Music abounds in twentieth- century Irish literature. Whether it be the "thought-tormented" music of Joyce’s "The Dead", the folk tunes and opera that resound throughout Ulysses, or the four- part threnody in Beckett’s Watt, it is clear that the influence of music on the written word in Ireland is deeply significant. Samuel Beckett arguably went further than any other writer in the incorporation of musical ideas into his work. Musical quotations inhabit his texts, and structural devices such as the da capo are metaphorically employed. Perhaps most striking is the erosion of explicit meaning in Beckett’s later prose brought about through an extensive use of repetition, influenced by his reading of Schopenhauer’s philosophy of music. Exploring this notion of "semantic fluidity", John McGrath discusses the ways in which Beckett utilised extreme repetition to create texts that operate and are received more like music. Beckett’s writing has attracted the attention of numerous contemporary composers and an investigation into how this Beckettian "musicalized fiction" has been retranslated into contemporary music forms the second half of the book. Close analyses of the Beckett- inspired music of experimental composer Morton Feldman and the structured improvisations of avantjazz guitarist Scott Fields illustrate the cross- genre appeal of Beckett to musicians, but also demonstrate how repetition operates in diverse ways. Through the examination of the pivotal role of repetition in both music and literature of the twentieth century and beyond, John McGrath’s book is a significant contribution to the field of Word and Music Studies.

Music abounds in twentieth-century Irish literature. Whether it be the 'thought-tormented' music of Joyce's 'The Dead', or the four-part threnody in Beckett's Watt, it is clear that the influence of music on the written word in Ireland is deeply significant. Samuel Beckett arguably went further than any other in the incorporation of musical ideas into his work. John McGrath discusses the ways in which Beckett utilized extreme repetition to create texts that operate and are received more like music. An investigation into how this Beckettian 'musicalized fiction' has been retranslated into contemporary music forms the second half of the book.

Translation and Repetition: Rewriting (Un)original Literature offers a new and original perspective in translation studies by considering creative repetition from the perspective of the translator. This is done by analyzing so-called "unoriginal literature" and thus expanding the definition of translation. In Western thought, repetition has long been regarded as something negative, as a kind of cliché, stereotype or automatism that is the opposite of creation. On the other hand, in the eyes of many contemporary philosophers from Wittgenstein and Derrida to Deleuze and Guattari, repetition is more about difference. It involves rewriting stories initially told in other contexts so that they acquire a different perspective. In this sense, repeating is often a political act. Repetition is a creative impulse for the making of what is new. Repetition as iteration is understood in this book as an action that recognizes the creative and critical potential of copying. The author analyzes how our time understands originality and authorship differently from past eras, and how the new philosophical ways of approaching repetition imply a new way of understanding the concept of originality and authorship. Deconstruction of these notions also implies subverting the traditional ways of approaching translation. This is vital reading for all courses on literary translation, comparative literature, and literature in translation within translation studies and literature.

The Marvelous Illusion studies four works by composer Morton Feldman dating from 1970-71. Focusing on the listener's attention to sounds themselves, Feldman created the "marvelous illusion" of sounds shaping into coherent music through the act of perceiving them, rather than through the act of composing. Each work appears to assemble itself for the listener as they experience it. Author Thomas DeLio frames these analyses with a discussion of Feldman's relationships to important contemporaries in other arts, revealing that above all Morton Feldman's music is about sound and spontaneity, connections arising for the listener as the composition is heard.

In this detailed and comprehensive study of concepts from Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy of time, Tromans undertakes a series of practice as research projects that reformulate Deleuze’s work via what Tromans calls a “musical-philosophical” practice. Tromans interweaves his own solo-piano improvisation and composition with analyses of his and others’ works in improvisation and experimental musics, leading to the creation of new, interdisciplinary concept or conceptual practice that he calls Rhythmicity: a way to rethink the temporal in respect of how we model its movements and relationships. Through the models of temporal interaction devised via each project, Deleuze’s concepts are transformed via their incorporation into the musical-philosophical mix. In addition, music improvisation and composition are shown to be utilisable for more than the making of music alone, with the thesis providing fresh insight for the fields of practice as research in music, Deleuze studies, experimental music, and Performance Philosophy in respect of its uniqueness of process and output.

Music and Modern Art adopts an interdisciplinary approach to the relationship between these two fields of creative endeavor.

"While the writing of Carlo Emilio Gadda (1893-1973) is renowned for its linguistic and narrative proliferation, the best-known works of Samuel Beckett (1906-89) are minimalist, with a clear fondness for subtraction and abstraction. Despite these face-value differences, a close reading of the two authors' early prose writings reveals some surprisingly affinitive concerns, rooted in their profoundly troubled relationship with the literary medium and an unceasing struggle for expression of an incoherent reality and a similarly unfathomable self. Situating Gadda and Beckett at the heart of the debate of late European modernism, this study not only contests the position of'insularity' frequently ascribed to both authors by critical consensus, but it also rethinks some of Gadda's plurilingual and macaronic features by situating them in the context of the turn-of-the-century Sprachkrise, or crisis of language. In a close analysis of the primary texts which engages with the latest findings in empirical research, Wehling-Giorgi casts fresh light on the central notions of textual and linguistic fragmentation and provides a new post-Lacanian analysis of the fractured self in Gadda's and Beckett's narrative."