starks and Tea Cake, arguably the most important male characters in the book, take her to different towns and on different adventures. The former, an ambitious man from Georgia, takes Janie to Eatonville. The latter, young and uneducated, takes Janie to Jacksonville and to a territory called “the muck”, (between Clewiston and Belle Glade). Feelings and impressions are musical. For instance, the young woman's sensual awakening is triggered by Nature’s “flute song,” (23). As teenage...