Why can none of us hear our own recorded voice without wincing? Why is the telephone still full of such spookiness and erotic possibility? Why does the metaphor of ventriloquism, the art of 'seeming to speak where one is not', speak so resonantly to our contemporary technological condition? These are the kind of questions which impel Steven Connor's wide-ranging, restlessly inquisitive history of ventriloquism and the disembodied voice. He tracks his subject from its first recorded beginnings in ancient Israel and Greece, ...
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Why can none of us hear our own recorded voice without wincing? Why is the telephone still full of such spookiness and erotic possibility? Why does the metaphor of ventriloquism, the art of 'seeming to speak where one is not', speak so resonantly to our contemporary technological condition? These are the kind of questions which impel Steven Connor's wide-ranging, restlessly inquisitive history of ventriloquism and the disembodied voice. He tracks his subject from its first recorded beginnings in ancient Israel and Greece, through the fulminations of early Christian writers against the unholy (and, they believed, obscenely produced) practices of pagan divination, the aberrations of the voice in mysticism, witchcraft and possession, and the strange obsession with the vagrant figure of the ventriloquist, newly conceived as male rather than female, during the Enlightenment. He retrieves 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 telephone, radio, film, and internet. Learned but lucid, brimming with anecdote and insight, this is much more than an archaeology of one of the most regularly derided but tenaciously enduring of popular arts. It is also a series of virtuoso philosophical and psychological reflections on the problems and astonishments, the raptures and absurdities of the unhoused voice.
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Add this copy of Dumbstruck: a Cultural History of Ventriloquism to cart. $49.26, very good condition, Sold by Black Gull Books, ships from St Leonard's on Sea, EAST SUSSEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2001 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Dumbstruck-a Cultural History of Ventriloquism to cart. $58.17, good condition, Sold by Anybook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2000 by Oxford University Press.
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Seller's Description:
This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In good all round condition. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 900grams, ISBN: 9780198184331.
Add this copy of Dumbstruck: a Cultural History of Ventriloquism to cart. $75.00, like new condition, Sold by Great Expectations Rare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Staten Island, NY, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Oxford University Press.
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Fine in Fine jacket. Book Hardcover, dark blue cloth lettered in gold on spine, in publisher's non price-clipped dust-jacket. 449 pages. Bibliography, Index. Illustrated with eight pages of black and white images. First edition, first printing with full number line. No previous ownership marks. A clean, fresh, unmarked and like new copy. Dust-jacket like new in clear protective acetate cover. Fine in a fine dust-jacket.
Add this copy of Dumbstruck-a Cultural History of Ventriloquism to cart. $97.21, good condition, Sold by 84 Charing Cross Road Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Cambridge, CAMBS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2001 by OUP Oxford.
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Good Condition in Good jacket. 9780198184331. Film Theory & Criticism. VG-/Good+ 1st impression 2001 Oxford hardback, unclipped DJ. Small area of loss to lower corners of jacket, small tear to top of DJ spine, minor spots to page edges otherwise VG and bright, unmarked. Size: 24.03 x 16.31 x 2.95 cm. 472 pages. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: 1-2 kilos. Category: Literature & Literary; Film Theory & Criticism; ISBN: 0198184336. ISBN/EAN: 9780198184331. The photos provided are of our own book, further photos may be arranged upon request. Inventory No: 082732.
Add this copy of Dumbstruck: a Cultural History of Ventriloquism to cart. $111.13, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Dumbstruck: a Cultural History of Ventriloquism to cart. $149.01, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Oxford University Press.