Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

When Valjean rescues Cosette, she feels protected and safe for the first time in her life:

On waking up, Cosette had run to get her shoe. In it she had found the gold piece. It was not a Napoleon; it was one of those perfectly new twenty-franc pieces of the Restoration, on whose effigy the little Prussian queue had replaced the laurel wreath. Cosette was dazzled. Her destiny began to intoxicate her. She did not know what a gold piece was; she had never seen one; she hid it quickly in her pocket, as though she had stolen it. Still, she felt that it really was hers; she guessed whence her gift had come, but the joy which she experienced was full of fear. She was happy; above all she was stupefied. Such magnificent and beautiful things did not appear real. The doll frightened her, the gold piece frightened her. She trembled vaguely in the presence of this magnificence. The stranger alone did not frighten her. On the contrary, he reassured her. Ever since the preceding evening, amid all her amazement, even in her sleep, she had been thinking in her little childish mind of that man who seemed to be so poor and so sad, and who was so rich and so kind. Everything had changed for her since she had met that good man in the forest. Cosette, less happy than the most insignificant swallow of heaven, had never known what it was to take refuge under a mother's shadow and under a wing. For the last five years, that is to say, as far back as her memory ran, the poor child had shivered and trembled. She had always been exposed completely naked to the sharp wind of adversity; now it seemed to her she was clothed. Formerly her soul had seemed cold, now it was warm. Cosette was no longer afraid of the Thénardier. She was no longer alone; there was some one there. [Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (1862), Volume II – Cosette; Book Third – Accomplishment of a Promise Made To a Dead Woman, Chapter IX, Thénardier and His Manouvres.]

Novels:

• Maylis de Kerangal, Eastbound: A Novel (Archipelago, 2023): “. . . Aliocha encounters a Westerner who is traveling in first class. Hélène is a 35-year-old Frenchwoman who has impulsively gone AWOL herself. She’s fleeing her lover, a Russian émigré whom she had met in Paris . . .”

Poetry

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Compositions:

• Raga Durga is a Hindustani classical raag for late evening. “The name Durga is derived from the name of the goddess Amba or Parvati.  She is the wife of Shiva, and is associated with great power.  She is also referred to as 'Ma Durga' or 'Durga Mata', which means 'Mother Durga'. ” “It is also known as Raga Shuddha Saveri in the Carnatic tradition.” Performances of Durga are by Nikhil Banerjee, Shivkumar Sharma, Bhimsen Joshi, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Imrat Khan, and Amjad Ali Khan.
• Leonardo Balada, Cello Concerto No. 2, “New Orleans” (2001) (approx. 23’), “sets out to pay some tribute to the Afro-American folk culture present in jazz and blues, among other.”
• Arnold Bax, Oboe Quintet, GP 258 (1922) (approx. 19’): “Bax is . . . reflecting his engagement with Ireland.”
• Mieczysław Weinberg, Trio for flute, viola and harp, Op. 127 (1979) (approx. 14’): 1. Crochet = 63; 2. Crochet = 48; 3 Dotted Crochet = 92.
• John Garth, Six Concertos for the Violincello, Op. 1 (1750s) (approx. 94’), “were all written as a ehicle for him to demonstrate his abilities as a cellist at his regular subscription concerts”. The cello evokes a parental figure.
• Steve Elcock, Haven: Fantasia on a Theme of J.S. Bach, Op. 4 (1995) (approx. 25’)
• Ernest John Moeran, Violin Sonata in E Minor, R. 15 (1923) (approx. 18-20’)
• James Dashow, Messages from Ortigia (2002) (approx. 17’): Ortigia is a small island, near Sicily, which was transformed into a natural fortress.
• Johan Kvandal, String Trio, Op. 12 (1950) (approx. 23’), evokes a sense of serious concern, as do the works by Mortensen and Palmar Johansen, below.
• Finn Mortensen, String Trio, Op. 3 (1950) (approx. 18’)
• Bertil Palmar Johansen, Ricercare for String Trio, (1996) (approx. 17’)
• Alexander Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 7, Op. 139, “Quarantine” (2020) (approx. 20’), is “emblematic of the lockdowns of 2020”. 

Tu Nokwe is a South African singer whose style is well-described as affirmative and energetic. Her subject matter is about everyday concerns, as suggested by the title and cover photograph of her album “African Child” (2002) (72’). “Initially teaching music to township kids in her family's Amajika Youth and Children's Art Project, she eventually traveled to London and New York, where she took lessons at the famous Manhattan School of Music. Realizing that her true potential was at home, she returned to South Africa, carried on working in the youth project, and started gathering material for an album of her own material.” Here is a link to her playlists. 

Albums:

• Wilder, “Lullabies and Nightsongs”
• Nadia Shpachenko (pianist) – Lewis Spratlan (composer), “Invasion: Music and Art for Ukraine” (2022) (76’): “As she watched in horror her home city of Kharkiv (and the rest of Ukraine) being destroyed and civilians being murdered every day, Shpachenko tried to come up with ways to express her feelings of utter despair and anger, as well as hope and resilience, through her music making. In addition to performing fundraising concerts featuring music by Ukrainian composers, she decided to put together a new album to support Ukraine humanitarian aid.”
• Mette Henriette, “Drifting” (2023) (43’): “Like the snow-coated cover art, the paradoxical sound of the trio presents a bit of serenity by way of extreme conditions.”
• Imee Ooi, Protection & Good Fortune
• Ruth Angell, “Hlywing” (2023) (36’): “The (album) title is from an old English word meaning shelter or refuge . . .”

Music: songs and other short pieces

• Nawang Khechog, “Tibet for Peace Sanctuary”
• “Nothing’s Gonna Harm You”, from “Sweeney Todd” (lyrics)
• Paul Simon, “St. Judy’s Comet” (lyrics)
• Yungchen Lhamo, “Refuge Prayer”
• Hugo Wolf, “Ihr jungen Leute, die ihr zieht ins Feld” (You Young Men Who Go Off to War) (lyrics), from Italienisches Liederbruch (No. 16) (1892)
• Franz Schubert (composer), “Der Vater mit dem Kind” (The Father with His Child), D. 906 (1827) (lyrics) 

From the dark side:

• Sérgio Assad, Clarice Assad & Third Coast Percussion, “The Orphan”

Visual Arts

• Paul Klee, Refuge (1930)

Film and Stage

• The Dresser, a film about an assistant to a once-great Shakesperean actor, who tries to keep his boss going. The 2015 remake garnered equally high critical acclaim
• Little Girl (La Pivellina): an abandoned two-year-old girl “demands, and expects, protection,” and she gets it