Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

William Shakespeare was an extraordinarily perceptive observer of the human condition. Here is a link to his complete works.

Norman Mailer wrote with a zeal for the society and culture in which he would like to live, as though he could build it through his fiction.

•   Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead: A Novel (1948): “Undoubtedly the most ambitious novel to be written about the recent conflict, it is also the most ruthlessly honest and in scope an integrity compares favorably with the best that followed World War I.”
•   Norman Mailer, Barbary Shore: A Novel (1951).
•   Norman Mailer, The Deer Park: A Novel (1955), “undertakes to treat of the life, and more particularly the sex habits, of some people living in a California desert town that is under the virtual domination of the motion picture industry.”
•   Norman Mailer, The White Negro: Superficial Reflections on the Hipster (1957).
•   Norman Mailer, Advertisements for Myself (1959): “This lively book is a sampling of Norman Mailer's career, from youthful stories to fragments of a novel in progress.”
•   Norman Mailer, An American Dream: A Novel (1964), “tells a sometimes bizarre, always violent, absolutely contemporary story of evil, death, and strange hope. Reading it is like flying an airplane with the instruments cross-wired . . .”
•   Norman Mailer, Cannibals and Christians (1966).
•   Norman Mailer, The Prisoner of Sex: A Novel (1971).
•   Norman Mailer, A Transit to Narcissus: A Novel (1978).
•   Norman Mailer, Of Women and Their Elegance (1980).
•   Norman Mailer, Ancient Evenings: A Novel (1983), “pulls its reader inside a consciousness different from any hitherto met in fiction. A soul or body entombed is struggling to burst free, desperate not alone for light and air but for prayer and story - promised comforters that have been treacherously withheld or stolen. Dwelling within this consciousness we relive the ‘experience’ of an Egyptian body undergoing burial preparations, sense the soul's overwhelming yearnings, within an unquiet grave, for healing that no physical treatment can provide. All is strange, dark, intense, mysteriously coherent.”
•   Norman Mailer, Tough Guys Don’t Dance: A Novel (1983).
•   Norman Mailer, Harlot’s Ghost: A Novel (1991), “is a novel about the C.I.A. -- a book that Publishers Weekly says 'puts all previous fictions about the agency in the shade' and that another prepublication review has compared to 'Moby-Dick' and 'The Magic Mountain.'”
•   Norman Mailer, The Gospel According to the Son: A Novel (1997).

Stewart O’Nan’s novels are noted for their “depth of characterization”:

• Emily, Alone: A Novel (Viking, 2011): “. . . each (of O’Nan’s novels) is as different from its predecessor, in style, tone and narrative approach, as if it had come from a different author.  What unites these disparate books are their themes — the fragmented and solitary nature of contemporary American life, the degradation of Rust Belt cities and towns, the slippery line between the working and middle class — and a distinct ability to turn toward the dark places from which other writers might avert their gaze.”
• Songs for the Missing: A Novel (Viking Adult, 2008): “The rest of the novel’s generous, thoughtful narrative traces the impact of (a young woman’s) disappearance on her family, her friends, her community. This is a novel about loss and healing; a novel that acknowledges the depth of loss and the limits of healing.”
• Last Night at the Lobster: A Novel (Viking Adult, 2007): “If ‘Last Night at the Lobster’ had a color palette, it would be a dirty-snow gray, set beside the chintzy surf-side pastels of the New Britain Red Lobster where the novel is set.”
• The Good Wife: A Novel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005): “O'Nan has obviously done some research into the legal and correctional systems, but what's most striking is his feeling for the psychological details of life on the outside.”
• The Night Country: A Novel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003): “The narrative of The Night Country follows a small group of teenage ghosts who died in a car accident. They're still floating around their hometown, watching their families, school friends and other familiars eke out their existences in the living realm.”
• Wish You Were Here: A Novel (Grove Press, 2003).
• Everyday People: A Novel (Grove Press, 2001).
• A Prayer for the Dying: A Novel (Henry Holt and Co., 1999): “Stewart O'Nan is a writer who likes to dig deep into the quotidian soil where evil germinates, and who designs his narratives so as to bring that evil to a full and ghastly flowering. In other words, he earns his horror.”
• A World Away: A Novel (Henry Holt and Co., 1998), “explores love and betrayal in a Long Island family in the early 1940's.”
• The Speed Queen: A Novel (Doubleday, 1997): O’nan “has in abundance the imaginative sympathy his characters lack. Marjorie, Lamont, Natalie, Marjorie's mother and a dozen walk-ons are vividly realized, and with the most economical of touches.”
• The Names of the Dead: A Novel (Doubleday, 1996): “O'Nan has inherited from (Stephen) King an acute sensitivity to the vein of horror beneath even the most prosaic settings. But unlike King, he never loses his grasp on reality.”
• Snow Angels: A Novel (Doubleday, 1994): “The story has the sorrowful, soggy texture of realism into which religious symbolism has fallen.”

Dave Eggers writes with a similar sense of vision in “a much more sober, humbled, craft-loving time” than Mailer’s.

•   Dave Eggers, A Hologram for the King: A Novel (McSweeney’s Books, 2012), is “a clear, supremely readable parable of America in the global economy that is haunting, beautifully shaped and sad.”
•   Dave Eggers, The Wild Things: A Novel (McSweeney’s Books, 2009).
•   Dave Eggers, Zeitoun: A Novel (McSweeney’s Books, 2009): “. . . what Dave Eggers has found in the Katrina mud is the full-fleshed story of a single family, and in telling that story he hits larger targets with more punch than those who have already attacked the thematic and historic giants of this disaster.”
•   Dave Eggers, What Is the What: A Novel (McSweeney’s Books, 2006), “is, like 'Huckleberry Finn,' a picaresque novel of adolescence. But the injustices, horrors and follies that Huck encounters on his raft trip down the Mississippi would have seemed like glimpses of heaven to Eggers’s hero, whose odyssey from his village in the southern Sudan to temporary shelter in Ethiopia to a vast refugee camp in Kenya and finally to Atlanta is a nightmare of chaos and carnage punctuated by periods of relative peace lasting just long enough for him to catch his breath.”
•   Dave Eggers, How We Are Hungry: Stories (McSweeney’s Books, 2004): “These exercises distill the coy side of Eggers's writerly temperament, which since ‘A.H.W.O.S.G.’ has coexisted, at times uncomfortably, at times in powerful synergy, with the side that is earnest and forthright. The trick, of course, has been distinguishing one from the other, since Eggers excels at appearing at once utterly guileless and ultra-self-conscious.”
•   Dave Eggers, You Shall Know Our Velocity: A Novel (Vintage, 2003): “. . . a novel in frantic motion, one step ahead of the Furies, on its way from Chicago, Dakar, Marrakesh and Riga to pratfall, breakdown, crackup and accountability. And then back again, as if nothing had happened except in some parallel universe.”
•   Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Vintage, 2001), “tells the sad, awful, tragic story of how the author’s mother and father died within weeks of each other and how he became a surrogate parent to his 8-year-old brother, and tells it with such style and hyperventilated, self-conscious energy, such coy, Lettermanesque shtick and such genuine, heartfelt emotion, that the story is at once funny, tender, annoying and, yes, heartbreaking — an epic, in the end, not of woe, though there’s plenty of that too, but an epic about family and how families fracture and fragment and somehow, through all the tumult and upset, manage to endure.”

Novels by other authors:

• Delphine de Vigan, Kids Run the Show: A Novel (Europa Editions, 2023): “. . . what really elevates this page-turner are its political urgency and psychological depth. De Vigan digs into both protagonists’ histories, unpacking the origins of their opposing attitudes toward social media.”
• Esther Kinsky, Seeing Further: A Novel (New York Review Books, 2024): “Philosophically, the book is concerned with the human gaze, particularly the artist’s gaze. ‘There are two aspects of seeing,’ Kinsky declares at the start: ‘what you see and how you see it.’ Though she asks the reader to focus on the latter, the narrative ultimately betrays the fact that the two aspects are inseparably bound.”

Poetry

Poems:

• William Wordsworth, “Yes! Thou art Fair Yet Be Not Moved”
• Edgar Lee Masters, “Jonathan Swift Somers”
• Edgar Lee Masters, “Plymouth Rock Joe”

Books of poems:

• Nelly Sachs, Flight and Metamorphosis: Poems (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2022), “reveals a poet full of mystery and depth.”

From the dark side:

• Edgar Lee Masters, “Serepta Mason”

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Ernst von Dohnányi (Ernő Dohnányi), Variationen über ein Kinderlied (Variations on a Nursery Song), Op. 25 (1914) (approx. 23-25’): The theme is simple and child-friendly but this set of variations is music for adult tastes, emotions and intellect. The introductory bars give no hint that a nursery tune is the main theme. “Written in 1914 for piano and orchestra, it captures the spirit of Romanticism, and manages to delight and enthral in its sparkling piano writing and lush orchestral textures, and its wit in the treatment of the theme – the French nursery song 'Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman', otherwise known as 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'.” Top recorded performances are by Ernö von Dohnányi in 1931, Cyril Smith in 1953, Aller in 1956, Wild in 1967, Lantos in 1980, Kocsis in 1989, Shelley in 1998 ***, Nebolsin in 2010, Gülbadamova in 2022 **, and Isata Kanneh-Mason in 2023. 

Conductor John Barbirolli was known for his musical-emotional depth. “His interpretations were often praised for their emotional depth, lyrical beauty, and profound understanding of the music.” “He had enough dramatic depth to disdain mere showmanship, enough inner fire to opt for ice.” Here is a link to his playlists.

Robert Schumann, Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op. 129 (1850) (approx. 24-30’): “. . . Schumann’s assertion that ‘The concerto is also really quite a jolly piece’ seems to contradict the work’s brooding A minor tonality . . .” “The concerto’s success in today’s world stems from its emotional and mood shifting compass . . . which ranges from profound intimacy to sounds of joyous vivacity and tonal, rhythmic and thematic unification.” Top performances are by Rostropovich (Rozhdestvensky) in 1960, du Pré (Barbirolli) in 1968, Maisky (Bernstein) in 1984, Gabetta (Antonini) in 2018, Gautier Capuçon (Haitink) in 2019, Gromes (Carter) in 2020, Lyngstad (Ollikainen) in 2021, Magill (Takahara) in 2022, and Kian Soltani & Camerata Salzburg in 2024.

​​Daniil Trifonov is a classical pianist known for the depth of his interpretations. “Combining consummate technique with rare sensitivity and depth, his performances are a perpetual source of awe.” (This language, from his website, appears on many sites.) Here is a link to his releases.

With a voice “that embodied that of a siren, a voice that could seduce, sadden and soothe with its elegance”, Cape Verde’s Cesária Évora sang with a touching emotional depth, born it seemed of her life experience. She came from poverty, raised three children by herself, and always performed barefoot. She was “known as the country's foremost practitioner of the morna, which is strongly associated with the islands and combines West African percussion with Portuguese fados, Brazilian modhinas, and British sea shanties.” Known as a mournful offshoot of blues music: “Morna is based on the Portuguese fado and features bluesy vocals set against a background of acoustic guitars, fiddles, accordion, and cavaquinho, which is a small, four-string guitar”. Évora’s voice was a “a finely-tuned, melancholy instrument with a touch of hoarseness, highlighted her emotional phrasing by accenting a word or phrase.” Her many live appearances included these in Paris in 1995; in Paris in 2004; at au Grand Rex Paris in 2004; Nancy Jazz Pulsation in 2006; at Estival Jazz Lugano in 2007; and at Lisbon Coliseum in 2010. She created a large volume of releases.

Similar in style and tone to Évora is Nancy Vieira. Here is a link to her releases.

Inger Marie Gundersen’s voice drips with the sadness of a woman who has been passed by romantically throughout her life. On her album “Five Minutes” (2023) (41’), she displays a depth of feeling that surpasses her earlier efforts. “Her breathtaking voice is part of her appeal - Gun-dersen has her own distinct sound. It’s warm, dark, and sincere, and she can bring new meaning to even the most familiar songs and lyrics through her empathetic approach and imaginative arrange-ments.”

Art Ensemble of Chicago is an iconic free jazz ensemble “that evolved from founder Roscoe Mitchell's musical vision, explorations and adventurous collaborations in Chicago of the early and mid sixties”. Founded in 1965, the group “helped pioneer the fusion of jazz with European art music and indigenous African folk styles. They also combined music from sanctified church services, minstrel shows, and bawdy houses of late 19th and early 20th century America -- with a modernist spirit and lively stage show”. Fifty years after group’s founding, as it was going strong, Mitchell observed: “It was always a learning experience, because I was lucky enough to be with five individual thinkers.” Paul Steinbeck has authored a book about the group. Here they are live and on video in Lugano in 1979, in Montreux in 1974, in Montreux in 1983, and in Lugano in 1993. A vast collection called “The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Associated Ensembles” (1114’) was released in 2018. The group’s albums include:

• “Message to Our Folks” (1969) (41’)
• “A Jackson in Your House” (1969) (34’)
• “People in Sorrow” (1969) (40’)
• “Bap-Tizum” (1972) (40’)
• “The Paris Session Sides” (1973) (38’)
• “The Spiritual” (1975) (39’)
• Live in Willisau, 1978 (set 1; set 2) (79’)
• “Great Black Music” (1978) (68’)
• “Full Force” (1979) (42’) 

On his album “Basse Barre” (2021) (38’), jazz string jazz bassist Barre Phillips displays a rich array of musical contours and textures, resulting in a fascinating sound sculpture. He has a substantial playlists body, with many other releases, as well. 

Other albums:

• Aliaksandr Yasinski, “Hylbini” (2022): “Aliaksandr Yasinski's debut international release sees him unlock the expressive possibilities of the accordion. The album title 'Hlybini' means 'depths' in his native Belarusian language and in his words represents the ‘far corners of the human soul or something that touches us powerfully like music.”
• Jin Ah Kwon, “Music by Chopin and Liszt” (2021) (54’)
• Sean Shibe, “Profesión” (2023) (58’): “finds Shibe taking his questing, questioning artistry to the next (spirit) level. Nowhere more so than in Villa-Lobos’s 12 Études, which form the centrepiece of the recital. Villa-Lobos’s Bach homage, the third of his Five Preludes, slips seamlessly into Barrios’s La catedral like an extemporised organ prelude opening out into something more expansive yet equally intimate.”
• ​​Éva Polgár, “Liszt - Harmonies patriotiques et religieuses” (2021) (61’): “Even her lightest touch on the piano carries a weight—of knowledge, understanding, appreciation, and grace—and listening to her performance is almost as intimate and close as listening to her pulse.”

Music: songs and other short pieces

• Bob Dylan, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” (“Yonder stands your orphan with his gun / Crying like a fire in the sun.”)

Visual Arts

Film and Stage

• Catch-22: The ability to spot absurdity is an important part of wisdom.
• Being There, a film about perception in the negative: a slow-witted man gains so much unmerited admiration that he is promoted as a presidential candidate
• The King of Comedy: a self-deluded aspiring comedian misreads the message