‘Let’s Rock!’: Analyzing Music as a Literary Precursor to the Sublime in the Works of Lynch

Author

Jesus Ivan Gonzalez, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Date of Award

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Dr. Ed Cameron

Second Advisor

Dr. Marci McMahon

Third Advisor

Dr. David Anshen

Abstract

David Lynch’s style of cinema is easily recognizable, it is eccentric, bizarre, and surreal. Fans and film scholars alike hail the ‘Lynchian’ aspects within his films, moments that showcase incongruous images that do not line up within our sense of reality. Within the cinema of Lynch there exists a signature space that is a pure manifestation of sublimity. Within this space, anything goes; it is typically a vile and reprehensible place that feeds off the suffering of the film’s characters.

In four of Lynch’s selected films, Eraserhead (1977), Blue Velvet (1986), Twin Peaks Fire Walk with Me (1992), and Lost Highway (1997) there emerges a distinct pattern that marries this signature sublime space with music. Music acts as an inciting force for the sublime in these four films.

Comments

Copyright 2022 Jesus Ivan Gonzalez. All Rights Reserved.

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/utrgv.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/let-s-rock-analyzing-music-as-literary-precursor/docview/2699797356/se-2?accountid=7119

Recommended Citation

Gonzalez, Jesus Ivan, "‘Let’s Rock!’: Analyzing Music as a Literary Precursor to the Sublime in the Works of Lynch" (2022). Theses and Dissertations. 1048.
https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/etd/1048