Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

Novels:

• Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary (1856). [empathy for the subject]
• Charles Baxter, Gryphon: New and Selected Stories (Pantheon, 2011), stories from the author's home, the American Midwest.
• Alan Heathcock, Volt: Stories (Graywolf Press, 2011): “Heathcock displays a generosity of spirit that only those writers who love their characters can summon . . .”
• John Irving, In One Person: A Novel (Simon & Schuster, 2012): “a story about memory . . . about desire , the most unsettling of our memories . . . (and) a story about reading yourself through the stories of others”.
• Jo Baker, Longbourn: A Novel (Alfred A. Knopf, 2013), a sympathetic look at servants in a British household.
• Andrew Sean Greer, Less: A Novel (Little, Brown & Company, 2017): “. . . the funniest, smartest and most humane novel . . . By the time Arthur reaches Japan, the reader isn’t just rooting for him but wants to give the poor guy a hug.”
• Richard Ford, Canada: A Novel (Ecco/HarperCollins Publishers, 2012): “Willa Cather once wrote that ‘a creative writer can do his best only with what lies within the range and character of his deepest sympathies.’ By that measure, and any other, Richard Ford is doing his very best in his extraordinary new novel . . .”
• Jenny Offill, Weather: A Novel (Knopf, 2020): “. . . a novel reckoning with the simultaneity of daily life and global crisis, what it means for a woman to be all of these things . . .”
• Meena Kandasamy, When I Hit You, or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife (Atlantic Books, 2017): “This is not just a story of survival, but, more important, one of self-preservation.”
• Belinda Bauer, Exit: A Novel (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2021): “What lingers most, though, is Felix’s capacity for empathy, no matter the personal cost.”
• Nona Fernández, The Twilight Zone: A Novel (Graywolf, 2021): “. . . rather than fleeing from Valenzuela, we must pursue him and his secrets if there is ever to be a reckoning with the demonic legacy of men like him.”
• Jonathan Lee, The Great Mistake: A Novel (Knopf, 2021): “. . . Lee is ultimately more interested in showing how Green didn’t change despite his accomplishments. He explores the loneliness behind that itch, and how even successfully reinventing oneself might not scratch what really needs to be scratched.”
• Sarah Novic, True Biz: A Novel (Random House, 2022): “Great stories create empathy and awareness more effectively than facts do, and this important novel should — true biz — change minds and transform the conversation.”
• Anne Berest, The Postcard: A Novel (Europa Editions, 2023): “Anne’s mother, a skilled storyteller, fills in the blanks with acts of empathetic imagining where the historical record fails — such as the moment when Noémie, 19, is forced to have her head shaved shortly before her death . . .”
• Rosemary Tonks, The Halt During the Chase: A Novel (1972), is a “bubbly, empathetic and ultimately lovely novel of a belated coming-of-age.”

Poetry

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Classical violinist Itzhak Perlman is reported to be a synesthetic, i.e., a person who experiences other senses when he plays music. A polio victim, Perlman is an advocate for the disabled: “. . . he speaks out in support of better access for them, challenging airlines, concert-hall owners, and politicians alike.” “. . . Mr. Perlman might be called a sort of democratic virtuoso. His appeal is that he is one of us, a person who appears on stage and plays his music. And when he plays, one marvels at his execution, relishes his sound and experiences a sympathy for his musical expressions that involves empathy, respect and pleasure.” Perlman exudes empathy when he plays, as you can see in this video of a performance of Beethoven’s violin concerto. It is also apparent in this documentary about him, and in this interview. Here are links to his releases and his playlists.

Another famous synesthetic is Billy Joel. “When Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mr. Joel pauses to create, he does have exceptional experiences. He sails the full spectrum of colors on his creative sojourns: His ballads are born in coves of blues and greens; conversely, his rock music is forged in fiery landscapes of reds, oranges and golds.” Joel has said: “I’m not a spokesman for anybody, but I know these guys and I write what I see. If you’re a fisherman and you’re out of work, there’s no safety net. You’re screwed. I relate to that. I’ve been criticized for writing about unemployed factory workers and fishermen. I know exactly what I’m talking about. We musicians invented unemployment. Look up ‘unemployed’ in the dictionary, and there’s a picture of a musician. We had a hard time, it was a struggle. I have a lot of empathy for people who struggle like that.” His song “An Innocent Man” is forwardly about empathy, and many of his other songs are, as well. This quality is on display in his live performances, such as these from Long Island in 1982, at Tokyo Dome in 2006, and at Madison Square Garden in 2023. He is the main subject in this documentary film from 1987, and of books by Fred Schruers, Hank Bordowitz, and Joshua S. Duchan. Thomas MacFarlane, Ken Bielen, and Joshua S. Duchan & Ryan Raul Bañagale have authored books analyzing his work. Fareed Zakaria interviewed him in 2022. Here are links to his releases, and his playlists.

Blues is music of suffering but B.B. King presented this art form in a way that drove forward musically without dismissing – on the contrary, by building on – the essential foundations of blues. King performed for jail inmates, but carried a pistol to live performances, emphasizing that his was not light music – but then, empathy should be taken seriously, to a point. His music evokes the human condition, with an emphasis on the people and places he touched. He co-authored an autobiography, and was the main subject of books by Daniel de Vise, Sebastian Danchin, and David McGee. He was the main subject of this documentary in 2014, and this one in 1997. Here he is in interview. Here he is, live in Dallas in 1983, at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1987, with Albert King, at Japan Blues Carnival in 1989, in Bonn in 1994, in Bellinzona, Switzerland, in 2001, in New York City in 2003, and in Memphis in 2006. Here are links to his releases, his playlists, and some videos.

Compositions:

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Il re pastore (The Shepherd King), K 208 (1775) (approx. 115-121’) (libretto): recognizing the injustice in keeping two lovers from each other, the king relents. Performances with video are conducted by Marriner in 1989, and Hengelbrock in 2006. Audio performances are conducted by Harnoncourt in 1996, and Wentz.
• Heinrich Biber, 8 Sonatæ violino solo, C. 138-145 (1681) (approx. 127’): listen especially to the pathos and the interplay between the violin and its accompanying instruments.
• Alessandro Stradella, Complete Violin Sinfonias (late 1600s) (approx. 115’): the works and their tone are similar to Biber’s 8 violin sonatas.
• Raga Multani is a Hindustani classical raag, usually performed late in the afternoon. “Multani is among the ‘big’ ragas, highly regarded by musicians for its weighty mien and wide compass.” “The metaphysical message is best felt in late afternoon´s wild nature, just before sunset. Everything becomes unstable, agitated, unsettled – as if an inevitable end (death) is coming but we cannot see it yet, hence we cannot embrace it and accept it.” Performances are by Nikhil Banerjee, Bhimsen Joshi, Amzad Ali Khan and Amir Khan.
• George Enescu, Piano Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 16 (1909) (approx. 37’)
• Johannes Schenck, L’echo du Danube, Op. 9 (1704) (approx. 107’): “Although Schenck fully explores the potential of the viol as a melodic instrument, he clearly favoured, its possibilities of playing chords, in a manner strongly influenced by lute playing and repertoire: he sought to show the viol as an instrument that is harmonically independent, appropriate for polyphonic writing besides its talent for melodic singing. Hence his writing in such a distinctive way: abundantly using chords and double stops; continually alternating between the bass and the high register; and striving for an effective combination of luxurious harmony and depth of sound, without losing sight of the delicately cantabile voice of the viola.”

Albums:

• Don Byron, “Tuskegee Experiments” (1992) (62’): “The record was inspired by two events in American history that, in their sheer inhumanity, resonate particularly with current race relation issues and demonstrate how little has truly changed. First, the forty-year study of syphilis in Black men, where more than half of the 400-strong study group had the disease (the rest did not) and were left untreated simply to observe its long-term consequences. The second, as Byron describes in his liners, '[In] the Tuskegee aviation experiment, over-qualified and under-compensated Black men endured unnecessary indignities simply to "prove" they could be trusted to fly military aircraft.'”
• On “Amanké Dionti” (2012) (42’), Volker Goetze’s soft-edged jazz trumpet provides a haunting counterpoint to Ablaye Cissoko’s heartfelt kora and vocals.
• Kirk Knuffke & Jesse Stacken, “Satie” (2015) (64’): trumpeter and pianist are at one with Satie’s French romantic sentiments.
• Gonzalo Rubalcaba, “Borrowed Roses” (2023) (61’): “Never before has it seemed that a musician has delved into the emotion that each note of each song so as to infuse phrases and melodic lines with great depth of feeling, to seemingly divine new meaning in what the composers had to say.”

Music: songs and other short pieces

• Alanis Morissette, “Empathy” (lyrics)
• Agave & Nico Cranxx, “Sympathy”
• Everlast, “What It’s Like” (lyrics)
• Franz Joseph Haydn, “Sympathy”, Hob. XXVIa:33 (lyrics)

Visual Arts

Film and Stage