Read more
This book introduces German Sound Studies using a transdisciplinary approach. It invites readers to auralize space by describing characteristically German soundscapes in the long twentieth century, including the noisy city of the early 1900s, the sounds of East and West Germany, and hip-hop soundscapes of the millennium.
List of contents
Introduction to the Study of German Sounds: Tuning in to the Aural Ether, Florence Feiereisen and Alexandra Merley Hill Section I: New Sounds in the 20th Century: Sounds, Noise, Silence Chapter 1: Escaping the Urban Din: A Comparative Study of Theodor Lessing's Antilarmverein (1908) and Maximilian Negwer's Ohropax (1907/8), John Goodyear Chapter 2: When Only the Ears are Awake: Gunter Eich and the Acoustical Unconscious, Robert Ryder Section II: Defining Space Through Sound: Battlefields and Concert Halls Chapter 3: The Sonic Mindedness of the Great War: Viewing History through Auditory Lenses, Yaron Jean Chapter 4: From Seat Cushions to Formulae: Understanding Spatial Acoustics in Physics and Architecture, Sabine von Fischer Section III: East and West: Sounds in the Shadow of the Wall Chapter 5: From the Boiler Room to the Hotel Room: Sound and Space in Wolfgang Hilbig's Das Provisorium (2000), Curtis Swope Chapter 6: Berlin Sounds: Audible Cartography of a Formerly Divided City, Nicole Dietrich Section IV: The Politics of Sound: Walls with Ears Chapter 7: Sound and Socialist Identity: Negotiating the Musical Soundscape in the Stalinist GDR, David Tompins Chapter 8: Audibility is a Trap: Aural Panopticon in The Lives of Others (2006), Christiane Beuermann Section V: Soundscapers of the Millennium: Sound Art and Music Sounds Chapter 9: Sound Art - New Only In Name: A Selected History of German Sound Works from the Last Century, Brett M. Van Hoesen and Jean-Paul Perrotte Chapter 10: Ghettos, Hoods, Blocks: The Sounds of German Space in Rap and Hip-Hop, Maria Stehle Bibliography Index
About the author
Florence Feiereisen is Assistant Professor of German at Middlebury College, where she teaches classes on German literature, pop culture, national identity, gender, and sound. Her areas of research include investigating the relationship of selected German contemporary literary texts with other media such as photography and sound.
Alexandra Merley Hill is Assistant Professor of German at the University of Portland, where she teaches all levels of German language, literature, and culture. Her research areas include twentieth-century German art, feminism, motherhood, and contemporary German literature, with a focus on author Julia Franck.
Summary
This book introduces German Sound Studies using a transdisciplinary approach. It invites readers to auralize space by describing characteristically German soundscapes in the long twentieth century, including the noisy city of the early 1900s, the sounds of East and West Germany, and hip-hop soundscapes of the millennium.
Additional text
This interdisciplinary investigation of auditory experiences in contemporary Germany reads easily and equips the reader with theoretical tools to explore multiple connections between soundscapes and nation. Essential reading for scholars interested in hearing cultural history and its silences!
