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Dumbstruck: A Cultural History of Ventriloquismby Steven Connor
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Ventriloquism, the art of "seeming to speak where one is not", speaks so resonantly to our contemporary technological condition. We now think nothing of hearing voices--our own and others'--propelled over intercoms, cellphones, and answering machines. Yet, why can none of us hear our own recorded voice without wincing? Why is the telephone still full of such spookiness and erotic possibility? And why does the magician's trick of speaking through a dummy entertain as well as disturb us? These are the kind of questions which impel Dumbstruck, Steven Connor's wide-ranging, relentlessly inquisitive history of ventriloquism and the disembodied voice.
Connor follows his subject from its early beginnings in ancient Israel and Greece, through the outcries of early Christian writers against the unholy (and, they believed, obscenely produced) practices of pagan divination. Surprisingly, he finds that women like the sibyls of Delphi were the key voices in these male-dominated times. Connor then turns to the aberrations of the voice in mysticism, witchcraft and possession, and the strange cultural obsession with the vagrant figure of the ventriloquist, newly conceived as male rather than female, that flourished during the Enlightenment. He retells the stories of some of the most popular and versatile ventriloquists and polyphonists of the nineteenth century, and investigates the survival of ventriloquial delusions and desires in spiritualism and the 'vocalic uncanny' of technologies like the telephone, radio, film, and the internet. Brimming with anecdote and insight, Dumbstruck is a provocative archeology of a seemingly trivial yet profoundly relevant presence in human history. Its pages overflow with virtuoso philosophical and psychological reflections on the problems and astonishments, the raptures and absurdities of the unhoused voice. Synopsis:A history of ventriloquism and the disembodied voice. The author tracks his subject from its beginnings in ancient Israel and Greece, through early Christian writers against practices of pagan divination, the voice in mysticism, and witchcraft and the figure of the ventriloquist.
Synopsis:Ventriloquism, the art of "seeming to speak where one is not", speaks so resonantly to our contemporary technological condition. We now think nothing of hearing voices--our own and others'--propelled over intercoms, cellphones, and answering machines. Yet, why can none of us hear our own recorded voice without wincing? Why is the telephone still full of such spookiness and erotic possibility? And why does the magician's trick of speaking through a dummy entertain as well as disturb us? These are the kind of questions which impel Dumbstruck, Steven Connor's wide-ranging, relentlessly inquisitive history of ventriloquism and the disembodied voice.
Connor follows his subject from its early beginnings in ancient Israel and Greece, through the outcries of early Christian writers against the unholy (and, they believed, obscenely produced) practices of pagan divination. Surprisingly, he finds that women like the sibyls of Delphi were the key voices in these male-dominated times. Connor then turns to the aberrations of the voice in mysticism, witchcraft and possession, and the strange cultural obsession with the vagrant figure of the ventriloquist, newly conceived as male rather than female, that flourished during the Enlightenment. He retells the stories of some of the most popular and versatile ventriloquists and polyphonists of the nineteenth century, and investigates the survival of ventriloquial delusions and desires in spiritualism and the 'vocalic uncanny' of technologies like the telephone, radio, film, and the internet. Brimming with anecdote and insight, Dumbstruck is a provocative archeology of a seemingly trivial yet profoundly relevant presence in human history. Its pages overflow with virtuoso philosophical and psychological reflections on the problems and astonishments, the raptures and absurdities of the unhoused voice. Synopsis:In this study of ventriloquism, Connor follows his subject from its early beginnings in ancient Israel and Greece, its role in mysticism and witchcraft, through to modern entertainment.
About the AuthorStephen Connor was educated at Christ's Hospital Horsham and Wadham College, Oxford, and has taught at Birkbeck College, University of London since 1979. He currently is Professor of Modern Literature and Theory. He is the author of numerous books on English literature and cultural studies, including Charles Dickens, Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary, and Theory and Cultural Value.
Table of ContentsPart I: Powers
1. What I Say Goes Part II: Prophecies 2. Earth, Breath, Frenzy: The Delphic Oracle 3. Origen, Eustathius, and The Witch of Endor Part III: Possessions 4. Hoc Est Corpus 5. The Exorcism of John Darrell 6. O, that Oh is the Devill: Glover and Harsnett Part IV: Prodigies 7. Miracles and the Encyclop�die 8. Speaking Parts: Diderot and Les Bijoux indiscrets 9. The Abb� and the Ventriloque 10. The Dictate of Phrenzy: Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland Part V: Polyphonics 11. Ubiquitarical 12. At Home and Abroad: Monsieur Alexandre and Mr Matthews 13. Phenomena in the Philosophy of Sound: Mr Love 14. Writing the Voice Part VI: Prosthetics 15. Vocal Reinforcement 16. Talking Heads, Automaton Ears 17. A Gramophone in Every Grave Part VII: No Time Like the Present 18. No Time Like the Present Works Cited Index What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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