American Radio Stories Wireless Imagination

Radio has been a shaping influence on 20th-century American literature and culture. Radio, some scholars argue, literally -conquered America.- The metaphor seems apt, even if the reign of radio was relatively short-lived, as it was soon superseded by the immensely popular television. In 1920, there was not a single radio station or commercial radio set in America. By the late 1930s, nearly everyone owned a radio, and its intimate, disembodied voices were experienced everywhere, often simultaneously, and were crucial in the creation of national narratives and the negotiation of American identity. Despite its immense popularity, radio has remained an almost invisible medium in terms of literary study and scholarly analysis. In this class, we will look at the interrelationship between radio and literature/the arts, discussing works by, for example, Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, Richard Wright, John Cheever, and Garrison Keillor with regard to their literary treatment of radio. We will investigate the ways in which stories are told on as well as about the radio. American radio shows, from the now classic Amos 'n' Andy to Garrison Keillor's current My Prairie Home Companion, will also be included in our discussion. Clips from Woody Allen's filmic homage to the -golden days of radio,- his 1987 movie Radio Days, as well as Robert Altman's tribute to Keillor's radio work, the 2006 film The Last Radio Show, will also be considered. A further focus of this seminar is the relationship between radio and American politics of race as exemplified in African-American novelist Richard Wright's Lawd Today! as well as in so-called Black Liberation Radio. A selection of theoretical texts by Theodor W. Adorno, Rudolf Arnheim, Marshall McLuhan, Wolfgang Hagen, John Durham Peters, and several others that expatiate on radio as a medium will feed into our discussion as well. Students are required to read and get their own copy of Garrison Keillor, WLT: A Radio Romance (New York: Penguin, 1991) and of John Cheever, -The Enormous Radio,- in: The Enormous Radio and Other Stories (New York: Harper & Row, 1953). Other texts to be read and discussed will be distributed in class or be available for download. Recommended secondary sources: Douglas, Susan J. Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination. New York: Times 1999. Hagen, Wolfgang. Das Radio: Zur Geschichte und Theorie des Hörfunks – Deutschland/USA. München: Fink, 2005. Hilmes, Michele, and Jason Loviglio, eds. Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio. New York: Routledge, 2002. ---. Radio Voices: American Broadcasting, 1922-1952. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1997. Englisch, LA Berufskolleg, PO 2004 Lehramtsstudiengänge: Zwischenprüfung 2 LP (Lehramt, MA): short oral presentation with a handout of 2 pages OR short written assignment on a topic that is not dealt with in class (1000-1500 words) 5 LP (Lehramt): oral presentation / expert session with handout and written assignment(s) (total of 2500-3500 words) 7 LP (MA): oral presentation / expert session with handout and written assignment(s) (total of 3500-4500 words) Universität Siegen WiSe 2011/12 Literaturwissenschaft: Literatur, Kultur, Medien, Amerikanistik, Master, PO 2009 Anglistik - Amerikanistik Univ.-Prof. Dr. Schmidt Kerstin