As we’ve seen, a major theme in GEB is isomorphism, things that “can be exchanged” for other things. Hofstadter uses the idea frequently and at different levels. For example, he mentions how Bach’s “Crab Canon”, a piece of music which has two voices playing the same notes but in reverse order, is isomorphic to a chromosome, with a similar backwards/forwards pattern. In linguistics, metonymy is a similar idea: the substitution of one term for another. Instead of saying “the President supports marriage equality”, one might say “the White House supports marriage equality”. Same person, different words.
Seeing as this is the fourth of July and our news feeds are filled with patriotism aplenty, it’s worth asking: to what extent do our national symbols serve as isomorphs for our country? Personally, I think it’s more than we might expect. Consider the odd story of Stravinsky getting in trouble for reharmonizing the Star Spangled Banner. If a song like the National Anthem was just a song, why would anyone care whether or not Stravinsky stuck an extra weird 7th chord in there? Thing is, the SSB transcends just “a song”. It’s a musical isomorph/metonymn for our national identity, and a notoriously difficult one to perform at that. Stravinsky’s version is exceptionally interesting, since it blends the traditional Francis Scott Key original with musical influence from Stravinsky’s Russian roots. It’s “the National Anthem through the ears of an immigrant”. Check it out:
While we’re on the subject of the National Anthem, here’s another creative interpretation that GEB readers will likely appreciate.
Happy Birthday America!
Godel, Escher, Blog 