Welcome! Please note that the production of this podcast was paused during the pandemic and will resume in Summer 2023 with new recordings from Walden Pond using an underwater microphone.
Teaser: The Walden Soundscape
Episode 1: What is a Soundscape?
Episode 2: Henry David Thoreau & Walden Pond
Episode 3: “Thoreau’s Flute” with Dr. Krissie West
The fieldwork of the Walden Soundscape project emerged from my doctoral research on the impact of sound and sonic vibrations on the literary works of American Transcendentalists, who were interested in maintaining harmony with nature (in a musical sense of active, reciprocal participation) and who understood music to be an experience not limited to the hearing world.
My dissertation applies Sound Studies to literary works in American Transcendentalism, calling attention to different Transcendentalists’ listening practices and their translation of political thought into a literary soundscape. Echoing Salomé Voegelin’s theory of listening as “reciprocal inventive production,” I examine the vibrational epistemologies of these writers and how music–human and nonhuman–played a role in shaping their understanding of humanity’s relation to the global environment and the universe.
Coming Soon: An interview with John Elder. Stay tuned!
All of the beautiful featured artwork is by Dr. Jojo Karlin.
