Literature and music: voice, listening, and re-enchantment

Abstract

Taking as a starting point the thoughts of Roland Barthes, Claude Lévi-Strauss and Charles Baudelaire about the efficacy of the Literature/Music relationship, the present study examines the effects produced by the dialogue established between these two artistic fields placed in intersection. In this sense, it is verified that the set of effects generated composes a certain zone of convergence configured by the experience of the “unusual” experienced by the subject. This experience is elucidated based on the reflection of the philosopher François Jullien, who justifies it through the concept of “silent transformations” as an outburst of unexpected sensations. Whether in L'Obvie et l'obtus and in La Préparation du roman, by Barthes, or in Tristes tropiques and in Regarder, écouter, lire, by Lévi-Strauss, or in Critique musicale, by Baudelaire, the emphasis on the listening freedom of the subject-spectator allows us to verify the efficacy of Literature and Music associated by the singular re-enchantment they produce in the expanded subjectivity and in constant rediscovery.