The Speaking Muse
Literary Declamation in Germany, 1750-1900
Seiten
2026
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
979-8-7651-5826-5 (ISBN)
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
979-8-7651-5826-5 (ISBN)
Examines the practice of literary declamation in German literature and its place alongside print culture in the formation of the German literary canon.
The Speaking Muse challenges the dominant narrative of the print's monopoly in German media studies, examining how oral reading practices such as literary declamation flourished alongside silent reading practices.
How did German readers experience the German literary canon in the 18th and 19th centuries – through silent reading or by ear? The Speaking Muse: Literary Declamation in Germany, 1750–1900 traces the impact of a forgotten culture of literary orality in the German-speaking world, from its early flourishing in the late 18th century to its popularization in the Wilhelmine era. In the wake of the “reading revolution” of the 18th century, oral reading practices proliferated alongside silent ones and became a central element in what Abigail Williams has called the “social life of books” for a diverse range of audiences and participants.
Mary Helen Dupree shows how the culture of literary declamation, from recitation anthologies to declamatory concerts that combined music and spoken word, afforded new opportunities for interacting with literature for a variety of audiences, including women and marginalized “others,” while fostering innovations in publication, pedagogy, and performance.
Working at the intersection of literary history, performance studies, sound studies, and print history, The Speaking Muse shows that the cultures of declamation and print in the 18th- and 19th-century German-speaking world were not strictly exclusionary, but were intertwined.
The Speaking Muse challenges the dominant narrative of the print's monopoly in German media studies, examining how oral reading practices such as literary declamation flourished alongside silent reading practices.
How did German readers experience the German literary canon in the 18th and 19th centuries – through silent reading or by ear? The Speaking Muse: Literary Declamation in Germany, 1750–1900 traces the impact of a forgotten culture of literary orality in the German-speaking world, from its early flourishing in the late 18th century to its popularization in the Wilhelmine era. In the wake of the “reading revolution” of the 18th century, oral reading practices proliferated alongside silent ones and became a central element in what Abigail Williams has called the “social life of books” for a diverse range of audiences and participants.
Mary Helen Dupree shows how the culture of literary declamation, from recitation anthologies to declamatory concerts that combined music and spoken word, afforded new opportunities for interacting with literature for a variety of audiences, including women and marginalized “others,” while fostering innovations in publication, pedagogy, and performance.
Working at the intersection of literary history, performance studies, sound studies, and print history, The Speaking Muse shows that the cultures of declamation and print in the 18th- and 19th-century German-speaking world were not strictly exclusionary, but were intertwined.
Mary Helen Dupree is Associate Professor of German at Georgetown University, USA. She is the author of The Mask and the Quill: Actress-Writers in Germany from Enlightenment to Romanticism (2011) and co-editor (with Sean B. Franzel) of the volume Performing Knowledge 1750-1850 (2015).
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction: "The Elements Obey My Voice"
1. A Standing Army of Declamators: Performing Gender and the German Nation in the Declamatory Concert
2. A Voyage by Water: Christian Gotthold Schocher (1736–1810) and the Theory of Literary Declamation
3. The German Recitation Anthology: Transcription, Remediation, and Performance
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 05.12.2025 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | New Directions in German Studies |
| Zusatzinfo | 16 bw illus; 4 diagrams |
| Verlagsort | New York |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 146 x 218 mm |
| Gewicht | 380 g |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturgeschichte | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft | |
| ISBN-13 | 979-8-7651-5826-5 / 9798765158265 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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Buch | Hardcover (2023)
De Gruyter (Verlag)
CHF 83,90
