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Quote by Naomi Novik

“What could make the Napoleonic Wars more exciting? Dragons.”

Author

Naomi Novik is a British writer renowned for her historical fantasy novels. Her most famous work is the 'Temeraire' series, which tells the story of an officer and his dragon's adventures during the Napoleonic Wars of the 19th century. more

“You can actually muck with history and think about what if, why not. What if there were dragons in the Incan Empire that allowed them to resist colonization? What if there were a massive dragon empire in the middle of the interior of southern Africa that decided to take objection to the slave trade?”

Ifs Thinking Middle Decided Trade Slave Empires Dragons What If Massive Why Not Southern Interiors Objections Colonization Slave Trade Southern Africa

Author:Naomi Novik

“As a novelist you have just unlimited budget, total creative control. You really get to have your cake - all the cake - and then you can have a second cake if you wanted to.”

Ifs Wanted Creative Budgets Novelists Cake Unlimited

Author:Naomi Novik

“Sometime during the 1990s, when I was teaching philosophy at UCSD, my friend, colleague, and music teacher, Carol Plantamura, discussed the possibility of teaching a course together looking at ways in which various literary works (plays, stories, novels) had been treated as operas, and how different themes emerged in the opera and in its original. One of the pairings we planned to use was Mann's great novella and Britten's opera. Unfortunately, the course was never taught, but the idea remained with me.”

“As I read Mann in German for the first time, the full achievement - both literary and philosophical - of Death in Venice struck me forcefully, so that, when I was invited to give the Schoff Lectures at Columbia, the opportunity to reflect on the contrasts between novella and opera seemed irresistible.”

Giving Firsts Opportunity Achievement First Time Philosophical Opera Contrast Invited Lectures Irresistible Venice Columbia Death In Venice

Author:Philip Kitcher

“First, my frame of reference for the Britten opera shifted. I'd always thought of Britten's approach in Death in Venice as another exploration of the plight of the individual whose aspirations are at odds with those of the surrounding community: his last opera returning to the themes of Peter Grimes. As I read and listened and thought, however, Billy Budd came to seem a more appropriate foil for Death in Venice.”

Firsts Seems Lasts Individual Community Approach Aspiration Theme Appropriate Exploration Opera Peter Odds Venice Plight Foils Frame Of Reference Grime Death In Venice

Author:Philip Kitcher

“I felt I should also contrast Visconti's treatment of the novella - usually damned by Mann fans (who typically respect Britten's more "faithful" adaptation). The Visconti film does many quite wonderful things, although there are good reasons for the condemnation.”

Should Doe Reason Film Felt Wonderful Fans Faithful Treatment Contrast Wonderful Things Adaptation Condemnation

Author:Philip Kitcher

“Presenting Aschenbach as a composer - based on Mahler - leads to some dreadful scenes (especially those in which Aschenbach is berated by his student), and it surely distorts the character Mann created. Yet, we know that Mann's novella was based on a holiday in Venice he took with his wife and brother, and that while he was there he followed the reports in the German newspapers, describing the dying Mahler's progress as he returned from New York to Vienna.”

Knows Character Wife Progress Dying New York Students Brother Scene Newspapers Reports Holiday Composer Describing Venice Presenting Vienna Mahler

Author:Philip Kitcher

“We know that he gave Aschenbach Mahler's first name, and also his facial features. So Visconti picks up on something interesting. That led me to think about ways of developing further the Aschenbach-Mahler connection.”

Thinking Knows Way Firsts Names Interesting Picks Connections Developing Features Facial Something Interesting Mahler Facial Features

Author:Philip Kitcher

“Using the Adagietto of Mahler's Fifth is one of the touches of pure genius in Visconti's film (even though Mahlerians complain very loudly that the piece has been ruined), since it corresponds perfectly to Aschenbach's yearnings and to his circling walks around Venice.”

Has Beens Film Walks Pieces Genius Pure Complaining Yearning Ruined Fifth Venice Mahler

Author:Philip Kitcher

“I found a deep kinship between Mahler's recurrent attempts to confront all sides of life and to affirm himself in the face of his own finitude, and Aschenbach's dedication to persevere in the literary evocation of beauty. Exploring this kinship led me to reflect on many of Mahler's songs and symphonies - and particularly his great masterpiece, Das Lied von der Erde. The end result was a way of reading Mann that I hadn't originally anticipated at all.”

Way Ends Faces Song Reading Found Sides Results Dedication Exploring Masterpiece Lied Symphony Persevere Kinship End Results Finitude Mahler

Author:Philip Kitcher

Quote by Naomi Novik

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