"Distribution is the Key": Transnational Networks of Audiopoetry in the Postwar Era

Authors

  • Ulla Stackmann Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5283/copas.358

Keywords:

Midcentury, poetry, sound, audio media, media shift, audio publishing, audiopoetry

Abstract

This essay carves out a transnational network of postwar audio publishers invested in the idea to distribute spoken poetry and performed art via LPs and cassettes. To exemplify the strategies and practices of labels, it presents a case study of the German S Press Tonbandverlag and its correspondence with the audio magazines Black Box “(Washington D.C.) and Audio Arts “(London, UK). Thereby, it delves into the history of the midcentury audio scene whose meanings and significance for literary history has so far received relatively little attention within the field of literary studies.

Author Biography

Ulla Stackmann, Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

Ulla Stackmann, M.A., currently pursues a PhD project at the department for American Studies at the Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. Her project investigates the historical and aesthetic development of audiopoetry focusing on commercial and avant-gardist spoken word labels in the postwar era. She studied English literature and aesthetic theory in Munich, Eichstätt, and Bologna. Presently, she is a doctoral fellow of the German Research Foundation (Studienstiftung des dt. Volkes). Her research interests include poetry, aesthetic theory, intermedial studies, twentieth century literature, gender and sound studies. She has contributed essays to Kritikon Litterarum “(De Gruyter), GENDER. Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft“ (Barbara Budrich), “and to volume one of Schreiben, Text, Autorschaft “(Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2021).

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Published

2022-08-02

How to Cite

Stackmann, Ulla. “‘Distribution Is the Key’: Transnational Networks of Audiopoetry in the Postwar Era”. Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies, vol. 23, no. 1, Aug. 2022, pp. 55-70, doi:10.5283/copas.358.

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Section

Articles