Re: GG:Lambs

[Mary Anne Clark <macclark@tenet.edu>]

> The Goldbergs show up in:
>         The Silence of the Lambs
>         Goedel, Escher, and Bach
>         The Goldbug Variations (I haven't read-- anybody know more about
>                 this?)
>         The Collecter (by John Fowles-- which influenced Silence)
>         ????? What else?????

I have read the Gold Bug Variations and recently used it as one of the 
texts in my honors course on patterning in DNA and music.  I would 
certainly recommend Powers' novel to anybody interested in either.  The 
novel is structured with reference to the Variations and specific 
variations [GG's '55 recording, although the '81 is also mentioned] are 
incorporated into the narrative.  One of the novel's characters is a man 
involved with early studies on the breaking of the genetic code, and 
there are many discussions of how living organisms and musical diversity 
both spring from a small number of compositional elements.  

It's a good read and certainly a more benign introduction to the 
Goldbergs than Silence of the Lambs!  :-)

Mary Anne Clark