Kafka's Wound

notes inegales; Wiegold, Peter; Self, Will

Innovative ensemble Notes Inégales releases its second recording on NMC in conjunction with its London club night collaborations – Club Inégales – featuring intuitive music-making and an astonishing variety of guest artists. Contemporary thought joins contemporary music for this musical realization of writer Will Self’s digital essay Kafka’s Wound, commissioned by the London Review of Books for BBC/ACE digital arts platform The Space. The album showcases expertly crafted new music and cutting-edge improvisation with Will Self as a guest narrator. It was recorded at Brunel University on 22 June 2012. Simple versions of traditional Klezmer tunes were spontaneously scored, and then directed live into improvised transformations. The spirited, freewheeling playing of the band pushes the music to unearth the unconscious, the raw fear so graphic in Kafka and his cryptic, hallucinatory tale. Self-selected the texts from three sources: Kafka’s A Country Doctor, Kafka’s diaries, and his own essay Kafka's Wound. “Kafka’s Wound”: A Digital Literary Essay is a subjective examination of Franz Kafka’s work through the lens of one of his stories, A Country Doctor (1919), and in particular through the aperture of the wound described in the story. The essay was commissioned and directed by the London Review of Books, the largest literary magazine in Europe, and brought together a group of web developers, editors, researchers, academics that include Peter Wiegold, and artists, led by Self. The team explored the possibilities offered by digital media to fashion a different kind of literary essay, interspersed with music, animation, film and text inspired by Kafka's story. The innovative project is highly collaborative, with over 70 contributors researching and creating much of the additional content. These contributors included a host of Brunel staff and students who Self challenged to produce creative digital responses to the story, including readings of Kafka’s work by Brunel School of Arts Professor Johannes Birringer. Archival material was unearthed and incorporated, and readings, interviews, translations, debates and videos documenting the creative process were also interwoven with the essay, allowing readers a unique insight into the writer’s intellectual journey.

Price: $27.98