Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

For many years, Hugo’s Valjean was a slave to his own anger.

Anger may be both foolish and absurd; one can be irritated wrongfully; one is exasperated only when there is some show of right on one's side at bottom. Jean Valjean felt himself exasperated.  And besides, human society had done him nothing but harm; he had never seen anything of it save that angry face which it calls Justice, and which it shows to those whom it strikes. Men had only touched him to bruise him. Every contact with them had been a blow. Never, since his infancy, since the days of his mother, of his sister, had he ever encountered a friendly word and a kindly glance. From suffering to suffering, he had gradually arrived at the conviction that life is a war; and that in this war he was the conquered. He had no other weapon than his hate. He resolved to whet it in the galleys and to bear it away with him when he departed. [Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862), Volume I – Fantine; Book Second – The Fall, Chapter VII, “The Interior of Despsir”.]

A few paragraphs later, Hugo ruminates on this sad state of Valjean’s Being.

Was this state of his soul, which we have attempted to analyze, as perfectly clear to Jean Valjean as we have tried to render it for those who read us? Did Jean Valjean distinctly perceive, after their formation, and had he seen distinctly during the process of their formation, all the elements of which his moral misery was composed? Had this rough and unlettered man gathered a perfectly clear perception of the succession of ideas through which he had, by degrees, mounted and descended to the lugubrious aspects which had, for so many years, formed the inner horizon of his spirit? Was he conscious of all that passed within him, and of all that was working there? That is something which we do not presume to state; it is something which we do not even believe. There was too much ignorance in Jean Valjean, even after his misfortune, to prevent much vagueness from still lingering there. At times he did not rightly know himself what he felt. Jean Valjean was in the shadows; he suffered in the shadows; he hated in the shadows; one might have said that he hated in advance of himself. He dwelt habitually in this shadow, feeling his way like a blind man and a dreamer. Only, at intervals, there suddenly came to him, from without and from within, an access of wrath, a surcharge of suffering, a livid and rapid flash which illuminated his whole soul, and caused to appear abruptly all around him, in front, behind, amid the gleams of a frightful light, the hideous precipices and the sombre perspective of his destiny. [Ibid.]

At the end of the chapter, Hugo summarizes:

To sum up, in conclusion, that which can be summed up and translated into positive results in all that we have just pointed out, we will confine ourselves to the statement that, in the course of nineteen years, Jean Valjean, the inoffensive tree-pruner of Faverolles, the formidable convict of Toulon, had become capable, thanks to the manner in which the galleys had moulded him, of two sorts of evil action: firstly, of evil action which was rapid, unpremeditated, dashing, entirely instinctive, in the nature of reprisals for the evil which he had undergone; secondly, of evil action which was serious, grave, consciously argued out and premeditated, with the false ideas which such a misfortune can furnish. His deliberate deeds passed through three successive phases, which natures of a certain stamp can alone traverse,--reasoning, will, perseverance. He had for moving causes his habitual wrath, bitterness of soul, a profound sense of indignities suffered, the reaction even against the good, the innocent, and the just, if there are any such. The point of departure, like the point of arrival, for all his thoughts, was hatred of human law; that hatred which, if it be not arrested in its development by some providential incident, becomes, within a given time, the hatred of society, then the hatred of the human race, then the hatred of creation, and which manifests itself by a vague, incessant, and brutal desire to do harm to some living being, no matter whom. It will be perceived that it was not without reason that Jean Valjean's passport described him as _a very dangerous man_.  From year to year this soul had dried away slowly, but with fatal sureness. When the heart is dry, the eye is dry. On his departure from the galleys it had been nineteen years since he had shed a tear. [Ibid.]

Fictional works focusing on emotion:

• J. Courtney Sullivan, Maine: A Novel (Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), which “delves into the secrets and simmering emotions of one dysfunctional family over the course of a single summer month.”
• Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel (Penguin Press, 2019): “Vuong is masterly at creating indelible, impressionistic images. The characters of both Lan and Ma are shaped by the novel’s glimpses into their ecstasy and agony . . .” “The book is brilliant in the way it pays attention not to what our thoughts make us feel, but to what our feelings make us think.”
• Philip Caputo, Hunter’s Moon: A Novel in Stories (Henry Holt & Co., 2019): “Few writers have better captured the emotional lives of men, their desperate yearning to improve them and their utter lack of tools or capacity to accomplish the task.”
• Jandy Nelson, I’ll Give You the Sun: A Novel (Dial Books, 2014): “This heartfelt, breathlessly told novel takes teenagers’ emotional lives seriously without being either sappy or gloomy.”

Poetry

Speaking of contraries, see how the brook / In that white wave runs counter to itself . . . . / It is this backward motion toward the source, / Against the stream, that most we see ourselves in, / The tribute of the current to the source, / It is from this in nature we are from, / It is most us.

[from Robert Frost, “West-Running Brook”]

BEING:

• Maya Angelou, “The Detached”

THINKING:

FEELING:

• Robert Frost, “My November Guest” (analysis)
• James Joyce, “Dear Heart, Why Will You Use Me So?”

ACTING:

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Three operas on the double-edged sword called desire:

• Jules Massenet, Manon (1882) (152-164’) (libretto) is about a young woman’s search for pleasure. The story is drawn from Abbé Prévost d’Exiles’ novel, Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (1731). “The novel tells the story of Chevalier des Grieux and his lover, the amoral courtesan Manon Lescaut. Des Grieux is from a noble family, but he forfeits his inheritance when he displeases his father and runs away with Manon. The two live together in Paris for a time, but des Grieux begins a downward descent into poverty and criminality. Manon is eventually deported as a prostitute to New Orleans, where des Grieux follows her. After a series of misadventures, the couple flees into the wilderness of Louisiana, where Manon dies of exposure and exhaustion.” Here are links to performances, with video, conducted by Barenboim, Lopez-Cobos, Letonja, and Rudel. Top audio-recorded performances are by Féraldy & Rogatchewsky (Cohen) in 1928-29; Michaut & De Luca (Wolff) in 1951; de los Angeles & Legay (Monteux) in 1955; Sills & Gedda (Rudel) in 1970; and Gheorghiu & Alagna (Pappano) in 1999.
• Giacomo Puccini, Manon Lescaut (1892) (approx. 113-125’) (libretto) tells the same story as in Massenet’s “Manon”. “Des Grieux is mocked by his friends for speaking cynically about love. Manon Lescaut arrives in a carriage with her brother Lescaut and Geronte. Des Grieux immediately falls in love and approaches her . . .” Here are links to performances, with video, conducted by Questa in 1956, Muti in 1988, and Gardiner in 1997. Best audio recordings are by Callas & Di Stefano (Serafin) in 1957; Freni & Domingo (Sinopoli) in 1984; and Freni & Pavarotti (Levine) in 1992.
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Pique Dame (The Queen of Spades), Op. 68, TH 10 (1887) (approx. 170-195’) (libretto) is about romantic attraction as a consuming obsession, and is drawn from Aleksandr Pushkin’s story, “The Queen of Spades”. “Tchaikovsky is at the top of his opera game in ‘Pique Dame.’ His plaintive and phantasmic sound, often relying on the reeds and large strings, suits the ghostly elements of the script.” In this opera, “Greed Conquers All . . .” Here are links to performances conducted by Simonov in 1983; Ozawa in 1992; and Rozhdestvensky in 2005. Top audio recordings feature Nelepp & Simolenskaya (Melik-Pasheyev) in 1949-50; Anjaparidze & Milashkina (Khaikin) in 1966 ***; Tarastchenko & Datsko (Fedoseyev) in 1990; Grigorian & Guleghina (Gergiev) in 1992; Freni & Atlantov (Ozawa) in 1992; and Didyk & Serjan (Jansons) in 2014. 

Other compositions:

• Paul Hindemith, The Four Temperaments (scored for piano and strings) (1940) (approx. 28-31’) “references the medieval concept of psychological humors . . .” Here it is as a ballet; here is an orchestral version.
• Vagn Holmboe, Four Symphonic Metamorphoses (1943) (approx. 22’): “The metamorphic element is based on a process of development which transforms the musical material into something different without it losing its identity. Metamorphic music is . . . characterized by a unity which, inter alia, expresses the fact that conflicts . . . are always built of the same material and that contrasts can very well be complementary . . .” [Knud Ketting] “Holmboe himself has stressed the metamorphosis as the basic form principle for his instrumental music in articles and accounts. Furthermore, this "self-theory" has on the whole been accepted as the basis of an analytic description of Holmboe's music.”
• Holmboe, Sinfonia in Memoriam, M185, "Symfonisk Metamorfose", Op. 65 (1955) (approx. 27’)
• Holmboe, Epitaph, M 189, Op. 68 (1956) (approx. 23’)
• Holmboe, Monolith, M 207, Op. 76 (1960) (approx. 9’)
• Holmboe, Epilog, M 213, Op. 80 (1962) (approx. 27’)
• Hugo Alfvén, Symphony No. 4, “From the Outermost Skerries” (Från havsbandet), Op. 39 (1919) (approx. 46-48’): “My symphony tells the tale of two young souls. The action takes place in the skerries, where sea rages among the rocks on gloomy, stormy nights, by moonlight and in sunshine . . . the moods of nature are . . . symbols for the human heart.” [Hugo Alfvén]
• Hans Werner Henze, Suite from the Opera "Die Bassariden", Adagio, Fuge und Manadentanz (1965) (approx. 25’): a musical illustration of the conflict between reason and emotion
• Henze, Symphony No. 8 (1993) (approx. 25’) was inspired “by three scenes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream . . .”
• Nicolas Flagello, Symphony No. 2, "Symphony of the Winds" (1970) (approx. 16’) takes us on a rocky ride through many emotions.
• Claude Vivier’s four musical essays on Marco Polo’s brutish life: Prologue un Marco Polo (1981) (approx. 15’); Bouchara (1981) (approx. 12-13’); Zipangu (1980) (approx. 16’); Lonely Child (1980) (approx. 19’)
• Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Snegouroutchka: (The Snow Maiden) (1881) (approx. 188-194’): The snow maiden enters the human world, where she encounters passion.
• Dominick Argento, I Hate and I Love (1981) (approx. 17’) is based on poems by Gaius Valerius Catullus, a Roman poet from Julius Caesar’s time. Argento says: “In selecting texts for musical settings, I have been drawn more to prose than to poetry, especially biographical prose such as journals, diaries, and letters, because I find that private statements on the human condition and human passions in the straightforward, simpler language of personal documents are more amenable to musical treatment. The texts I have chosen from Catullus are, of course, poetic and public, but I was attracted to them precisely because they are so autobiographical and particular.”
• Henry Purcell, 12 Sonatas of Three Parts (1683) (approx. 76’)
• Johann Wilhelm Wilms, Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 23 (c. 1812) (approx. 30’)
• David Lang, “Love Fail” (2012) (approx. 94’) is about falling in love in an instant.
• George Frideric Händel, Un’Alma innamorata, HWV 173 (1707) (approx. 17’), is “A Secular Cantata for the Wounded Lover”.
• Euchar Gravina, 3 Pieces (2020) (approx. 14’)
• Erik Satie, Vexations (ca. 1894) (approx. 81’): “Each repetition is almost like reading it afresh, and engaging for the mind. The composition has very little variation in harmony, and employs mostly diminished chords. Couple this with 840 repetitions, and it becomes something quite extraordinary. It generates an interesting static quality, without much sense of forward progression.” The work is a “devilishly beguiling piece that, depending on whom you ask, is either a step toward Zen enlightenment or the longest joke in music history.”
• Olivier Messiaen, (Huit Préludes) 8 Préludes for piano (1929, rev. 1945) (approx. 36’): “Messiaen described his Preludes as “a collection of successive states of mind and personal feelings”. Sadness, loss, and meditations on mortality are found in many of the Preludes, but there is light (physical and metaphorical) as well . . .”
• John Cage, Sixteen Dances (1951) (approx. 52’): pieces about emotions and thoughts such as anger, tranquility and the wondrous 
• Karol Szymanowski, Violin Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 9 (1904) (approx. 19-22’), is an early, emotionally turbulent work.
• Hjalmar Borgstrøm, Tanken (“The Thought”), Op. 26 (1916) (approx. 43’)

Albums:

• Miles Davis, “Aura” (1988) (66’): “Aura's sections are named for the color spectrum, with the addition of white and ‘electric red.’ The music is an amalgam of classical impressionism, European new music, jazz, rock, electronic, and other genres.” The colors can be heard as our emotions.
• “Emotional Peruvian Andean Music” (140’)
• Tinkunakama, “Instrumental Music from the Heart of the Andes” (2015) (50’)
• Alvin Schwaar, Bäna Oester & Noé Franklé, “Travelin’ Light” (2020) (64’)
• Steve Markoff & Patricia Lazzara, “Romances in Blue” (2021) (73’) (poignancy and sadness in romantic love)
• Lili Haydn & William Goldstein, “Evocations” (2015) (50’)

Music: songs and other short pieces

• Blaise Siwula, Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic & Jon Panikkar, “Thoughts”
• Imagine Dragons, “Demons” (lyrics)
• Linkin Park, “Heavy” (lyrics)

Visual Arts

• Jackson Pollock, Pasiphäe (1943)
• Salvador Dali, The Font (1930)
• Edward Landseer, A Scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1848-51)
• William Blake, The Lovers Whirlwind (1824-27)

Film and Stage

This week's focus is on obstacles and opportunities in ethical development and personal growth, making the point that a thought, feeling, action, value, etc., both offers an opportunity and poses an obstacle. The films of Wong Kar-wai, at first glance martial arts films, make this point. As film critic Manohla Dargis wrote of “The Grandmaster”: the film is “more an exploration of opposing forces like loyalty and love, horizontal and vertical, and the geometry of bodies moving through space and time.”

• Ashes of Time
• Ashes of Time Redux
• The Grandmaster

The domains of Being - thought, emotion and action - expressed in film:

• The Wizard of Oz: in this classic fantasy talewith many themes, Dorothy’s three companions represent the three domains of Being.

Thought:

• Rashomon, aboutthe vagaries of perception

Emotion:

• Belle de Jour, about the dynamictension of the emotions
• Le Boucher(The Butcher) – what does he want?
• Wuthering Heights: an adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel about unchecked, narcissistic passion
• Call Me By Your Name, about how feelings can hurt so good and so bad

Action: