Mrs Dalloway, Literature and Music

Letter from Shenzhen (21-10): Mrs Dalloway, Literature and Music

"...I resign, the evening seemed to say, as it paled and faded above the battlements and prominences, moulded, pointed, of hotel, flat, and blocks of shops, I fade, she was beginning, I disappear, but London would have none of it, and rushed her bayonets into the sky, pinioned her, constrained her to partnership in her revelry..."

The Shenzhen Public Library may only have a minuscule collection of more recent English books (and, given the general censorship, certainly not any title that will court controversy) but it has a bare bone selection of classics, including those almost forgotten in their native countries (US and UK). And translated classics. I still have cold feet about Remembrance of Things Past and so ended up with Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, in the Penguin paperback.

I had trouble at first, and it wasn't until almost two months in that I got really into it. The language is brilliant, but the literal (and cinematic) frame-by-frame micro-dissection of emotions, of simultaneously being spontaneous and hovering over life with a cold eye are unsettling to say the least. Even if I know something about Bloomsbury and Woolf's story and suicide, that is not necessary to experience the book, for it is one intense trip. No doubt Woolf was writing about herself too, but neither that, nor the ingeniously minimal story line, is the star of the novel; rather, it is London itself.

In the midst of it, I was somehow reminded of Delius' Paris, a great and vibrant tone poem that will be a surprise to those who know Delius only by his autumnal and "sunset" scores. It is a paean to a great city (which London certainly is, even if in pre-covid times you would fail to hear English in Downtown) and a personal fav. I highly recommend the reading by Charles Groves (EMI/Angel), in sumptuous sound. Now, where is my Angel LP? Also, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstances too (I recommend Boult/EMI/Angel)!

Literature is very important, and inspiration for countless composers (and film makers). Much of baroque, classical and romantic music, orchestral and opera,  were inspired by literature. However, the modern practice of hifi I am afraid divest us from other art forms and actually isolate us from the world of arts. Not a good thing.