Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

Tom Wolfe’s pen is high-octane. Reviewer Thomas Mallon observes: “. . . from genre to genre, the fundamentals of Wolfe’s game have stayed the same: a concentration on behavioral codes and status; the dominance of big themes over private emotions. Exuberance continues to rule his italicized, exclamatory and onomatopoetic pages.”

• Back to Blood: A Novel (Little, Brown & Company, 2012): on “the gaudy clash of (Miami’s) different and financial populations.
• Bonfire of the Vanities: A Novel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1990), on betrayals and twists of the law: “It positively hums with energy. There are dozens of fine scenes, set pieces, a strong story line, lots of laughs and a solid, psychologically penetrating piece of imaginative writing about Sherman going into the slammer.”
• The Right Stuff: A Novel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), on man’s first trip to our moon: “Where Wolfe's book excels is in his understanding of the astronauts' inner drive. They were painfully aware of the attitude held by their peers in the test-pilot pyramid: A monkey's going to make the first flight.”
• The Electric Kook-Aid Acid Test: A Novel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1968): youthful exuberance run amok in the 1960s.

Other novels:

• Helen Oyeyemi, Mr. Fox: A Novel (Riverhead Books, 2011). "Oyeyemi casts her word-spell, sentence by sentence, story by story, and by the end, the oppressive lair has opened up into a shimmering landscape pulsing with life."

Poetry

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson set the standard for energetic trumpeting with his unique brand of be-bop and swing. Here is a link to his playlists. Below are links to live performances.

• Jazzwoche Burghausen, 2001;
• Jazzfestival Viersen, 1996;
• Jazz Jamboree, 1992;
• At Bern Jazz Festival, 1991;
• Live in Berghausen, 1991;
• ZDF, 1987;
• Seal Beach, California, 1985;
• Live in Montreal, 1982;
• Live at the Top, 1975. 

On drums, Louis Bellson conveyed the same sense of verve and energy. In addition, his musical appetite was voracious. Here are links to one set of his playlists, and another. Here he is live in 1980. 

Simon Rattle’s conducting style is energetic and dynamic. A horn player said of Rattle: “We don’t know where he gets his energy! He has more than most of us in the orchestra and on occasion we have had to ask him to slow down and forgo some of his plans – otherwise we simply couldn’t keep up.” Here are links to his releases, and videos of him conducting.

Another highly energetic conductor is Vasily Petrenko. Here are links to his playlists and of him conducting live.

Albums:

• Miles Davis, “Milestones” (1958) (68’) “is significant as a creative hinge period between Davis' bebop/hard bop period and his future modal period.”
• Binker and Moses, “Escape the Flames” (2021) (67’): “Whoops and hollers contribute to the communitarian vibe and the six-track production values are well up to Gearbox's audiophile standards. Shamanistic, seductive, earthy and interstellar . . .”
• Freddie Hubbard, “The Night of the Cookers: Live at Club La Marchal, vol. 2” (1966) (45’): “Hubbard was a master of tonguing effects, high-voltage upper notes, and long phrases, while Morgan was a hypnotic improviser.”
• Koko Taylor, “The Earthshaker” (1977) (37’)
• Charles Mingus, Live at Montreux 1975
• Manu Dibango, “Africadelic” (1972) (32’): “It's hard to believe there is a musician anywhere on this earth that could mix great jazz chops with a soulful outlook and a worldly attitude and still make it so fun and funky that it doesn't matter what allegiance you address. This stuff rocks.”
• Ronnie Cuber & Gary Smulyan, “Tough Baritones” (2021) (62’): “These baritone masters make a sport of navigating the fast-moving changes, zigzagging lines and skippy syncopations that define the (bebop) genre.”
• Justin Chart, “The Midnight People” (2022) (48’): “. . . relentless energy remains a hallmark of the album throughout.”
• Vaudou Game, “Fintou” (2025) (41’) is “impossible not to dance to.”

Conductor Artur Rodzinski‘s “interpretations were frequently highly dynamic, often with very fast speeds. These may have reflected the extremes of his personality, which could veer alarmingly from depression to elation.” “Rodzinski was known as a great builder of orchestras. Time and again he took over run-down orchestras and in a few years, by cajolery, psychology and almost ruthless dedication, built them into the finest of artistic groups.” Here are links to his playlists. 

Music: songs and other short pieces

• The Beatles, “Twist and Shout” (lyrics)
• AC/DC, "Thunderstruck" (lyrics)
• Led Zeppelin, "Immigrant Song" (lyrics)
• Daft Punk, "One More Time" (lyrics)

Visual Arts

• Jackson Pollack, The Key (1946)
• Jasper Johns, Dancers on a Plane
• Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Progress of Love: The Pursuit (1771-72)

Film and Stage

• Monsters, Inc.: an animated film characterized by “breakneck energy”
• Raiders of the Lost Ark: a high-energy action fantasy
• The Road Warrior, this Mad Max sequel is “a film of pure action, of kinetic energy organized around the barest possible bones of a plot”; “an extravagant film fantasy that looks like a sadomasochistic comic book come to life”