Translating jazz into poetry : from mimesis to metaphor / Erik Redling.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Redling, Erik, author.

Series:

Buchreihe der Anglia ; 42. Bd.

Buchreihe der Anglia = Anglia book series, 0340-5435 ; volume 42

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American poetry--20th century--History and criticism.

American poetry.

Jazz in literature.

Music and literature--History--20th century.

Music and literature.

History.

Physical Description:

ix, 308 pages : color illustrations, music ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter [2017]

Summary:

How does a jazz poet recreate a jazz song or style of a jazz musician? Translating Jazz Into Poetry challenges the current mimetic approach to jazz poetry, which regards jazz poems as "imitations" of jazz music. Instead, this study promotes a conceptual metaphor model, building on the theory of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, that highlights the creative "translation" of melody, tempo, dynamics, and other musical elements into figurative expressions. It demonstrates the explanatory power of the cognitive approach to intermedial relations between music and writing, with a rich sampling of jazz poems from a wide range of jazz poets, including Langs ton Hughes, Amiri Baraka, Ntozake Shange, Lawson Fusao Inada, and Elizabeth Alexander. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 Mimesis: Intermediality and Reductive Interpretations of Jazz Poems 7

2.1 Mimesis and Intermediality: Werner Wolf's Typology of intermedial Forms 9

2.2 Mimesis and Jazz Poetry: Three Contemporary Studies on Jazz Poetry 18

2.2.1 Sascha Feinstein's and T.J. Anderson's Restricted Interpretations of "Jazz-Informed" Poetry 19

2.2.2 David Yaffe's Worship of Jazz and Dismissal of Jazz Poetry 27

3 Metaphor: Intermedial Translation as a Metaphorical Process 31

3.1 The Domain Conceptual Metaphor Theory: The Basic Tenets 33

3.2 Text is Theory: Understanding Paul Blackburn's Jazz Poem in Terms of Conceptual Metaphor Theory 38

3.3 Theory is Text: Understanding the Conceptual Metaphor theory in Terms of Paul Blackburn's Jazz Poem 41

3.4 The Translation Metaphor: A Communication Model of Conceptual Metaphor 46

3.4.1 Theory is Theory: Understanding Lakoff's and Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory in Terms of Ovid's Model of Transformation 50

3.4.2 Theory is Theory: Understanding Saussure's Theory of the Linguistic Sign in Terms of Ovid's Theory of Transmitting Meaning 52

3.4.3 Text is Theory: Understanding the Medieval Text Ovide Moralisé in Terms of Conceptual Metaphor Theory 54

3.4.4 Text is Text: Understanding the Medieval Text Ovide Moralisé in Terms of Blackburn's Jazz Poem 57

3.4.5 Theory is Theory: Understanding Iser's Reader-Response Theory in Terms of Ovid's Model of Understanding a Metaphorical Expression 58

3.4.6 Theory is Text: Understanding Baudelaire's Theory of Synesthesia in Terms of Blackburn's Jazz Poem 61

4 "Oh Play that Thing you Jazz Mad Fools!" Exploring the Creatively Inspired Metaphor Jazz Music is Writing in jazz Poetry 65

4.1 Time Is Space: A Sequence of Notes is a Line 68

4.1.1 A Sequence of Notes is a Line I: Translating Melodies into Lines 69

4.1.2 A Sequence of Notes is a Line II: Snake Patterns in Jazz Poetry 83

4.1.3 A Sequence of Notes is a Line III: Improvisation on a Theme 90

4.2 Sound is Motion: Translations of Fast and Slow Jazz in Jazz Poetry 101

4.2.1 Fast Tempo of Jazz is a Vertical Column 102

4.2.2 Slow Tempo is a Horizontal Line 125

4.3 Tempo is Rhythm 133

4.3.1 Tempo is Rhythm I: Free Verse 137

4.3.2 Tempo is Rhythm II: Syncopation and Typographical Techniques 143

4.3.3 Tempo is Rhythm III: Literal Descriptions of Rhythms 151

4.3.4 Tempo IS Rhythm IV: Additional Rhythmic Features of Jazz Poems 158

4.3.5 Tempo is Rhythm V: Swing 164

4.3.6 Tempo is Rhythm VI: African Drum Poems 168

4.4 Hot and Cool Jazz 175

4.4.1 Hot Jazz: The Adjective "Hot" 177

4.4.2 Hot Jazz is Fire and Hot Jazz is Sex 178

4.4.3 Hot Jazz is Cooking 182

4.4.4 "Hot" Poems 193

4.4.5 Cool Jazz: The Adjective "Cool" 199

4.4.6 Thelonious Monk: Translating Monk's Cool Compositions 200

4.4.7 "Cool" Poems 203

4.5 "Tone-Colors" Are Colors 206

4.5.1 Blue and Red 206

4.5.2 Black and Brown 213

4.5.3 A Palette of Colors 224

4.6 Musical Key is a Mood 235

4.6.1 Minor Key is a Sad Mood 236

4.6.2 Major Key is a Happy Mood 246

4.7 Dynamics: Forte and Piano, Crescendo and Decrescendo 248

4.7.1 Forte and Piano 249

4.7.2 Crescendo and Decrescendo 258

4.8 Acoustical Pitch is a Vertical Scale 261

4.9 "Voices" of Instruments 268

5 Conclusion 282.

Notes:

Based on author's Habilitation from the University of Augsburg.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9783110326543

311032654X

OCLC:

931647953