Breathless : Sound Recording, Disembodiment, and The Transformation of Lyrical Nostalgia

Breathless explores early sound recording and the literature that both foreshadowed its invention and was contemporaneous with its early years, revealing the broad influence of this new technology at the very origins of Modernism. Through close readings of works by Edgar Allan Poe, Stephane Mallarme, Charles Cros, Paul Valery, Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Jules Verne, and Antonin Artaud, Allen S. Weiss shows how sound recording's uncanny confluence of human and machine would transform our expectations of mourning and melancholia, transfiguring our intimate relation to death. Interdisciplinary, the book bridges poetry and literature, theology and metaphysics. As Breathless shows, the symbolic and practical roles of poetry and technology were transformed as new forms of nostalgia and eroticism arose. Explores how early radio and sound recording influenced modernist literature.Breathless explores early sound recording and the literature that both foreshadowed its invention and was contemporaneous with its early years, revealing the broad influence of this new technology at the very origins of Modernism. Through close readings of works by Edgar Allan Poe, Stéphane Mallarmé, Charles Cros, Paul Valéry, Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, Jules Verne, and Antonin Artaud, Allen S. Weiss shows how sound recording's uncanny confluence of human and machine would transform our expectations of mourning and melancholia, transfiguring our intimate relation to death. Interdisciplinary, the book bridges poetry and literature, theology and metaphysics. As Breathless shows, the symbolic and practical roles of poetry and technology were transformed as new forms of nostalgia and eroticism arose. Contents 10 Preface 12 Acknowledgments 16 Chapter 1: Purity of Essence 20 Chapter 2: Death’s Murmur 48 Chapter 3: Erotic Nostalgia and the Inscription of Desire 86 Chapter 4: Narcissistic Machines and Erotic Prostheses 106 Chapter 5: Libidinous Mannerisms and Profligate Abominations 134 Notes 158 Selected Bibliography 184 Index 194 A 194 B 194 C 194 D 194 E 194 F 194 G 195 H 195 J 195 K 195 L 195 M 195 N 195 O 195 P 195 R 195 S 195 T 195 V 195 W 196 X 196

Explores how early radio and sound recording influenced modernist literature.

Allen S. Weiss. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 165-173) And Index.