Bloomsbury Academic
Modernism at the Microphone : Radio, Propaganda, and Literary Aesthetics During World War II
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Modernism at the Microphone
Author(s): Melissa Dinsman
As the Second World War raged throughout Europe, modernist writers often became crucial voices in the propaganda efforts of both sides. Modernism at the Microphone: Radio, Propaganda, and Literary Aesthetics During World War II is a comprehensive study of the role modernist writers' radio works played in the propaganda war and the relationship between modernist literary aesthetics and propaganda. Drawing on new archival research, the book covers the broadcast work of such key figures as George Orwell, Orson Welles, Dorothy L. Sayers, Louis MacNeice, Mulk Raj Anand, T.S. Eliot, and P.G. Wodehouse. In addition to the work of Anglo-American modernists, Melissa Dinsman also explores the radio work of exiled German writers, such as Thomas Mann, as well as Ezra Pound's notorious pro-fascist broadcasts. In this way, the book reveals modernism's engagement with new technologies that opened up transnational boundaries under the pressures of war.
Review(s):
“Dinsman’s volume is refreshing in its treatment of radio as a medium for which national borders are permeable, if persistent, barriers to cultural exchange. By connecting the wartime output of writers from Germany (Thomas Mann, Theodor Adorno, Bertolt Brecht, and Walter Benjamin), the United States (Archibald MacLeish, Ezra Pound, and Orson Welles), Britain (Dorothy Sayers, Louis MacNeice, and George Orwell), and the British Empire (Mulk Raj Anand), Dinsman captures the global extent of wartime broadcasting and its ability to forge networks for both quasi-military aggression and cultural connection … By addressing a broad swath of the figures who made important contributions to wartime radio, Dinsman makes a significant contribution to the fields of wartime literary and cultural study.” – The Space Between
ISBN: 9781472595072
Author(s): Melissa Dinsman
As the Second World War raged throughout Europe, modernist writers often became crucial voices in the propaganda efforts of both sides. Modernism at the Microphone: Radio, Propaganda, and Literary Aesthetics During World War II is a comprehensive study of the role modernist writers' radio works played in the propaganda war and the relationship between modernist literary aesthetics and propaganda. Drawing on new archival research, the book covers the broadcast work of such key figures as George Orwell, Orson Welles, Dorothy L. Sayers, Louis MacNeice, Mulk Raj Anand, T.S. Eliot, and P.G. Wodehouse. In addition to the work of Anglo-American modernists, Melissa Dinsman also explores the radio work of exiled German writers, such as Thomas Mann, as well as Ezra Pound's notorious pro-fascist broadcasts. In this way, the book reveals modernism's engagement with new technologies that opened up transnational boundaries under the pressures of war.
Review(s):
“Dinsman’s volume is refreshing in its treatment of radio as a medium for which national borders are permeable, if persistent, barriers to cultural exchange. By connecting the wartime output of writers from Germany (Thomas Mann, Theodor Adorno, Bertolt Brecht, and Walter Benjamin), the United States (Archibald MacLeish, Ezra Pound, and Orson Welles), Britain (Dorothy Sayers, Louis MacNeice, and George Orwell), and the British Empire (Mulk Raj Anand), Dinsman captures the global extent of wartime broadcasting and its ability to forge networks for both quasi-military aggression and cultural connection … By addressing a broad swath of the figures who made important contributions to wartime radio, Dinsman makes a significant contribution to the fields of wartime literary and cultural study.” – The Space Between
ISBN: 9781472595072