Muzyka, Literatura, Filozofia. O filozoficznych wątkach w twórczości Ryszarda Wagnera i w Ulissesie Jamesa Joyce’a
Music, Literature, Philosophy. Philosophical themes in the works of Richard Wagner and in James Joyce’s “Ulysses”

Author(s): Marek Rosiak
Subject(s): Philosophy, Music, Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: philosophy; opera; drama; Richard Wagner; James Joyce; Ulysses
Summary/Abstract: An attempt to identify and interpret philosophical themes appearing in the dramatic output of Richard Wagner is an essential part of the publication. Presenting my own interpretation, I lay no claim to its exclusive accuracy. In my opinion, every great work of art – to which Tristan und Isolde, The Ring of the Nibelung cycle or Parsifal undoubtedly belong – has a universal message, which means it can be understood in different ways. My analyses on Wagner are completed by a study on absolute music in which I discuss the concept of expressing a certain programmme in music that has no relation to a literary text. The last part of the book concerns itself with the peregrination of the hero of Joyce’s Ulysses from the perspective of transcendental philosophy. Although it is not known if Joyce had studied Husserl’s phenomenology, we can draw a parallel between the contents of his work and the issue of transcendental solipsism that Husserl tackled in the Fifth Cartesian Meditation. Transcendental perspective makes it possible to view the series of incidents befalling Leopold Bloom as a process akin to the progress of a musical piece.

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