Ziolkowski's study represents a monumental effort to bring together music and fiction in new terms. . . . [He] must be commended for bringing attention to such a significant number of previously unexamined literary works and laying the foundation for further research exploring how a knowledge of music and musical form can inform readings of literature. GERMAN STUDIES REVIEW ... Read more Ziolkowski . . . tackles the richness of his material with a reassuring confidence. He produces charming detail on the travails of the double talents in the field (only with his erudition at one's disposal does one begin to realize how many such talents there were and are). Most importantly, his constant reference to the [stature of] his subjects [in] the literary or musical professions reminds readers that these talents were not just delightful supper-party accomplishments, but meal tickets and passports to history. No one will read these chapters without profit, and without resolving to encounter some of those works for themselves . . . . MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW Any reader will find much to learn about the interface between opera and libretto, about musical references in literature, and especially about attempts to convey musical forms in fiction. . . . [Ziolkowski's book is] open-minded, capacious, and dauntingly informed. THE KEY REPORTER With an admirably light hand, the author selects and organizes his materials from this vast topic in one book, which is written in a pleasant style. . . . It is in presenting a rich palette of possible further explorations that the true value of the present study resides. GERMAN QUARTERLY (Francien Marx) Imitating a musical composition, Ziolkowski organizes this book into three main sections- First Movement, Second Movement, and Finale -bracketed by a prelude (introduction) and a coda (conclusion). This is an interesting and readily accessible study. Highly recommended. CHOICE [E]ngaging . . . . [W]ide-ranging and often insightful . . . . Ziolkowski makes a nuanced and often convincing case for the many ways in which counterpoint and polyphony, or forms such as the fugue, chaconne, passcaglia, rondo, suite, sonata, and symphony are at least partially and indirectly transposable into verbal artifacts . . . . MONATSHEFTE Show Less