William Kinderman & Joseph E. Jones 
Genetic Criticism and the Creative Process 
Essays from Music, Literature, and Theater

Studies of the genesis of musical, literary, and theatrical works.


Not only the final outcome but the process of creative endeavor has long attracted attention in various artistic disciplines, but only recently has the potential of such research been seriously explored. The most rigorous basis for the study of artistic creativity comes not from anecdotal or autobiographical reports, but from original handwritten sketches and drafts and preliminary studies, as well as from revised manuscripts and typescripts, corrected proof sheets, and similar primary sources.

The term ‘genetic criticism’ or ‘critique génétique’ relates not to the field of genetics, but to the genesis of works of art, as studied in a broad and inclusive context. The essays inthis volume explore aspects of genetic criticism in an interdisciplinary context, emphasizing music, literature, and theater. A common thread pertains to the essential continuity between a work and its genesis. This volume bringstogether essays from leading scholars on subjects ranging from biblical scholarship to Samuel Beckett, and from Beethoven’s
Eroica Symphony to very recent musical compositions.


Contributors: Nicolas Donin, Daniel Ferrer, Alan Gosman, R. B. Graves, Joseph E. Jones, William Kinderman, Jean-Louis Lebrave, Lewis Lockwood, Geert Lernout, Peter Mc Callum, Armine Kotin Mortimer, and James L. Zychowicz


William Kinderman is Professor of Musicology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Joseph E. Jones is visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Table des matières

Introduction: Genetic Criticism and the Creative Process – William Kinderman

From Varieties of Genetic Experience to Radical Philology – Geert Lernout

Variant and Variation: Toward a Freudo-bathmologico-Bakhtino-Goodmanian Genetic Model? – Daniel Ferrer

The Genetic Record of a Voice: Variants in Barthes’s
Le Plaisir du texte – Armine Kotin Mortimer

Can Genetic Criticism Be Applied to the Performing Arts? – Jean-Louis Lebrave

‘The hardy Laurel’: Beckett and Early Film Comedy – R.B. Graves

From Melodic Patterns to Themes: The Sketches for the Original Version of Beethoven’s ‘Waldstein’ Sonata, Op. 53 – Alan Gosman

From Conceptual Image to Realization: Some Thoughts on Beethoven’s Sketches – Lewis Lockwood

The Process Within the Product: Exploratory Transitional Passages in Beethoven’s Late Quartet Sketches – Peter Mc Callum

‘They Only Give Rise to Misunderstandings’: Mahler’s Sketches in Context – James L. Zychowicz

A Study of Richard Strauss’s Creative Process:
Der Rosenkavalier’s ‘Presentation Scene’ and ‘Schlußduett’ – Joseph E. Jones

Genetic Criticism and Cognitive Anthropology: A Reconstruction of Philippe Leroux’s Compositional Process for
Voi(rex) – Nicolas Donin

List of Contributors

Index