Far from the hushed restraint we associate with the Victorians, their world pulsated with sound. This book shows how, in more ways than one, Victorians were hearing things. The representations close listeners left of their soundscapes offered new meanings for silence, music, noise, voice, and echo that constitute an important part of the Victorian legacy to us today. In chronicling the shift from Romantic to modern configurations of sound and voice, Picker draws upon literary and scientific works to recapture the sense of aural discovery figures such as Babbage, Helmholtz, Freud, Bell, and Edison shared with the likes of Dickens, George Eliot, Tennyson, Stoker, and Conrad.

About the Author
John M. Picker is Associate Professor of English at Harvard University

Reviews
Picker is suggestive, intelligent and insightful. * International Herald Tribune *



Book Information
ISBN 9780195151916
Author John M. Picker
Format Paperback
Page Count 232
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 367g
Dimensions(mm) 155mm * 238mm * 19mm