Musical fiction
Encyclopedia
Musical fiction is a genre of fiction in which music is paramount: both as subject matter, and through the rhythm and flow of the prose; that is, music is manifested through the language itself. One publishing company, Coral Press
, publishes only musical fiction. As part of their program to get musical fiction the respect it deserves, Coral Press
hosts the Charts, a section devoted to the best in musical fiction, compiled by bibliographer Kellie D. Brown.
Notable authors who have written novels of musical fiction include Don DeLillo
(Great Jones Street), Tom Perotta (The Wishbones), Lewis Shiner
(Glimpses), Roddy Doyle
(The Commitments), Robert Dunn (Pink Cadillac), Nick Hornby
(High Fidelity), Ibi Kaslik
(The Angel Riots) and Scott Spencer (The Rich Man's Table).
In the same anthology, Rolling Stone writer Anthony DeCurtis talks about “the edgy relationship” between music and the written word. “Words are long-standing symbols of permanence. Music ultimately is ephemeral, evaporating into your unreliable memory once you’ve heard it. In taking music as their inspiration, writers seek to capture some of that immediacy, that spirit of the moment, and hold it still for their reader’s pleasure.”
Coral Press
Coral Press is a small, New York City-based independent publisher of musical fiction. Founded in 2001 by Robert Dunn, it has a very specific author clientele and deals solely in books of musical fiction.Novels include:*Pink Cadillac by Robert Dunn...
, publishes only musical fiction. As part of their program to get musical fiction the respect it deserves, Coral Press
Coral Press
Coral Press is a small, New York City-based independent publisher of musical fiction. Founded in 2001 by Robert Dunn, it has a very specific author clientele and deals solely in books of musical fiction.Novels include:*Pink Cadillac by Robert Dunn...
hosts the Charts, a section devoted to the best in musical fiction, compiled by bibliographer Kellie D. Brown.
Notable authors who have written novels of musical fiction include Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo is an American author, playwright, and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries...
(Great Jones Street), Tom Perotta (The Wishbones), Lewis Shiner
Lewis Shiner
Lewis Shiner is an American writer.Shiner began his career as a science fiction writer, identified early on with cyberpunk, and later wrote more mainstream novels, albeit often with magical realism and fantasy elements...
(Glimpses), Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993....
(The Commitments), Robert Dunn (Pink Cadillac), Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby is an English novelist, essayist and screenwriter. He is best known for the novels High Fidelity, About a Boy, and for the football memoir Fever Pitch. His work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists.-Life and career:Hornby was...
(High Fidelity), Ibi Kaslik
Ibi Kaslik
Ibolya "Ibi" Kaslik is a Hungarian-Canadian novelist, freelance journalist, and teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto.-Early life:Kaslik attended high school at Etobicoke School of the Arts...
(The Angel Riots) and Scott Spencer (The Rich Man's Table).
Description
In her anthology The Best of Rock Fiction, editor June Skinner Sawyers writes, “Rock fiction has not received the proper respect it deserves, which is unfortunate given the caliber of writers who have captured its fleeting essence on the written page.”In the same anthology, Rolling Stone writer Anthony DeCurtis talks about “the edgy relationship” between music and the written word. “Words are long-standing symbols of permanence. Music ultimately is ephemeral, evaporating into your unreliable memory once you’ve heard it. In taking music as their inspiration, writers seek to capture some of that immediacy, that spirit of the moment, and hold it still for their reader’s pleasure.”