New Books in British Studies

Kristin M. Franseen, "Imagining Musical Pasts: The Queer Literary Musicology of Vernon Lee, Rosa Newmarch, and Edward Prime-Stevenson" (Clemson UP, 2023)


Listen Later

Imagining Musical Pasts: the Queer Literary Musicology of Vernon Lee, Rosa Newmarch, and Edward Prime-Stevenson (Clemson University Press, 2023) by Kristin M. Franseen explores the complicated archive of sources, interpretations, and people present in queer writings on opera and symphonic music from ca. 1880 to 1935. It focuses primarily on the work of three turn-of-the-twentieth-century music scholars--philosopher and horror writer Vernon Lee (pseud. Violet Paget), biographer and program note annotator Rosa Newmarch, and critic and amateur sexologist Edward Prime-Stevenson. All three were queer, all discussed music both as part of fiction and nonfiction writing, and all worked outside of the academy. Rather than finding a grand unifying theory of early queer musicology, Franseen has closely examined three idiosyncratic writers who struggled to stay true to their ideas of intellectual honesty while also writing about music, musical figures, and musical listening in quite different ways. By studying each scholar's individual approach to constructing and interpreting musical and sexual knowledge, the book draws attention to aspects of their work previously neglected or considered only in isolation. Franseen meditates on questions of what constitutes historical evidence, what role should gossip and rumor have in nonfiction writing, and what should count as musicology, as she discusses each person's work.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

New Books in British StudiesBy Marshall Poe

  • 4
  • 4
  • 4
  • 4
  • 4

4

3 ratings


More shows like New Books in British Studies

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,401 Listeners

Dan Snow's History Hit by History Hit

Dan Snow's History Hit

4,630 Listeners

Coffee House Shots by The Spectator

Coffee House Shots

184 Listeners

Americano by The Spectator

Americano

259 Listeners

The Book Club by The Spectator

The Book Club

8 Listeners

John Anderson: Conversations by John Anderson

John Anderson: Conversations

287 Listeners

Today in Focus by The Guardian

Today in Focus

984 Listeners

The Ancients by History Hit

The Ancients

2,941 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

12,517 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics

3,142 Listeners

Ukraine: The Latest by The Telegraph

Ukraine: The Latest

1,753 Listeners

Empire by Goalhanger

Empire

2,009 Listeners

Past Present Future by David Runciman

Past Present Future

308 Listeners

Battle Lines by The Telegraph

Battle Lines

160 Listeners

Alas Vine & Hitchens by Daily Mail

Alas Vine & Hitchens

10 Listeners