Pan and the Music of Nature

Abstract

After presenting the main characteristics of the god Pan, a hybrid, lustful, musical god, this chapter thinks through the modern expression “music of nature” and argues than Pan and the idea of “music of nature” are actually two rather different things. “Music of nature” refers to the pleasantness of the natural soundscape perceived from an anthropocentric perspective, while Pan is a divine personification that allows conceptualizing the natural world and the uncanny, unsettling aspects of its soundscape. The last section of the chapter examines alternatives to the image of Pan that give access to ancient ways of thinking about the “music of nature.”

Cite this

Pauline A. LeVen (2020). Pan and the Music of Nature. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119275510.ch4

@article{a2020pan,
  title  = {Pan and the Music of Nature},
  author = {LeVen, Pauline A.},
  year   = {2020},
  doi    = {10.1002/9781119275510.ch4}
}

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References