In the nineteenth century; long before film and television brought us explosions; car chases; and narrow escapes; it was Americas theaters that thrilled audiences; with ldquo;sensation scenesrdquo; of speeding trains; burning buildings; and endangered bodies; often in melodramas extolling the virtues of temperance; abolition; and womens suffrage. Amy E. Hughes scrutinizes these peculiar intersections of spectacle and reform; revealing the crucial role that spectacle has played in American activism and how it has remained central to the dramaturgy of reform.Hughes traces the cultural history of three famous sensation scenesmdash;the drunkard with the delirium tremens; the fugitive slave escaping over a river; and the victim tied to the railroad tracksmdash;assessing how these scenes conveyed; allayed; and denied concerns about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. These images also appeared in printed propaganda; suggesting that the coup de theacute;acirc;tre was an essential part of American reform culture. Additionally; Hughes argues that todayrsquo;s producers and advertisers continue to exploit the affective dynamism of spectacle; reaching an even broader audience through film; television; and the Internet.To be attuned to the dynamics of spectacle; Hughes argues; is to understand how we see. Her book will interest not only theater historians; but also scholars and students of political; literary; and visual culture who are curious about how U.S. citizens saw themselves and their world during a pivotal period in American history.
#999842 in eBooks 2012-12-01 2012-12-01File Name: B00ZVEOLG4
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Generally pretty horribleBy Christopher CulverPirkko Moisalas book about Kaija Saariaho; published by University of Illinois Press in 2009; is one of the few monographs on the Finnish composer. Unfortunately; it is a great disappointment.The problems are legion. For one; it appears that there was little to no real editing of the manuscript. Typos ("the ensemble LItinerairen"); spelling mistakes ("Karl-Heinz Stockhausen") and ungrammatical direct translations from Finland ("from the Finlands Academy") abound. Theres hardly a single page without such errors. Moisalas English style is atrocious and I wish she had simply written the book in Finnish to begin with and then had it professionally translated into English. Also; the book is lightweight. Discussion of her music is all generalities. At less than 150 pages long; it still manages to be highly repetitive. How many times do we need to hear the same general statement that Saariaho has incorporated timbre and tone-to-noise transitions into her basic musical grammars? There are sketches of the form of two works; but not a single score sample.I guess that the book does have some value for its trivia (the stuff that isnt mispelt to unintelligibility at any rate); and Saariaho provides something of an apology for why she no longer uses electronics as much as before. Still; anyone interested in Saariahos life and work can get the same information as here; and much more detailed analysis of her music; by simply doing a search at JSTOR and reading the articles which the Finnish Music Information Centre has placed online. The IRCAM publication about her music also has some lovely discussion of certain works.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. First book about Saariaho in englishBy Jane SchwarzThis is absolutely a very good and profound introduction to Kaija Saariaho and her music. You get a lot of biographical and musicological information; and this coherent presentation is nice; especially if you have no access to all the finnish articles; interviews etc. You get a very good overview of the composers different phases e.g.; and a very profound description of the works related to the different periods of composing. You also get access to different kinds of statements from Saariaho herself (often translated from finnish); which is also nice; because she does not speak very much about her own music or aesthetics; and a description of her relationship to close colleagues and their common approach to art.It is written; as the author describes it; out of love for Kaija Saariahos music and you can sense the undercurrent of deep insight and understanding for this music; which makes the book special. There are how ever a lot of errors in the different types of data; and all though you find out; when the numbers do not make sense - as when it is said; that Peter Sellars direction of Messiaens Saint Francois dAsisse in Salzburg was in 1998 (it was in 1992); when it is supposed to have been an inspiration for Saariaho for her first opera; which must have been something like half-way finnished by then - it is a pity; that you have to do an extra check elsewhere to make sure; that you get the right information. If it was not for these errors I would have given the book 5 stars; because it is a very well written book.
