4.1.1 Foreshadowing the Development of the Plot ....................... 44
4.1.2 Creating Defamiliarization .............................. 47
CONCLUSION ................................ 55
Chapter Four FUNCTIONS OF MUSICALIZATION OF AMSTERDAM
4.1 Narrative Functions
In the explicit thematization of music in Amsterdam, Clive’s imagination of musical melody is a narrative medium that foreshadows the development of the plot and creates defamiliarization.
4.1.1 Foreshadowing the Development of the Plot
The novel contains many of Clive’s imaginations of composing the Millennial Symphony, and each of his imaginations foreshadows the direction of the storyline. For example, in the first section of Chapter One, at Molly’s funeral, Clive’s imagination of the Millennial Symphony is:
There was something seriously wrong with the world for which neither God nor His absence could be blamed. Man’s first disobedience, the Fall, a falling figure, an oboe, nine notes, ten notes. Clive had the gift of perfect pitch and heard them descending from G. (McEwan 4)
Clive was losing the sensation in his feet, and as he stamped them the rhythm gave him back the ten-note falling figure, ritardando, a cor anglaise, and rising softly against it, contrapuntally, cellos in mirror image. Her face in it. The end. (McEwan 6)
CONCLUSION
McEwan is a talented novelist who is interested in music and cleverly combines literature with music in his Amsterdam, a Booker Prize-winning novel. In writing the novel, he describes composer Clive as the protagonist and adopts many musical techniques, which achieves the explicit thematization and implicit imitation of music in the novel.
The explicit thematization of music in the novel is reflected in the story of Clive’s composition of the Millennial Symphony and his views on musicians. Through the analysis of explicit thematization of music, readers can understand that Clive is no longer a pure egoist and morally depraved person, and his moral depravity is inextricably related to the depravity of society. They can also feel Clive’s helplessness when reading his interior monologues. Thus, they can have a good understanding of Clive’s dual personality of despising depravity yet choosing depravity.
Furthermore, the novel subtly imitates music in various aspects. The language rhythm of Amsterdam imitates the sound rhythm of music, and its narrative rhythm imitates the tempo of music. Both rhythms realize the musicalization of the rhythm of the novel. Moreover, the structure of Amsterdam is also related to music. Regarding macro-structure imitation, the story begins with death and ends with death, which imitates the ABA pattern of sonata form, thus highlighting the themes of “death” and “depravity.”
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