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"Wire with something in it from men to men": Robert Frost, the Rural Telephone Network, and the Poetics of Eavesdropping.

  • Published In: Modernism/Modernity, 2023, v. 30, n. 4. P. 767 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Nathaniel, Steven 3 of 3

Abstract

While many celebrated the rise of electronic communication, some saw it encroaching on honored social customs or beloved listening practices. Robert Frost was one of the latter, and in his 1916 Mountain Interval , he regards the telephone as an evocative antagonist. In this article, I trace his thought and writings from the poetics of telephonic eavesdropping to the spatial sociality of the telephone network. More broadly, I recognize Frost as an exemplar of a counterculture that sought to reconstitute the aesthetics of listening in and through the silences of modernism's emerging electronic technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Modernism/Modernity. 2023/11, Vol. 30, Issue 4, p767
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:History
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:1071-6068
  • DOI:10.1353/mod.2023.a925907
  • Accession Number:176930332
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Modernism/Modernity is the property of Johns Hopkins University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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