The Routledge Companion to Music and Modern Literature

This book is an important and very welcome addition to the rapidly-expanding area of word and music studies. Both ‘literature’ and ‘music’ are interpreted very broadly to include a wide ranging array of discussions in which the creative tension between these two signifying systems is explored. The notion of the universal in music is problematized, followed by a broad investigation of disparate musical forms, ranging from opera to heavy metal, with an equally broad range of literature. The thirty seven contributors come from a large variety of disciplinary backgrounds and provide a fascinating contemporary snapshot of word and music studies.

Dr Michael Halliwell, Associate Professor Vocal Studies and Opera, University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music

President, International Association for Word and Music Studies

‘This volume will be of immense value to scholars and students of modern music and modern literature as well as to those with interdisciplinary interests. It also has much to offer readers with wide-ranging theoretical interests in issues of modernity. As a whole, the volume contributes significantly to current conversations about music and literature - severally and in combination - and to wider conversations about the importance of the arts and humanities. Collectively, the chapters in this book offer a fertile and compelling exploration of key questions of music and modernity.’

Delia DaSousa

This book is an important and very welcome addition to the rapidly-expanding area of word and music studies. Both ‘literature’ and ‘music’ are interpreted very broadly to include a wide ranging array of discussions in which the creative tension between these two signifying systems is explored. The notion of the universal in music is problematized, followed by a broad investigation of disparate musical forms, ranging from opera to heavy metal, with an equally broad range of literature. The thirty seven contributors come from a large variety of disciplinary backgrounds and provide a fascinating contemporary snapshot of word and music studies.

Dr Michael Halliwell, Associate Professor Vocal Studies and Opera, University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music President, International Association for Word and Music Studies

‘This volume will be of immense value to scholars and students of modern music and modern literature as well as to those with interdisciplinary interests. It also has much to offer readers with wide-ranging theoretical interests in issues of modernity. As a whole, the volume contributes significantly to current conversations about music and literature - severally and in combination - and to wider conversations about the importance of the arts and humanities. Collectively, the chapters in this book offer a fertile and compelling exploration of key questions of music and modernity.’

Delia DaSousa