Abstract - Esther Hwang

Gertrude Stein’s The World is Round is a coming-of-age children’s book whose hero struggles to discover her identity and withstand society’s divisive “either/or” mindset. Roundness represents inclusiveness of both sides of life’s dualities— good and bad, male and female, black and white. This paper documents the choices behind a reinvention of The World is Round that involved writing music to Stein’s words. There are several justifications for this project. First, Gertrude Stein was a modernist who believed that language, sullied and blunted by society, needed to be reinvented. She thought children’s communication— expression through sound rather than lexical coherence—was a purer use of language. Thus, Stein addresses themes of self and other, rejection and acceptance, good and evil, and childhood and development through rhyme, repetition, alliteration, and other sonic elements. The music composed for this project expresses these themes through an additional layer of sound. Second, Stein referred to the act of writing in terms of music. In reference to herself, Stein wrote, “She also liked then to set a sentence for herself as a sort of tuning fork and metronome and then write to that time and tune” (The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas). She also referred to the connection between signifier and signified as a “hymn” and a “song.” The third reason why writing music to The World is Round is fitting is that singing is the principal means by which both the main characters, Rose and Willie, react to life. It makes Rose cry as she accepts the roundness of the world and makes Willie excited as he denies that the round world contains evil and things unpalatable to him. Singing is intertwined with their identities. In fact, Rose sings, “I am Rose and when I sing/ I am Rose like anything” (The World is Round). In addition to decisions regarding key, tempo, melody, voices, chords, rhythm, etc. it was necessary to select excerpts from The World is Round. All decisions were based on the nature of the characters as well as the themes of the book. For example, Rose is given three different musical voices to convey her depth and her development throughout her journey. In contrast, Willie has one voice to illustrate his lack of change from beginning to end. The eleven songs that make up this project are approximately forty-five minutes in length.

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