Wagner androgyne : a study in interpretation / Jean-Jacques Nattiez ; translated by Stewart Spencer.
| Author/creator | Nattiez, Jean-Jacques, 1945- |
| Other author | Spencer, Stewart, translator. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [1993] |
| Description | xx, 359 pages ; 25 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Series | Princeton studies in opera Princeton studies in opera. ^A273667 |
| Contents | Androgyny and the Ring: from theory to practice -- Mythic narrative, theoretical discourse ; The theoretical essays of 1849 to 1851 ; Wieland the Smith ; The Ring as a mythic account of the history of music ; Art as a metaphor of itself -- Part two: Music and poetry: the metamorphoses of Wagnerian androgyny. Wagnerian androgyny and its Romantic counterpart ; Musica triumphans (1851-1873) ; The return of androgyny (1878-1883) -- Part three: Wagner and androgynous hermeneutics. Psychoanalyzing Wagner ; Animus-anima ; Androgynous structuralism ; Marxism, feminism, and Romanticism ; Deconstruction or restoration of meaning? ; Epilogue: Interpreting Wagner in the age of doubt ; Catalog of Wagner's writings. |
| Abstract | That Wagner conceived of himself creatively as both man and woman is central to an understanding of his life and art. So argues Jean-Jacques Nattiez in this richly insightful work, where he draws from semiology, music criticism, and psychoanalysis to explore such topics as Wagner's theories of music drama, his anti-Semitism, and his psyche. Wagner, who wrote the libretti for the operas he composed, maintained that art is the union of the feminine principle, music, and the masculine principle, poetry. In light of this androgynous model, Nattiez reinterprets the Wagnerian canon, especially the Ring of the Nibelung, which is shown to contain a metaphorical transposition of Wagner's conception of the history of music: Siegfried appears as the poet, Brunnhilde as music, and their union is an androgynous one in which individual identity fades and the lovers revert to a preconflictual, presexual state. Nattiez traces the androgynous symbol in Wagner's theoretical writings throughout his career. Looking to explain how this idea, so closely bound up with sexuality, took root in Wagner's mind, the author considers the possibility of Freudian and Jungian interpretations. In particular he explores the composer's relationship with his mother, a distant woman who discouraged his interest in the theater, and his stepfather, a loving man who Wagner suspected was not only his real father but also a Jew. Along with psychoanalysis, Nattiez critically applies various structuralist and feminist theories to Wagner's creative enterprise to demonstrate how the nature of twentieth-century hermeneutics is itself androgynous. |
| General note | Catalog of Wagner's writings (pages 303-322). |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-351) and index. |
| LCCN | 92023250 |
| ISBN | 0691091412 : |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk | ML410.W13 N3513 1993 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |