Tag Archives: protagonist

Musician Protagonists in (S)F, pt.14

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TITLE: The Nightmare

AUTHOR: Lars Kepler

YEAR: 2010

IS THIS SF?
No, doesn’t even pretend to be (see parenthesis in post title).

PJE SYNOPSIS
Number 2 in the Joona Linna series. Murders are committed, Joona pieces them together, much witty dialogue and fast-paced action ensues—well written and well pieced together, good believable characters.

REALLY A MUSICIAN?
not Joona, but YES to Alex Riesen, plays the violin and savant-like seems to know everything about it, ever. He was forced to be a musician by his parents, which adds a ring of truth to his character. Though, by his own admission, he doesn’t necessarily practice, and hasn’t played in thirty years. Knows his music by ear, by touch, by history, etc.

WHY A MUSICIAN?
I’ve included this book in an otherwise SF review series because the musician character is exceptional. Alex Riesen is the newly-appointed chair of a board that oversees munitions supplies and shipments from Sweden. He feels a lot of pressure, but knows in his heart-of-hearts that something’s not right and as such he doesn’t give in. He shows character and steadfastness in the face of dealings with illegitimate businessmen when people previously in his position have not been able to do so. As a result he prevents a highly disagreeable international situation. His skills as a musician, and thus as a guide and teacher or the violin, allow him to delay and add a layer of confusion to the otherwise violent conclusion of the book. Also, he’s able to date a photograph (the crucial piece of evidence…) by studying the hand positions of the string quartet in the background…!!!

RECOMMENDED?
YES—well done overall, with lots of music and musical references throughout. The original Swedish title of the book translates as “The Paganini Contracts”

© 2020 Peter J. Evans, theorist

Protagonist Musicians in SF, pt. 3

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TITLE: Soul Music
AUTHOR: Terry Pratchett
YEAR: 1994

IS THIS SF?
If by ‘S’ you mean ‘Science’ then no, but if you mean ‘Speculative’ then yes.  Pratchett’s DiscWorld is a stripped down version of our own, allowing him to superimpose select aspects of our world over his own, with much irony and hilarity ensuing.

PJE SYNOPSIS
This book is too intricate to blogly-summarize it well.   The protagonist, Imp Y Celyn, is a harpist who works hard, yet dreams of making it Big Time.  He does achieve the big time, but seemingly only for magical reasons (such is the modis operandi of the DiscWorld novels) and spends the bulk of the novel trying to understand what he’s doing or how things are happening.  The magic attracts the attention of Death’s granddaughter, etc.

REALLY A MUSICIAN?
YES-then-KINDA-then-REALLY NO!!!  Protagonist starts as an actual musician (harpist) who gains stardom not by his efforts but rather via a magical guitar which unwittingly propels him to rock stardom. At the end of the book he has forgotten everything and is now an apprentice to the local fish and chips seller.

WHY A MUSICIAN?
Having a musician become a music-dumb rock star deepens the irony quite severely.  Do stars have talent? What is it that makes them stars? Who makes them stars?  What does it mean  to be a star?  Do you need talent to be a star?  Does talent get in the way of being a start?  Do you have the star-making talent to be a star?

RECOMMENDED?
YES—Funny, apt, valid, witty—the arc of the love story is great! There’s just not much music going on, but in this ironic take on music industry, itinerant musicians and superstardom, that’s pretty much the point—the music gets lost in the hype…

© 2014 Peter J. Evans, theorist

Protagonist Musicians in SF, pt.2—Erich Zann

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TITLE: Music of Erich Zann (available here)
AUTHOR: H.P. Lovecraft
YEAR: 1922

PJE SYNOPSIS
A perpetually poor student in Paris finds an affordable residence in a part of the city that doesn’t actually exist, but seemed to for a short while. While living on the fifth floor, he hears music, eerie music, disconcerting music, coming from the sixth floor and wants to find out more.  He meets Erich Zann who plays viol(!).  By day/evening Zann plays for theater orchestras, but by night/early morning plays music for an audience beyond……..  When our poor student meets EZ, says he wants to meet/listen, EZ humors him at first with some typical classics. Student is curious about the other music, EZ sends him away, mortified to know that student has been eavesdropping. EZ later relents, allowing student to witness him playing the “music” for something not of this world/time/space/cosmic psychology.  Student flees in horror, tries to return, but can never find the neighborhood ever again.

REALLY A MUSICIAN?
Yes!
1) EZ plays viol for crying out loud!  Though HPL did not know much about music, we are given the impression that he is technically proficient, musically knowledgeable, etc.
2) Despite constant playing and practicing, EZ can still only afford to live in the cheapest parts of town
3) EZ hates to know that other people are listening to him when he is not performing.

WHY A MUSICIAN?
Music is the most ephemeral of the arts, and HPL takes that to a further extreme—ephemeral to the point of supernatural.

CONCLUSIONS?
As with most HPL, the narrator is a unwitting-observer, so the reader is not sure what it is exactly that EZ is doing, or where he’s getting his music from.  One wonders if he is attempting to communicate with the beyond through music, or if he’s taking dictation for new ideas, though his reticence does not lend itself towards the latter.  One could read this short story as a play on the adage “Music soothes the savage beast”.

RECOMMENDED?
Yes.  HPL called this one of his favorites, and it does have a certain flavor and pacing that stands out from the rest of his oeuvre. Short and crisp, psychologically compelling enough to be a gateway to the rest of HPL’s work.

© 2014 Peter J. Evans, theorist