Abstract

Conceptualizations in aesthetic theory tend to be visually determined. But it is in the overlapping fields of literary and musical studies that more stringently developed concepts are required. The notion of ‘sonantics’ joining up musical and literary poetics attempts to respond to this need. Generating a concept of this sort, being both synthetic in terms of its formation and analytical in respects of its application, invites reflections on the process of conceptualization as such. The present example illustrates this point with some extensive reference to Hans Blumenberg’s discourse on the emergence of concepts connecting it to his notion of ‘Horizontabschreitung’ as opposed to ‘Horizontverschmelzung’ in Hans-Georg Gadamer’s meaning. In so doing, Sonantics, this new concept of musical and literary analysis, aims to contribute to a discourse on developing a meaningfully imaginative terminology through blending spheres of criticism.