ABSTRACT TitleofDocument: IMAGININGOTHER WORLDS: LITERARYCONSTRUCTIONS OF ALTERITYTHROUGH MUSIC CameronFae Bushnell,PhD,2007 Directed By: Dr.SangeetaRay,English Thelatetwentiethcenturyhasseenasignificantincreaseinthenumberofliterarytextsturningto musicforthematiccontentandstructuralform.Ireadmusicalformsasstructuringorarticulating newformsofnationalism,identityformation,community,memory,andexile.Usingvocabulary frompostcolonialtheory,Iarguethatsitesofalterityidentifiableinmusicchallengeexisting, dominantculturalformations,promoteethicalorientationtowardsothers,andsuggestopennessto humaninterrelations.Thetextsthatanchormystudyarticulateanaesthetichumanismthat proposesthemusicalartsasnon-confrontationalconceptionsofselfandother,oftheindividual andsociety. Intheintroductiontotheirprovocativelyentitledanthology,DangerousLiaisons,AamirMufti andEllaShohatinsistonthevalueofa“contrapuntaljuxtaposition”ofmulticulturalisminthe U.S.contextandpostcolonialismintheinternationalsphere.Thisphrase–contrapuntal juxtaposition–encapsulatesthemotivationformydissertation.Ontheonehand,myworkis contrapuntalinitsinterdisciplinarity.Revisingthecriticalsuccessesofmusicologists,suchas SusanMcClaryandJeffreyKallberg,whousefeministandgenretheoriestointerrogatethe genderpoliticsreadableinmusicalstructures,harmonicprogressions,andtonalqualities,I employtheoriesandpracticesofWesternmusictoreadthecultural,social,andpolitical strategiesforsubjectpositioningandhumaninterrelationsemployedbylate-twentiethcentury novelsandpoetry.Ontheotherhand,mystudyjuxtaposesAmericanethnicandpostcolonial writings.Iuseacontestedscopeforpostcolonialliteraturesinordertofocusonsitesthatmight beconsidered“mature”intheirpostcolonialityandtofindconditionsofentrenchedanddeeply conflictingideologicalpositions.Icontendthatmusicalelementsprovideameanstocritique dominantculturalideologiesandsocialconstructionsfromwithinEuropeanEnlightenment,of whichWesternmusicisaproduct. IMAGININGOTHER WORLDS: LITERARYCONSTRUCTIONS OFALTERITYTHROUGHMUSIC By CameronFae Bushnell DissertationsubmittedtotheFacultyoftheGraduateSchool ofthe UniversityofMaryland, CollegeParkinpartial fulfillment oftherequirements forthedegreeof DoctorofPhilosophy 2007 AdvisoryCommittee: ProfessorSangeetaRay, Chair ProfessorElizabethBergmann Loizeaux ProfessorBrianRichardson ProfessorWilliam Cohen ProfessorPeter Beicken ©Copyright by CameronFae Bushnell 2007 Dedication Tomymother,JoAnBushnell,whoset meonmy way. ii Acknowledgements IwishtothankmyDissertationCommitteefortheirconfidenceand guidance throughout theprocess of writing.Dr.SangeetaRay’s brilliant workprovokedmy interest inpostcolonial studies,theory,andpolitics.Herconsistent encouragement to rethinktheparameters of this studyand herlivelysuggestions fordoingso helpedme ensurethat this “formal” project remainedfullyengagedinissues ofsocial justice. Iam deeplyindebtedtoDr.ElizabethBergmann Loizeaux,whoprovidedmeunfailing guidanceonwritingat theintersections ofliteratureandfinearts.Herthoughtful advice helpedmetacklethechallenges ofinterdisciplinarywork. Iam also grateful tobothDr. WilliamCohenandDr. BrianRichardsonfortheirgenerosityinreadingandfortheir continuallysoundadvice. Igreatlyappreciatedhavingthebenefit ofDr.PeterBeicken’s knowledgeofmusicand its canon.Myfamilyhas cheeredmethroughout theprocess, offeringreadyears andkindwords whenever Igot boggeddown. Ithankthem all for helpingmeineverywayIcouldhave wanted. Finally, Iwouldnotemyspecial gratitude toElizabethMcClurefor hercareful reading,thoughtful comments,and especiallyher friendship. iii Table of Contents Chapters: Page Numbers Introduction 1. Introduction: Alterity&Musicality 1 Part One:Constructions of Alterity 2. Inventions onaTheme: Noiseand Ornamentationin(De)Structuringa Nation 60 3. Inventing Identity: ImprovisingSubjectivity 100 Intermezzo 4.Jazz inTranslation: DevelopingaRacial Politics 143 Part Two:Destructions of Singularity 5.DefyingDisciplinarity: TheSocio-Economyof Listening 200 6.DefusingtheCanon: DevelopinganEthics oftheRidiculous 248 Addenda 7.Bibliography 298 8.Notes toChapters 314 iv Chapter 1: Introduction: Alterity & Musicality Theimpetus formystudycomes from a reflectionbycriticGerrySmyth, who,in writinga reviewofBernardMacLaverty’s novel, GraceNotes,observes that “thelast decadeofthetwentieth centurywitnessedaproliferationofnovels dealingwiththe subject ofmusic”(5). Furthermore,Smythnotes that themost prominent examples by Vikram Seth,SalmanRushdie, Toni Morrison,andJackieKay,1 arebynon-whiteartists writingfrom perspectives that might bedefinedas ‘oppositional’inoutlookandtenor.[…] This alerts us tothepossibilityof aconnectionbetweenthe politics ofresistance(includingquitecentrally postcolonialism)andthesystematicutilizationofmusicas analternative modeofexpressionwithinnovelisticdiscourse.(5,11) Smyth’s observationraises several questions whichwill servetoguideour discussion.Beforeentertainingthem,however, andbecause establishment ofthe conditions oftheargument involves adetour, Iwant tostatetheargument baldlyand without preamble,withthepromiseofcontextualizationtocome.Mystudyidentifies specificworks oflatetwentieth-centuryliterature (specifically,1989-2002),whichby employingrepresentations ofWesternmusic,thematicallyand/orstructurally, help broadenthe fieldofliterarypostcoloniality. Iarguethat critical representations of Western musiccanbe readas aestheticdevices that expandthescopeofpostcolonial theory, disclosingpossibilities fortransformingentrenched andsettledpolitical conditions througha commitment toalterityandsocial justicemadepossiblebya receptive andsupplehumanisticparadigm.2 Westernmusicimports intoliteraturean epistemologythat bothrivals discursivereasonandexpands it throughaprocess of 1 overdetermination.Thehegemonicsystem ofWesternmusic,comprisingtheory, performance conventions,anddailypractices is deployedinliteratureas auniversalizing force,oftenunmarked,against whichindividualisticmanipulations ofthesystem occur. Within texts what is producedis anaestheticobject depictingamanageable, perceptible totalizingschemathat varies accordingtocircumstances ofplayand theliterary consciousness(es)that resist,revise,alter,anduse it. At theheart ofmyargument is ananalogy.Representations ofmusicfunction aestheticallyinroughlythesamewayas postcolonialism functions critically: theyare bothmodes ofviewingtheworldwhichsimultaneouslyholdconceptions of universalizingsystems andofindividual and/orgroupresponses toit. Isuggest that postcolonialism is toimperialism,and byextensiontoglobalizationinthefieldof criticism,as musicianshipis totheWesternmusical system inaestheticarenas.The trajectoryofmystudyfollows aset ofmusical orthodoxies interruptedbymodes of particularperformance, composition,ormusical relationthat reflect theperspectives of literaryprotagonists onnational,racial, and genderidentities,onthepowers ofaudition andsilence,andonimperialist disciplinarypractices. Inshort, Iarguethat Westernmusic inliteraturedisplays aflexiblehumanism constructedonprinciples ofalteritybasedin conditions ofperpetual musical relationality. ReflectingagainonSmyth’s instigational insight, wemight breakdownthe considerations heraises intothefollowingsets of questions: 1)What comprises thelink, ifindeedthereis one,betweenrepresentations of musicandapolitics ofresistance positedbypostcolonialism? What aretheformal structures that support definingan association betweenmusicandpolitics? 2)Inpositinga cumulativerelation that holds 2 throughanalogythat Western musicmarks aresistanceto globalizationbywayofits connections topostcoloniality,howdoes the controversyoverthedisciplinaryterms,(i.e., postcolonialism,postcoloniality,postcolonial)figurein? 3)What might betheneed for andpurposeof an“alternatemodeofexpression” forliterarydiscourseand/orfor postcolonialism? 4)Whyhas theneed forsuch a modegrowntonoticeableproportions in themillennial decadeofthetwentiethcentury? Findingthat anunderstandingoftheterms “postcolonialism”and “postcoloniality”is instructiveforthediscussion ofconnectingstructures, Ibeginwith thecontentious fieldofpostcolonial studies andwrapits development intowhat Isee as thedevelopment ofstructural connections between literature,postcolonialism,and global conditions.MishraandHodgeofferauseful definitionof“postcolonialism”withwhich wemight begin: a “neologism that grewout ofolderelements tocapture aseemingly uniquemoment inworldhistory,a configurationofexperiences and insights,hopes and dreams arisingfrom ahithertosilencedpart ofthe world,takingadvantage ofnew conditions to‘searchfor alternatives tothediscourses ofthecolonial era,’ creatingan altogetherdifferent vantagepoint from whichtoreviewthepast and the future”(378).3 Thesecritics tracethedevelopment ofapostcolonial “ism”throughkeytexts whose materialist orientationproduces anarchive forpostcolonialism that is neither marginalizednorhaunted bytextualism,but rather that recovers “postcolonial subjectivity”(Gayatri Spivak),takes uptheimperativeofMarxism (Neil Lazarus), engages postmodernism (Gauri Viswanathan), and/orproposes acontramodernity (DipeshChakrabarty).Thesepositivedevelopments withinthedisciplinearevalorized; however,MishraandHodge findthat postcolonialism’s disciplinarystructures and 3