Daniel Arrieta    Department   Kyoto University of Foreign Studies  Department of Hispanic Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies    Position   Associate Professor
Date	2025/08/01
Presentation Theme	Stream of consciousness, time and music in two novels in dialogue with Beethoven's Eroica
Conference	24th International Comparative Literature Association Congress
Promoters	Dongguk University
Conference Type	International
Presentation Type	Speech (General)
Contribution Type	Individual
Country	Korea, Republic of
Venue	Seoul
Holding period	2025/07/28～2025/08/01
Details	Beethoven's Third Symphony, also known as Eroica, represents a profound departure from the composer's earlier classical style. It introduces experimental and dramatic forms of expression that lay the groundwork for the emergence of Romanticism in music. Two 20th-century authors, British writer Anthony Burgess and Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier, each wrote a novel inspired by the structure and musical elements, such as polyphony, variations, and counterpoint, prevalent in Beethoven's symphony. The intimate relationship between music and literature has been explored and categorized by such scholars as Wolf (1999), Rajewski (2005), and Petermann (2018), who have contributed greatly to the understanding and development of the "musical novel." These works use specific literary techniques to imitate the musical medium, including methods associated with stream-of-consciousness, which focus on revealing the inner workings of consciousness, often to uncover the psychological depth of characters (Humphrey, 1954). In these novels, the manipulation of musical tempo and narrative time converge, creating a unique interplay between music and narrative. Carpentier's El acoso and Burgess' Napoleon Symphony each adapt the structure of Beethoven's symphony to their respective settings: Napoleon's France and Batista's Cuba, mirroring the symphony's roughly 45-minute duration. This paper explores how both authors employ stream-of-consciousness techniques to manipulate narrative time and explore the ways in which these techniques interact with recurring themes, motifs, and, in a Bakhtinian sense, the contradictory and dialogical ideologies present in their works.