Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

As birds make nests out of everything, so children make a doll out of anything which comes to hand. While Éponine and Azelma were bundling up the cat, Cosette, on her side, had dressed up her sword. That done, she laid it in her arms, and sang to it softly, to lull it to sleep. The doll is one of the most imperious needs and, at the same time, one of the most charming instincts of feminine childhood. To care for, to clothe, to deck, to dress, to undress, to redress, to teach, scold a little, to rock, to dandle, to lull to sleep, to imagine that something is some one,--therein lies the whole woman's future. While dreaming and chattering, making tiny outfits, and baby clothes, while sewing little gowns, and corsages and bodices, the child grows into a young girl, the young girl into a big girl, the big girl into a woman. The first child is the continuation of the last doll. A little girl without a doll is almost as unhappy, and quite as impossible, as a woman without children. So Cosette had made herself a doll out of the sword. [Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862), Volume II – Cosette; Book Third – Accomplishment of a Promise Made To a Dead Woman, Chapter VIII, The Unpleasantness of Receiving Into One’s House a Poor Man Who May Be a Rich Man.] 

From the dark side:

The trader was not shocked nor amazed; because, as we said before, he was used to a great many things that you are not used to. Even the awful presence of Death struck no solemn chill upon him. He had seen Death many times, — met him in the way of trade, and got acquainted with him,—and he only thought of him as a hard customer, that embarrassed his property operations very unfairly; and so he only swore that the gal was a baggage, and that he was devilish unlucky, and that, if things went on in this way, he should not make a cent on the trip. In short, he seemed to consider himself an ill-used man, decidedly; but there was no help for it, as the woman had escaped into a state which never will give up a fugitive,—not even at the demand of the whole glorious Union. The trader, therefore, sat discontentedly down, with his little account-book, and put down the missing body and soul under the head of losses! [Harriett Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Life Among the Lowly (1852), Volume 1, Chapter XII, “Select Incident of Lawful Trade”.]

Novels:

• Piero Chiara, The Bishop’s Bedroom: A Novel (New Vessel Press, 2019): “. . . Chiara explores the disaffected, essentially corrupt world that allows her murder to happen, a world in which complacent, middle-class men and women are returning to their prosperous lives after the (to them) superficial interruption of Mussolini.”
• Ashleigh Bell Pedersen, The Crocodile Bride: A Novel (Hub City, 2022): “Pedersen does well to temper the accumulative dread with the care and camaraderie of Sunshine’s nearby relatives.”

Poetry

From the dark side:

• Edgar Lee Masters, “Hiram Scates”
• Edgar Lee Masters, “Mabel Osborne”

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

A sweet and tender ethic, shared among the players, characterizes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s string quartets. “Perhaps the prime attribute that makes classical string quartets so rewarding both to play and to listen to is the independence of the four parts. Haydn pioneered this development, but Mozart brought the full weight of his genius to developing it.” In this attribute is a deep respect, enhanced by Mozart’s sensibilities. Quartetto Italiano is widely regarded to have recorded the most compelling complete set, though Amadeus Quartet also has its advocates.

• String Quartet No. 1 in G Major, K. 80/73f, “Lodi” (1770) (approx. 15-18’)
• String Quartet No. 2 in D Major, K. 155/134a (1772) (approx. 10-11’)
• String Quartet No. 3 in G Major, K. 156/134b (1773) (approx. 12-14’)
• String Quartet No. 4 in C Major, K. 157 (1773) (approx. 11-14’)
• String Quartet No. 5 in F Major, K. 158 (1773) (approx. 13-16’)
• String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat Major, K. 159 (1773) (approx. 13-15’)
• String Quartet No. 7 in E-flat Major, K. 160/159a (1773) (approx. 10-11’)
• String Quartet No. 8 in F Major, K. 168 (1773) (approx. 10-12’)
• String Quartet No. 9 in F Major, K. 169 (1773) (approx. 14-19’)
• String Quartet No. 10 in C Major, K. 170 (1773) (approx. 14-15’)
• String Quartet No. 11 in E-flat Major, K. 171 (1773) (approx. 15-18’)
• String Quartet No. 12 in B-flat Major, K. 172 (1773) (approx. 18-19’)
• String Quartet No. 13 in D minor, K. 173 (1773) (approx. 17’)
• String Quartet No. 14 in G Major, K. 387, “Spring” (1782) (approx. 26-34’)
• String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421/417b (1783) (approx. 27-34’)
• String Quartet No. 16 in E-flat Major, K. 428/421b (1783) (approx. 27-37’)
• String Quartet No. 17 in B-flat Major, K. 458, “Hunt” (1784) (approx. 25-35’)
• String Quartet No. 18 in A Major, K. 464 (1785) (approx. 29-37’)
• String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465, “Dissonance” (1785) (approx. 28-33’) - Mozart wrote to Haydn: “Behold here, famous man and dearest friend, my six children. They are, to be sure, the fruit of long and arduous work, yet some friends have encouraged me to assume that I shall see this work rewarded to some extent at least, and this flatters me into believing that these children shall one day offer me some comfort. You yourself, dearest friend, have shown me your approval of them during your last sojourn in this capital.”
• String Quartet No. 20 in D Major, K. 499, “Hoffmeister” (1786) (approx. 23-24’): dedicated to Franz Anton Hoffmeister, this quartet “is exquisite Mozart ‘light and dark’ with clear pointers to Beethoven and Mendelssohn as he races through such elegant, serious play.”
• String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575, “Prussian No. 1” (1789) (approx. 23-26’): “. . . as with all three of the Prussian quartets, the sound is refined, even precious, with a certain Rococo delicacy.”
• String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat Major, K. 589, “Prussian No. 2” (1790) (approx. 24-27’)
• String Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590, “Prussian No. 3” (1790) (approx. 24-25’)

Stevie Wonder has spent a lifetime singing of life and love. “Nearly everything he recorded bore the stamp of his sunny, joyous positivity; even when he addressed serious racial, social, and spiritual issues (which he did quite often in his prime), or sang about heartbreak and romantic uncertainty, an underlying sense of optimism and hope always seemed to emerge.” He is proficient at vocals, keyboards, harmonica, drums, bass guitar, congas, bongos, keytar, accordion and harpejji. Here is a link to his releases. 

Peter, Paul and Mary was a folk group popular mainly in the 1960’s. Their music exudes the ethics of that time, steeped in peace and social justice. Here is a link to their playlists.

Conductor Bruno Walter had a long and illustrious career. His recordings are known for their gentility and lyricism. Critic Walter Cardus said that seeing and hearing Walter conduct was like being “visited by an act of grace.”. Here is a link to his playlists.

Albums:

• Las Lloronas, “Out of the Blue” (2024) (44’): “Here comes some musical rawness, some poetic absurdity, some human tenderness, some beauty, some bullshit.”

Music: songs and other short pieces

• Michael Jackson, "Heal the World" (lyrics)
• The O’Jays, “Love Train” (lyrics)
• Jackie DeShannon, “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” (lyrics)
• Stevie Wonder - "Love's in Need of Love Today" (lyrics’)
• Lynne Arriale Trio, “Love” (dedicated to humankind)

Visual Arts

Film and Stage

• Rain Man: a conniving, self-centered man develops fellow-feeling for his half-brother, an idiot savant who has been left their father’s entire fortune; the film points out that the “normal” brother also suffers from a disability
• Blow-Up, a film that “has something real to say about the matter of personal involvement and emotional commitment in a jazzed-up, media-hooked-in world so cluttered with synthetic stimulations that natural feelings are overwhelmed”