Music strikes a chord with great writers

Music is identified as a key influence on great poets and novelists of the past century in a landmark book by Professor Dominic Wyse (UCL Institute of Education). The book, "How Writing Works" is being discussed at the British Educational Research Association's (BERA) conference this week. Ted Hughes, Jack Kerouac, Haruki Murakami and William Faulkner are among the writers to have referenced links between music and their own or others' compositions. The findings set out in the book also offers some carefully-balanced criticism of two bestselling authors on the English language: Lynne Truss of 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' fame and the psychologist Stephen Pinker. Wyse, who is Professor of Early Childhood and Primary Education, has more than 20 years' experience researching topics including the teaching of writing, reading and creativity in schools. But a chapter of the book sees him looking beyond the classroom to consider the creative process of renowned authors. Professor Wyse did this principally by analysing reports of interviews given by some of the greats of modern literature to the Paris Review, the quarterly literary magazine whose first edition was in 1953.