Inner music example type: Literature
Touching the Void
Touching the Void is a 1988 book by Joe Simpson, recounting his and Simon Yates’s near fatal descent after climbing the 6,344-metre peak Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. Within it, he describes being delirious after a climbing accident and has a negative experience imagining Boney M’s ‘Brown Girl in the Ring’.
The Ultimate Melody
In Arthur C. Clarke’s 1957 science fiction short story The Ultimate Melody, a scientist, Gilbert Lister, develops the ultimate melody – one that so compels the brain that its listener becomes completely and forever enraptured by it. As the storyteller, Harry Purvis, explains, Lister theorised that a great melody “made its impression on the mind because ... Read more
The Imp of the Perverse
In Edgar Allen Poe’s The Imp of the Perverse (1845), the narrator is a murderer who has succumbed to influences he tried to repress. In discussing what led him to murder, he considers the nature of things you shouldn’t do and thoughts you shouldn’t have and how to respond to them, using unwanted inner music ... Read more
Nothing but Gingerbread Left
In 1943 Henry Kuttner published the short story Nothing but Gingerbread Left about a song engineered to damage the Nazi war effort, culminating in Adolf Hitler being unable to continue a speech. Two key extracts are given below. Extract 1: The minister rose and walked back and forth on the rich carpet. His lip lifted in a sneer. The ... Read more
Killing Floor
Jack Reacher, the protagonist of Lee Child’s novels, often experiences music internally rather than through external devices. He has a deep appreciation for blues music, and songs frequently play in his mind as he moves through different situations. This internal soundtrack reflects his solitary nature and sharp observational skills, with music serving as a kind ... Read more
Elmer and the Tune
Elmer and the Tune (2017) is a children’s book written by David McKee When Rose meets Elmer, she’s humming a tune that she cannot get out of her head. When she leaves, Elmer realises he cannot get the tune out of head either. As he crosses the jungle he sees the infectious tune spreading to ... Read more
An Equal Music
In the novel An Equal Music (1999) by Vikram Seth, pianist Julia compensates for her increasing hearing impairment with the use of musical imagery