Sound Recording Technology and American Literature: From the Phonograph to the Remix

This book explores how twentieth-century writers shaped the ways we listen in our multimedia present, offering a resonant reading of how writers across several genres navigated the intermedial spaces between texts and recordings. It combines American literary history, sound studies, and media archaeology to appeal to scholars, students, and audiophiles.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 262 pages
Publication date: 02 February 2023
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Phonographs, tapes, stereo LPs, digital remixes: how did these remarkable technologies impact American writing? This captivating book delves into the profound ways in which twentieth-century writers shaped our contemporary listening experiences. By uncovering a rich new archive of materials, it offers a resonant exploration of how writers across various genres, including John Dos Passos, Langston Hughes, William S. Burroughs, and many others, navigated the intricate intermedia spaces between texts and recordings. While numerous scholars have embraced remix, a term co-opted from DJs and sound engineers, as the defining aesthetic of twenty-first-century art and literature, others have examined modernism's debt to the phonograph. Yet, in the gap between these moments, a fascinating reciprocal relationship between the literary arts and sonic technologies continued to evolve throughout the twentieth century. This interdisciplinary study, blending American literary history, sound studies, and media archaeology, will captivate scholars, students, and audiophiles alike.

ISBN-13: 9781108793797