John McGrath

Biography

“McGrath’s book is salutary in flagging the deliberately jarring tactics of the avant garde, and getting the reader to grasp what remains permanently uncanny about our pleasure in Beckett and Feldman’s exploration of both the playful humour and subtle queasiness to be found within their repetitive forms” – Drew Daniel, The Wire

“a valuable addition for the critical insights it provides through meticulous analyses.” Michael Palmese, Irish Studies Review (peer-reviewed journal)

“Samuel Beckett's experiments at the intersection of music and literature are among the most unique and interesting of their kind. McGrath's study contributes new elements to our understanding of Beckett's work in this area, particularly in its potential to enrich the thinking of musicians and composers. Not "just" a book on Beckett, it makes Beckett the starting point for a number of fruitful meditations on repetition, representation, improvisation, and structural experimentation in the arts. The chapters on Morton Feldman and Scott Fields are especially welcome in this regard.” - Eric Prieto, University of California, Santa Barbara

"a wonderful new book ... McGrath dives deep into the musicality of Beckett’s work and how it has shaped certain aspects of modern music, focusing mainly on the works of Feldman and the guitarist Scott Fields. McGrath’s book isn’t the first to deal with music and Beckett, but it is an important step forward in that area." - David Menestres, Burning Ambulance
-

John McGrath is a Senior Lecturer in Music at University of Surrey.

Education

PhD, MPhil, BA Hons, BMus Hons, FHEA

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Popular Music Studies, Performance, Cultural Studies, Guitar, Musicology, Word and Music Studies, Aesthetics, AV Media, Theory, Improvisation, Repetition, Avant jazz, Avant folk, Experimental Music.

Websites

• Surrey People

• Website

Books