Musical Analogies and Their Contexts in Bonaven‐tura's Nachtwachen

Abstract

Musical analogies in Bonaventura's Nachtwachen can be put into three separate categories. First of all, there are those which convey Man's disharmony by describing the dissonant temperament of the night‐watchman in musical terms. Then there are musical analogies that deal with street ballads, presenting love in a sceptical light and comparing the gypsy woman's story of Kreuzgang's birth with a ballad to cast doubt on the tale's truthfulness, and to unmask the popular fictional convention of the day that the key to human personality lies in his or her demonic make‐up. Finally, there are analogies between singers and poets. Such analogies aim to pillory the exaggerated behaviour of poets and singers, while one analogy, however, is meant to show the garret poet in a good light by comparing his voice to a higher art form, Mozart's music. Bonaventura's use of musical analogies resembles the way Jean Paul uses musical analogies. Their analogies encourage the reader to add musicality to his or her literary and sensory perceptions, but they differ in the way they indicate dissention and disunion in Bonaventura's case, and harmony in Jean Paul's. Bonaventura's analogies demonstrate his tendency to think in musical terms. They musicalize the novel's whole mood and language, and make the reader aware of music by describing the world within a musical frame of reference.