The Connection between Literature and Music in “Dead Symphony” by Abbas Maroufi

Abstract

Changes in today's world and the disappearance of the common boundaries among the sciences have left a heavy burden on comparative literature. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, this field of knowledge bears the responsibility of making a connection between literature and other arts and sciences, and from this perspective, it plays an essential role in today's borderless world. From this point of view, linking literature with various arts such as music is considered to be one of the activity areas of this dynamic knowledge. Following this model, the present study has analyzed the relationship between music and literature in the novel "Dead Symphony" by Iranian novelist Abbas Maroufi, and at the same time, it has compared the aforementioned novel with Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 from the structural perspective. According to the present study, the intersection of literature and music in the mentioned novel has been realized in several areas and different ways. Paratext and entitling the novel, heading the text chapters, and harmonizing the path of events in the novel with the formic nature of movements in a symphony are among the commonalities of literature and music in this novel. Utilizing the counterpoint feature of music in the literary text and matching the divisions of the second movement in the novel with music variations are the other instances of the intersections of these two arts. Moreover, taking the spread of interactions between arts and sciences into account, authors can add to the enrichment of their works by linking them with arts, humanities, and experimental sciences, hence they can double the enjoyment of reading texts for their readers.

Keywords

• comparative literature
• american school
• literature and music
• dead symphony
• shostakovich