The Novel and the Multispecies Soundscape 2020 Edition Contributor(s): de Bruyn, Ben (Author) |
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ISBN: 3030301214 ISBN-13: 9783030301217 Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan OUR PRICE: $85.49 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: May 2020 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Modern - General - Philosophy | Ethics & Moral Philosophy |
Dewey: 170 |
Series: Palgrave Studies in Animals and Literature |
Physical Information: 0.75" H x 5.83" W x 8.27" (1.16 lbs) 300 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - Modern |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: The contemporary novel is not as silent as we tend to believe, nor does it only attend to human plots and characters. As this book shows, writers in a range of subgenres have devoted considerable attention to the voices of nonhuman animals, and to the histories and technologies of listening that shape twenty-first-century cultures and environments. In doing so, their multispecies novels illuminate the cultural meanings we attach to creatures like dogs, frogs, whales, chimpanzees, and Tasmanian tigers - not to mention various bird species and even plants. At the same time, these stories explore the attitudes of distinct communities of human listeners, ranging from vets and musicians to chimp caretakers and sonar technicians. In highlighting animal sounds and their cultural meanings, these novels by authors including Amitav Ghosh, Julia Leigh, Richard Powers, Karen Joy Fowler, Cormac McCarthy, and Han Kang also enrich pressing debates about species extinction, sound pollution, nonhuman communication, and human-animal relations. As we are violently reshaping the planet, they invite us to reimagine our own humanity and animality - and to rethink how we tell stories about multispecies contact zones and their complex soundscapes. |