Sound and Sense in British Romanticism

A radical re-imagining of the relationship between sound and sense took place in Britain in the decades around 1800. This new approach reconfigured sound as central to understandings of space and temporality, from the diurnal rhythms of everyday life in the modern city to the 'deep time' of the natural world. At the same time, sound emerged as a frequently disruptive phenomenon, a philosophical and political problem, and a force with the power to overwhelm listeners. This is the first book devoted to the topic and brings together scholars from literary studies, musicology, history and philosophy through the interdisciplinary frameworks of sound studies and the history of the senses. The chapters pursue a wide range of subjects, from 'national airs' to the London stage, and from experiments in sound to new musical and scientific instruments. Collectively, they demonstrate how a focus on sound can enrich our understanding of Romantic-era culture. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

• Takes a broad multi-disciplinary approach to the subject, featuring contributions from scholars in literary studies, musicology, history and philosophy
• Incorporates focused case studies on a range of sonic subjects, modelling the many and varied techniques of close analysis that we can bring to the study of the sonic past
• Includes a co-authored introduction by the editors of the volume that both argues for the distinctive meanings of sound and sense in British Romanticism and provides a useful introduction to the subject for readers from a range of disciplinary backgrounds
• This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core