Arnon Grunberg

Outskirts

Geography

Anthoni Tommasini reviews the Met production of Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” in NYT:

“In the demanding final scene, when she and des Grieux are dying in the wilderness (Puccini, seemingly with scant knowledge of Louisiana geography, set the scene in a desert on the outskirts of New Orleans), Ms. Mattila was riveting.”

Read the review here.

I would argue that often it is beneficial for a composer, or an author, to have scant knowledge of a certain geography.

Think of Kafka’s “Amerika”.

Why not a desert on the outskirts of New Orleans?

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