Teaching Literature through the Arts: A Few Notes on Teaching Aldous Huxley’s Point Counter Point through Beethoven’s Music

  • Dana Bädulescu
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.130
Keywords: aesthetic education, intermediality, intellectualism, science, performance, the “musicalisation of fiction

Abstract

The present article examines a teaching experiment undertaken by the author in order to point out not only the importance of the arts and aesthetics, but also their limitations. It also argues that, despite these limitations, the spirit of the arts opens us up to freedom and flexibility. Their purpose is not to give answers or solutions, but to make us question the most troubling aspects of our existence. The last chapter of Aldous Huxley’s novel Point Counter Point invites an approach that should do justice to its musical qualities. Apart from borrowing the counterpoint technique from music, it also references music, therefore lending itself to performance, which renders its dramatic force with a strong impact upon readers.

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References

Baker, R. (1974). Spandrell’s “Lydian Heaven”. Moral Masochism and the Centrality of Spandrell in Huxley’s “Point Counter Point”. Criticism, 16(2), 120-135.

Birnbaum, M. (2009). Aldous Huxley: A Quest for Values. Rutgers, NY: Transaction Publishers.

Calingacion, B. D. (2002). Literature Alive. A Performative Approach in Teaching Literature. Retrieved from http://magyarszak.uni-miskolc.hu/kiadvanyok/drama2002/ea/belen.htm

Hogarth, B. (1935). Aldous Huxley as Music Critic. The Musical Times, 76(1114), 1079-1082.

Huxley, A. (1994) Point Counter Point. Los Angeles: Vintage.

Noica, C. (2002). Jurnal filosofic. BucureÅŸti: Humanitas.

Schiller, F. [1909-14]. Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of Man. Retrieved from http://www.bartleby.com/32/502.html

Wolf, W. (1999) The Musicalization of Fiction. A Study in the Theory and History of Intermediality. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Published
2015-09-30
How to Cite
Bädulescu, D. (2015). Teaching Literature through the Arts: A Few Notes on Teaching Aldous Huxley’s Point Counter Point through Beethoven’s Music. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 5(3), 95–110. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.130
Issue
Vol 5 No 3 (2015): Teaching and Learning through Art
Section
FOCUS

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