Different level functioning of music in the Jonathan Littel’s novel "Les Bienveillantes" (2006)

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Lviv Polytechnic National University

Different level functioning of music in the Jonathan Littel's novel “Les Bienveillantes” (2006)

Ivashchuk A.S.

Introduction

The study of the issue of literary and musical intermediality attracted the attention of literary critics as early as the 18^th century. The basis for new research in this field was the need to rethink the traditions of the synthesis of literature and music from the standpoint of modern literary, linguistic, and cultural concepts. Many scientists of different generations devoted their works to this issue, calling the same phenomena differently (synthesis of arts, syncretism, intertext, intermediality) [1, p. 249].

The presented study is devoted to the investigation of the issue of literary and musical intermediality in modern French literature based on the material of Jonathan Littel's novel “Les Bienveillantes” (2006). The research was carried out in line with modern literary and cultural concepts. After receiving in 2006 two prestigious French literary prizes at once, such as the Goncourt Prize and the Grand Prix of the French Academy for the novel, J. Littel's “Les Bienveillantes” immediately found itself in the field of view of literary critics, whose opinions were sometimes ambiguous, and the novel gained wide publicity both in France and abroad.

All types of art, by their nature, are able to interact with each other, they are capable of interpenetration and transposition of elements of one art into another. As a result, there are numerous scientific works dedicated to the problem of the synthesis of arts, in particular, literary critics are interested in the synthesis of music and literature [11]. The term “intermediality” appears among literary terminology, which means a way of correlating artistic phenomena, the appearance in a work of art of elements inherent in other types of art. Literature is considered the most unique form of art, as it can fully record any reality in the form of a text canvas [4, p. 32]. Therefore, it becomes possible to identify elements of other types of art in literature, such as painting, cinematography, music, which in turn allows us to understand the author's idea, the depth of the artistic work. The question of the intermediality in literature is highlighted in the works of such scientists as R. Barth, M. Bakhtin, G. Remak, D. Nalyvaiko, D. Lykhachev, A. Hansen-Love, Y. Muller, I. Peh, J. Schroter and others. Despite the numerous studies of intermediary in art in general, the intermedial analysis of an artistic work remains a relatively new field of research in literary studies.

In the context of the development of modern French literature, it is possible to study literary-musical intermediality on the basis of the modern French novel, since writers are increasingly turning to the multi-level use of music in the literary text, as a result of which synthetic genres (novel-suite) or changes at the content level of text. It is also worth mentionning that the latest French literature is increasingly turning to coverage of the events of the Second World War on its pages, this shows its traditionality, since the depiction of war has always been relevant in French literature. During the war, music was also present, which had different meanings and functions at that time. It was also present in concentration camps, where it was both initiated by the Nazis and a way for prisoners to distract themselves from inhuman living conditions. Therefore, the relationship between war and music is reflected in literature.

Presenting of the material

Literary-musical intermediality is manifested in J. Littel's novel primarily as a formative principle: both at the level of speech music of the text, rhythm and dynamics of the story, and as a poetic embodiment in the work of analogues of musical techniques and structures, namely, the forms of the baroque suite and “fugue writing”.

Based on S.-P. Sher's typology [12, p. 237], we can conclude that Littel's novel is characterized by “music in literature”. According to the typology of this researcher, it appears as speech music, in the form of traditional musicality, rhythm and dynamics of the narrative, and the presence of analogues of musical techniques and structures in literature.

According to the typology of V. Wolff [11], highlighted by him in the work “Musicizing an artistic work: research in the context of the theory and history of intermediary”, we can describe the intermediality as implicit (structural-compositional) and explicit (thematic) references. Implicit intermediality is manifested here in the form of musicalization of a literary work - the presence of music in literature. Explicit reference (that is, intermedia thematization) is present here due to the presence of discussions about music in a literary work, as well as the reflection of music in literature.

Speaking about the multi-level functioning of literary and musical intermediality in the novel “Les Bienveillantes”, it can be said that here it manifests itself on three levels, namely on the thematic, structural and narrative levels.

It is also worth mentionning that the concept of “music” is widely used at the level of lexical isotopy. These isotopes are ubiquitous in the novel, and are used to denote musical instruments and playing them, to refer to composers, to their musical works, to denote devices for reproducing music, media on which music was recorded, etc.

As for the thematic intermediality of the novel “Les Bienveillantes”, it is obvious from the first pages of the work: the protagonist is a real music lover, a brilliant connoisseur of classical music. The novel is full of episodes where the protagonist discusses classical music. In the first chapter there is an episode where the protagonist regrets that he cannot play the piano: “C'est aussi un peu sa faute. Si elle avait insiste, si elle avait su etre severe lorsqu'il le fallait, j'aurais pu apprendre a jouer du piano, et cela m'aurait ete une grande joie, un refuge sur. Jouer juste pour moi, a la maison, cela m'aurait comble. Bien entendu, j'ecoute souvent de la musique, et j'y prends un vif plaisir, mais ce n'est pas la meme chose, c'est un substitut. Tout comme mes amours masculines: la realite, je ne rougis pas de le dire, c'est que j'aurais sans doute prefere etre unefemme”. [10, p. 21]

This regret runs through the entire novel. In his monologue addressed to the reader, it can be seen that in Aue's understanding, music is compared to the best human qualities, good upbringing, humanity, and contrasted with episodes from his life and his own character traits: “C'est surtoutpour moi, que qa vousplaise ou non, encore une marque de mon ego'isme sans bornes, fruit certainement de ma mauvaise education. J'aurais peut-etre du faire autre chose, me direz-vous, c'est vrai, j'aurais peut-etre du faire autre chose, j'aurais ete ravi de faire de la musique, si j'avais su aligner deux notes et reconnaitre une clef de sol, mais bon, j'ai deja explique mes limites en la matiere”. [10, c. 5].

Discussions about classical music are an integral element of the novel. In the work, the names of composers, performers, works are constantly mentioned, they are discussed and acquire a certain meaning in the historical context of the novel. From such episodes, we can draw a conclusion about the good musical and cultural erudition of the protagonist. He probably has a lot of musical experience if he easily distinguishes the manner of playing a Slavic pianist from any other: “En effet, c'etait le Rondo a la turque de Mozart, dans une interpretation rapide et allegre mais en meme temps imbue de gravite romantique; un pianiste slave, certainement. “Qui joue?” demandai-je. -“Rachmaninov, le compositeur. Vous connaissez-0?” - “Un peu. Je ne savais pas qu'il jouait aussi”. [10, c. 328]

Music in the novel occupies a prominent place not only for the protagonist. It is a real fascination, a certain kind of detachment from the outside world. We can conclude that music played one of the most important roles in German culture: “La piece de Mozart prit fin et l'officier mit le Gluck, une transcription d'une melodic d'Orfeo et Euridice, delicate, lancinante, affreusement triste. Du menton je fis signe en direction du lit: “Pourquoi vous ne vous debarrassez pas de lui?” - “Pour quoi faire? Il est tres bien la ou il est”. J'attendis la fin du morceau pours lui demander: “Dites, vous n'avezpas vu unepetite fille?” - “Non, pourquoi, il vous en faut une? La musique, c'est mieux”. [10, c. 330].

One of the episodes of the second chapter of the novel is the protagonist's stay with the German army in Chernivtsi, where he meets the Jewish boy Yakov. He grew up in a German-speaking family, because of which he could communicate freely in this language. His father was deported, and his mother died during one of the bombings. One of the German soldiers found him, and since then he worked for the Germans: washing cars, cleaning weapons. Yakov plays the piano well, which first of all made Max interested in him.

From this episode we can see that maybe for Max, music was something that cannot be compared with politics or his beliefs, because as Max himself said, “such a touch to the keys forgives everything, even being a Jew”. In the novel, we see that music is an art that cannot be destroyed. War can destroy everything except art: “Le vieil homme acheva le morceau et se tourna vers moi: ilportait un monocle et une petite moustache blanche bien taillee, et un uniforme d'Oberstleutnant de l'autre guerre, avec une croix au cou. “Ils peuvent tout detruire, me dit-il tranquillement, mais pas qa. C'est impossible, qa restera toujours: qa continuera meme quand je m'arreterai de jouer”. Je ne dis rien et il attaqua le contrepointsuivant...”. [10, c. 746].

Having killed the man who played the counterpoints from Bach's “The Art of the Fugue”, Max, at the end of the novel, almost losing his mind because of everything he has experienced and because of all the psychological burden, believes that it is because of Bach's music that Germany will lose the war: “C'esta cause des ces junkers corrompus que l'Allemagne perd la guerre. Le national-socialisme s'effondre et eux jouent du Bach. Qa devrait etre interdit”. [10, c. 746].

Music is of great importance in the novel, because through the prism of music we can better understand the personality of the protagonist. His musical tastes, what literary associations these or other works evoked in him - all this forms the reader's idea of the other side of the SS officer's personality, who easily decided people's fates and gave orders for their destruction. However, music functions in the novel not only at the thematic level. Equally important for understanding the novel is the structural organization of the story in the form of a suite. intermediality literature music bienveillantes littel

At the structural level, intermediality in the novel manifests itself in its form, namely, in the form of a suite. Nowadays, there is a noticeable tendency to rethink concepts, styles, genres, etc. The suite genre has an extremely long history of development, rich traditions of composition and performance in musical art, which is why, in the context of our study, it is interesting to look at this genre from a different angle. It is interesting to consider the suite both as a whole phenomenon and each part separately in order to establish their dramatic role in the life of the entire cycle as a whole, that is, in its semantic and dramaturgical unity.

According to the definition of I. Sposobin [3, p. 132], the suite is formed from a sequence of several dances. The tonality common to all dances serves as a unifying factor for it. At the same time, the parts of the suite contrast with each other in other aspects, such as character and tempo. A complete suite includes four obligatory dances, which are always presented in the following order:

1) Allemande (moderately);

2) Courante (quite fast);

3) Sarabande (slow);

4) Gigue (fast).

In addition to the main dances, the suite often includes additional pieces, mostly also of a dance nature. N. Pikalova defined a suite as “a complex genre, the basis of which is a free multi-component cyclicity, which is expressed through the contrast of parts (models of simple genres), coordinated by a generalizing artistic idea and collectively aimed at embodying the aesthetic value of the multifaceted nature of the phenomena of reality” [6, p. 21].

We find also interesting the study of E. Shchelkanovtseva [6, p. 86], who tried to trace the analogy between the cyclic framework of J.-S. Bach's six-part cello suites and oratorical speech, which in turn is also divided into six parts:

1) Exordium (introduction) - Prelude;

2) Narratio (story) - Allemande;

3) Propositio (proposal) - Courante;

4) Confutatio (refusal) - Sarabande;

5) Confirmatio (affirmation) - Insertion dances;

6) Peroratio (conclusion) - Gigue.

However, later, S. Masliy, in her dissertation devoted to the study of the semantic, dramaturgical and historical aspects of the study of the suite genre, expresses the opinion that such an interpretation “is quite problematic and raises some doubts. Thus, the Confutatio section rather corresponds not to the Sarabande, but to the insertion dances, which form a sharp contrast not only in relation to the Sarabande, but also to the main dance frame as a whole. In turn, the Gigue, undoubtedly, being the final part, is functionally closer to both the Peroratio and Confirmatio sections” [3].

As for the J. Littel's novel, it is written in the form of a sevenpart baroque suite. All the mandatory parts of the suite are completely preserved here, among the insertion dances, the common one is the Air. Only the Gavotte and Minuet are inserted. In addition, it can be said that the choice of the structure of Bach's suite as a structural-semantic basis is explained by the fact that the flourishing of the baroque suite is associated with his work - in the creation of Bach's cycle, the sequence of main dances is firmly rooted, which allows us to reveal the dramatic logic of the suite's plot development.

Applying all of the above to the novel by J. Littel, we can conclude that the structure of the novel fully corresponds to the structure of the Bach suite. The first section of the novel, the Toccata, serves as an introduction. The protagonist begins his story with an address to the reader, here the reader first learns about the events that will take place in the novel. Remembering that in the musical suite there is a tonality common to the entire cycle, the same parallel can be drawn with the novel - the mood of the protagonist throughout the novel is almost unchanged - he talks about the events he experienced during the Second World War, which is characteristic of him mainly the role of an observer.

As for the next two parts - Allemandes I and II, and Courante - they play the role of the thematic core in the novel. The similarity also lies in the fact that the prototype of the dance movement is preserved from the genre foundation of the suite: in Bach's suite, the Allemande shows the unhurried, ceremonial advancement of many couples through an enfilade of rooms. Such a peculiar “German polonaise” that opened the court holidays was accompanied by mutual greetings, short remarks, which found their expression in the polyphonic fabric, “interruptions” of voices, and the complexity of the interweaving of motifs [5]. In the novel, in the chapter “Allemandes I and II”, the advance of German troops through the territory of Ukraine, the Caucasus, which ends in Stalingrad, is described. The Courante that makes up the Alemandes pair is contrasting. This is a fast three-part dance of a lively, fiery character. In the novel, this character is embodied by the battle near Stalingrad, the escape of wounded Aue.

The next part, the “axis of symmetry” of the novel, is Sarabande. Solemnly focused, mournful processional dance, which originated in Spain as a church rite of procession with a shroud, which was performed in a circle in the church, and later - a rite of solemn burial, farewell to the deceased. It is characterized by pauses that emphasize a mournful concentration, as if the “difficulty” of movement caused by grief. Over time, this part acquired the meaning of a symbol of the expression of a mourning- solemn, deep-psychological principle. Such depth of meaning and content led to the fact that the Sarabande became the semantic and psychological center of the suite cycle. It is in Sarabande that the events important for the development of the plot of the novel take place. After Max is treated for his injury, he goes to Antibes, where his mother lives with his stepfather. In the morning, he finds their bodies brutally murdered.

Insertion parts of a suite usually play the role of an interlude, a rest, often they are a connection between mandatory parts, a kind of “switch” in the cycle. The parts “Minuet in the form of a rondo” and “Air” in the novel also act as an interlude. In Minuet, Max gets a new position and starts working on concentration camps. Meanwhile, he begins to be visited by detectives regarding the murder of his mother. For Aue, the part “Air” is a real rest from the stormy events of the novel. Semantically, the word “air” in French also means “air”, in the general fabric of the story this part does not contain any war events or deaths, but in it the author most vividly describes the objects of sexual obsession of the protagonist.

The culmination of the suite cycle is always a Gigue. Against the background of solemn Minuets and majestic Pavans, Gigue, due to its fast tempo, allowed to change dance positions, which was advantageously different from measured and slow dances. Most often, the Gigue has a fugue in it. The accumulation of events in the last chapter of the novel also allows us to talk about a certain fugueness, since the themes that were encountered in the previous chapters are rapidly developed here. Aue realizes that it was he who brutally killed his mother, because of this he is pursued by the police, who will later be killed as well. The fast, energetic pace of the suite Gigue in the novel is revealed in Aue's escape, in his constant hiding from one danger, then from another. The last lines of Gigue act as a coda for the entire novel: “J'etais triste, mais sans trop savoir pourquoi. Je ressentais d'un coup touts le poids du passe, de la douleur de la vie et de la memoire inalterable, je restais seul avec 1'hippopotame agonisant, quelques autruches et les cadavres, seul avec le temps et la tristesse et la peine du souvenir, la cruaute de mon existence et de ma mort encores a venir. Les Bienveillantes avaient retrouve ma trace”. [10, c. 894].

According to the interpretation of Yu. Lotman, and his thoughts on the similarity of the suite cycle with the structure of the myth, the suite personifies the cycle “life - death - rebirth (renewal)”. However, as can be seen in the final part of the novel, revival will not come in this case. Memories of what was done will pass through the entire life of the protagonist as if by a single thread, until he dares to write a book about it with the aim not of repentance, but in order to put all things and events in their place for himself: “Ne pensezpas que je cherche a vous convince de quoi que ce soit; apres tout, vos opinions vous regardent. Si je me suis resolu an ecrire, apres toutes ces annees, c'est pour mettre les choses au point pour moi-meme, pas pour vous” [10, p. 32].

The dance beginning of the suite allows us to draw a parallel with the tank of death, a synthetic genre, especially popular in the 14^th-15^th centuries, which was a dance of skeletons with the dead, accompanied by a poetic commentary [7]. The mention of death in works has a deep historical past, it has always used iconographic means, literature and music. It is important that people of many nations and cultures believed in the existence of the afterlife, so the dance of death was depicted as a dance of newly deceased people with skeletons that represented the afterlife [9]. During the 15^th-16^th centuries, many (perhaps even the most) works of art were created, the main theme of which was death. However, the topic of death has become of interest to writers even in our time. Undoubtedly, the reason for such interest was the events that took place during the last century - two world wars, numerous exterminations of people. Therefore, we can say that each of the parts of this novel-suite is a dance, a dance of death.

Conclusions

For the study of literary and musical intermediality, it is important to study the modern novel of the

French-speaking writer Jonathan Littel, “Les Bienveillantes” (2006), which was awarded the Goncourt Literary Prize. The main storyline of the novel is the fictional memories of the former Nazi Maximilian Aue about the events of the Second World War.

The novel is divided into 7 parts, and it is written in the form of a baroque suite. Each of the parts has its own characteristic name, which corresponds to one of the dances of the suite (allemande, courante, sarabande, etc.). So, we can talk about the formative principle of music in a literary text. It is also important that each part is characterized by an appropriate mood and movement that corresponds to one or another dance in the suite.

Literary and musical intermediality in the novel is also manifested at the level of speech music of the text and the use of the "fugue writing" technique.

From the first pages of the text, the reader gets to know the protagonist, in whose life music plays an almost primary role. Discussions about classical music are an integral element of the novel. Music is also important for understanding the personality of the protagonist. The reader's perception of him is shaped by his musical tastes, literary associations are caused by musical works, etc.

The genre of the suite was analyzed by us in many musicological studies, in particular, the rhetorical meanings of each of the dances of the suite were highlighted, the embodiment of these meanings in the novel by J. Littel, and it is also proven that the form of the suite corresponds to the suites of J.-S. Bach. A parallel can also be drawn with dances of death, a specific genre that was particularly popular in the 14^th and 16^th centuries.

The technique of “fugue writing” appears in the novel through the latent transposition of the myth of Orestes, which is present both in the title of the novel itself and in its events. The noun les bienveillantes when translated into Ukrainian can mean “Eumenides” - the goddess of revenge, present in the myth of Orestes, who killed his mother Clytemnestra because of her betrayal of his father, Agamemnon. The same events are present on the pages of the novel by J. Littel.

Therefore, analyzing the novel by J. Littel, we can talk about the functioning of music in it on three levels: structural, semantic, and narrative.

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