Music and Metaphor: Anaïs Nin’s Soundtrack in The Cities of the Interior

Anaïs Nin’s roman-fleuve, The Cities of the Interior, offers a case study when considering the interdisciplinary crossings between text and music. The overwhelming presence of musicians, musical vocabulary, and specific references to musical works creates a soundtrack for readers to listen to the text as they read it. Furthermore, the evocation of César Frank’s Symphony in D Minor and Claude Debussy’s Isle Joyeuse begs readers to ask what extra meanings these pieces of music bring to the storyline. We may conclude that Nin had a personal attachment to both pieces, but that she also used the symbolism of each to reinforce scenes from her own text. Symphony in D Minor rises and falls, maintaining a gentleness that does not climax, like Djuna’s relationship to Michael. Isle Joyeuse is about a romantic euphoria, either from a real or mythological island getaway, where woman can « joyfully » impale herself on « man’s mast. » Readers are invited to cross the intertextual bridge between Nin’s text and the referenced musical context in order to enter The Cities of the Interior.