Theorizing Sound Writing

Theorizing Sound Writing

The study of listening—aurality—and its relation to writing is the subject of this eclectic edited volume. Theorizing Sound Writing explores the relationship between sound, theory, language, and inscription. This volume contains an impressive lineup of scholars from anthropology, ethnomusicology, musicology, performance, and sound studies. The contributors write about sound in their ongoing work, while also making an intervention into the ethics of academic knowledge, one in which listening is the first step not only in translating sound into words but also in compassionate scholarship.

Theorizing Sound Writing

The Oxford Handbook of Cinematic Listening

The Oxford Handbook of Cinematic Listening explores the place of cinema in the history of listening. It looks at the ways in which listening to film is situated in textual, spatial, and social practices, and also studies how cinematic modes of listening have extended into other media and everyday experiences. Chapters are structured around six themes. Part I ("Genealogies and Beginnings") considers film sound in light of pre-existing practices such as opera and shadow theatre, and also explores changes in listening taking place at critical junctures in the early history of cinema. Part II ("Locations and Relocations") focuses on specific venues and presentational practices from roadshow movies to contemporary live-score screenings. Part III ("Representations and Re-Presentations") zooms into the formal properties of specific films, analyzing representations of listening on screen as well as the role of sound as a representational surplus. Part IV ("The Listening Body") focuses on the power of cinematic sound to engage the full body sensorium. Part V ("Listening Again") discusses a range of ways in which film sound is encountered and reinterpreted outside the cinema, whether through ancillary materials such as songs and soundtrack albums, or in experimental conditions and pedagogical contexts. Part VI ("Across Media") compares cinema with the listening protocols of TV series and music video, promenade theatre and personal stereos, video games and Virtual Reality.