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Warning Gould trivia approaching; Gould and Fear of Flying



Hi List,

Well, I got caught up in the 30th anniversary celebration of Erica Jong's
novel "Fear of Flying" and pulled it off the shelf to give it a look through
for the first time in many years and guess what I found: a Glenn Gould
reference.

Near the middle of chapter 12: The Madman Isadora is having a lot of trouble
with a crazy boyfriend with something of a messiah complex.

"I ran into the living room to look for Brian and found him adjusting the
amplifier on the hi-fi.  He was playing Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations,
and he began turning the volume up loud and then suddenly turning it down
soft, to create a kind of siren effect.

"'How loud can you play Bach in this society?' he demanded.  'This loud?'
He turned it up.  'This soft?' He turned it down so that it was barely
audible.  'You see!  There's no way to play Bach in this society.'"

&etc&etc

Ah yes, more crazy villainous people listening to classical music.

A little more on the book and its anniversary can be found at
http://www.ericajong.com/nytreview2.htm

Jim