LITERATURE AND MUSIC INTERACTIONS IN THE NOVEL OF THORNTON WILDER “CABALA”

Abstract

The article investigates problems of art interaction in the novel of American writer Thornton Wilder “Cabala”. The strategy of the research is based on the latest achievements in the fi eld of comparative literature. Particularly the article deals with issues of literary-musical intermediality. Due to intermedial analyses techniques author’s emphasis on romanticism decline in the art of music has been revealed. Explicit and implicit musical references have been identifi ed. The whole structure of the novel has been compared to sonata form. Besides, the author’s European orientation has been defi ned as dominating on the topical level. At the same time, traces of jazz music, in particular, ragtime recoding techniques have been found in the stylistic features of “Cabala”. Artistic meanings of particular novel’s scenes have been analyzed from the point of view of musicalization in prose. The intermedial analysis allowed considering character’s involvement into the text of music a way of literary semiotic text composing. As a result, expanded functions of certain characters have been identifi ed in their close relation to jazz epoch in America. The problem of ethnic-cultural values raised in the novel through the means of intermediality techniques has been exposed. Writer’s masterful ability of dialogical interaction with pieces of musical art have been interpreted as basic features of jazz music implications.