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January 18, 2023
Dawn Raffel's Playlist for Her Story Collection "Boundless as the Sky"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Roxane Gay, and many others.
The stories in Dawn Raffel's collection Boundless as the Sky are as imaginative as they are inventive.
Publishers Weekly wrote of the book:
"Raffel … draws inspiration from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities and the history of Chicago’s 1933 World’s Fair for this sublime collection…. This profile of a city within a city creates a Russian nesting doll of urban tableaux…. This is one to savor."
In her own words, here is Dawn Raffel's Book Notes music playlist for her story collection Boundless as the Sky:
Boundless as the Sky is written as a diptych. Part One is a salute to Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. Its brief, connected fictions take place in many cities, real and fantastical, past and future, throughout time and space, but with a tiny stake in Chicago. Part Two takes place entirely in Chicago on a single day: July 15, 1933, from sunrise to sundown. This was the day that Mussolini’s wingman, Italo Balbo, landed his 24 seaplanes (dubbed a “roaring armada of goodwill”) in a display of fascist power at the Century of Progress World’s Fair, as hundreds of thousands cheered. Although fiction, it is based closely on a real historical event.
For Part One, “The City Toward Which My Journey Tends,” the music is instrumental, an invitation to wander inward, out of time and across borders.
“Dream 3 (in the midst of my life)” by Max Richter, Ben Russell & Yuki Numata Resnick
“Offering” by Ravi Shankar & Philip Glass
“Prashanti” by Ravi Shankar & Philip Glass
“For Jóhann” by Vikingur Ólafsson
“Le Temps Qui Passe” by Stephan Moccio
For Part Two, “Boundless at the Sky,” the music and lyrics of the era arrive in force.
“March of the Toys” (from Babes in Toyland) performed by John Williams and Boston Pops Orchestra
The original Babes in Toyland movie—not the lesser remakes—was released in 1934. Although anachronistic by one year, its famous finale, “March of the Toys,” captures the energy and optimism of the era.
“The Song is You” by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein was written in 1932; it’s top of mind for one of my (lovelorn) characters and is also playing in the fancy Café de Alex at the fairgrounds. I happen to like the Chet Baker cover.
“Bugle Call Rag” by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra
Although they had no way of knowing it at the time, many of the young boys watching the arrival of Balbo’s seaplanes would go on to serve in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII, including my father, my uncle, and their cousin, who died in the sky over Nuremburg. Miller, one of the most popular big band musicians of the era, tirelessly entertained the troops at home and abroad; my father recalled him playing live during his training. Miller’s plane went missing over the English Channel on December 15, 1944, when he was 40 years old.
“We’ll Meet Again” written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles and sung by Vera Lynn
This hopeful 1939 standard captures the timely and universal longing for reunion.
Dawn Raffel is the author of five previous books, most recently The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies.
Other books include two critically-acclaimed short story collections, a novel, and a memoir. Her stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including NOON, BOMB, Conjunctions, Exquisite Pandemic, New American Writing, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, Best Small Fictions, and more. Visit her website at www.dawnraffel.com
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