“This is Not a Sound”: The Treachery of Sound in Comic Books
In comics theorist Scott McCloud‘s seminal work Understanding Comics (1993), there comes a point following his convoluted description of Magritte’s “The Treachery of Images” where he asks the reader, “Do you hear what I’m saying?” In the next panel he adds, “If you do, have your ears check because no one said a word.” The joke is, of course, that while his comic doppelganger is depicted as talking through the use of word balloons, no words are being spoken. We are reading, not hearing. And yet, sound (or rather, its representation) remains a crucial part of reading and enjoying comic books.
Magritte was trying to get us to think about the treachery of visual representation, while McCloud points us of the treachery of aural representation. A stylized “SPLAT!” is certainly not a sound, but our instinctual understanding of sound helps us to interpret what is otherwise a silent medium in ways beyond the mere the descriptive effect of a sound’s depiction. The way comics use sound can teach us about the function of sound in understanding the visual and textual. As McCloud has asserts, comics depend on the reader to create closure between parts of an imagined whole in order for disparate panels to make sense. While it second-nature for the comic reader to interpret the depiction of sound in comics, the closure enacted to make stylized textual elements into “a sound” is a central way that this is enacted.
The most famous use of comic sound effect words is probably from the old 1960s Batman TV series—where the “SOCK!” and “BONG!” of superhero and sidekick reinforced the campy aesthetic of the program. It is telling that the Batman-theme (and the fight scenes in general) uses horn flares to emphasize those “POW!” and “BIFF!” moments. The suggestion is that the ostentatious representations of sound that these textual flare sound effect words provide are an empty signifier. There is no sound behind that sound. The weak-sounding slaps and smacks of knuckles on flesh would never suffice for the larger than life world of comic superheroes, and the more out-there comics get the more difficult it is to trace a relationship between the textual/visual representation and any sound in the real world. There is no point of comparison by which to understand the “SHREEEEEE!” of a launching “zirrer” in Kurt Busiek’s Astro City, but only the vague evocation of some loud shrill noise.
And yet, comic readers not only understand these representations as sound, but there are also a variety of visual clues given that help the reader interpret some quality of those sounds. The most ubiquitous example of sound in comics is, of course, the word balloon—so ubiquitous in fact that it is easy to take for granted the fact that comics have their own conventions for handling and describing sound without recourse to adjectives. The irony is that the shape and texture of word balloons (just like the shape and texture of sound effect words like “BOOM!”) that help to convey the quality of sound become nearly invisible to the reader. Just as any literate person sees a word they know and interprets it for what it is meant to represent and not a collection of individual letters, the dripping icicle-like shape of a word balloon is read as a cold tone or the sharp points of the balloon are read as loud and abrupt.
In her essay “The Comic Book’s Soundtrack” from The Language of Comics (2001), Catherine Khordoc provides a very good overview of the use of sound in comics using the example of Goscinny and Uderzo’s Asterix to provide examples of the various ways word balloons and the implanting of onomatopoeic words directly into the panel image itself are used to represent sounds in comic books. Yet, the function of the representation of sound in comic runs even deeper than simply translating the quality of sound itself; it also serves to help establish timeframes for panels (or sets of panels) and functions in establishing the closure the reader performs in making sense of both individual panels and their context within a sequence of panels. Discrete sounds—whether it’s the “FWOOSH!” of the Human Torch flaming on or long-winded pseudo-scientific explanation of the Negative Zone by Mr. Fantastic—require the passage of time to be intelligible. In order for sounds to be differentiated, they must have some form of beginning, middle and end (or in the parlance of synthesized sound, “attack, decay, sustain, release”). This means that in comics, a medium where space and time merge, representations of sound are crucial to making sense of action, in particular, to the passage of time within a singular panel—for while time can be shown to pass between two or more panels through the process of closure (implicitly understanding the movement or occurrence not depicted between panels that makes them sequential), a singular panel is not necessarily a discrete moment, as an entire conversation can occur within it, requiring readers to perform closure even within the scope of a single panel.
For example, in the second panel below, despite the static image, the passage of time suggested by the conversation about Spider-man’s wounds and payment leads the reader to make sense of the sequence between it and the panel that follows. It is the reader’s understanding that it takes time to talk and listen out loud that helps make the time of the panel apparent.
Click to Enlarge.
Perhaps the most telling evidence of the centrality of sound, at least to the superhero comic genre, was Marvel’s decision to include a synopsis and explanation of the action at the end of each issue of the “‘Nuff Said,” “silent” month of comics back in 2001—wherein there was no dialogue or captions.
There is still a lot to consider when it comes to sound in comics—not just the rhetoric of sound or sound as a signifier of time, but sound as identity. Representations of sound in comics can serve as a form of character signature, and I do not mean only famous lines like Superman’s “Up, up and away!” (which really emerged from Superman radio plays), but iconic sounds such as Spider-man’s web-shooters going “THWIPP!” or Wolverine’s claws, “SNIKT!” that over time have come to be more than just descriptive sound-words, but signifiers that are unique for the characters themselves. (See TV Trope’s page on signature sound effects)
In the end, this brief overview will hopefully serve as a starting point in generating more thoughts on not only how our familiarity with sound informs our reading and interpreting of comics, but how this (admittedly) very general idea can be applied to other ostensibly silent and primarily visual media. The use of sound in comics is a perfect example of how the transparency of sound can make it presence and function easy to overlook. Furthermore, the way in which it is used to orient the reader and help provide closure between and within panels, and identify characters clues us in to the importance of its role and the importance of considering where and how else it might function. I, for one, am going to keep thinking on it and looking for examples of in comics and hope that others join their thoughts to the discussion. Until then, as Stan Lee would “say,” Excelsior!
From Illegitimate to Illmatic: On Tiger Mothers, Ethnoburbs, and Playing the Violin While Dreaming of Nas
“Don’t tell me you’re still listening to that shit.”
“I told you, I like it.”
“This is why we have so much trouble with you.”
“You don’t know anything about it.”
“Listen to that cursing…it’s nothing but garbage!”
“What are you doing?”
“All of these CDs are going in the basement. No more rap until you start listening to your parents! Now, go practice your violin!”
Growing up, exchanges like these were common between my Korean American mother and me—a multiracial Korean Euro-American. In her eyes, there was no such thing as enough violin practice. Rap—the vulgarity! The noise! It was turning me into a juvenile delinquent! She was convinced I had it in me to be the next Korean-American classical music virtuoso, the next Sarah Chang—if only I would practice more scales and stop trying to imitate “black men shouting.” (However “conversational” the rap world considered Nas’s flow, my mother still heard yelling.)
Violinist, Sarah Chang
It’s not that I didn’t like classical music—I watched Amadeus on loop until the VHS squealed—but my mother, like the mothers of most all my Asian friends, insisted on it consuming a fairly large chunk of my life. While immensely diverse in its makeup, most of the Asian population where I lived was either Korean or Chinese, and were forced by their parents to learn violin, piano or cello. Not only was it criminal to play an instrument other than one of these; but, whichever one (or two) you chose, you had better be the best at it.
Author and Yale Law Professor, Amy Chua, recently incited an online firestorm when the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from her controversial new memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, in which she recounts calling her daughters “worthless” and “garbage” if they couldn’t perform a piece of classical music up to her exacting standards. University of Hawai’i at Manoa Professor, Mari Yoshihara’s study, Musicians from a Different Shore: Asians and Asian Americans in Classical Music (2008) describes similar instances of “tiger mothering,” such as virtuoso violinist, Midori Goto’s, mother, Setsu Goto, who (it was rumored) was so strict that it forced Midori into a mental breakdown and an eating disorder. Many would likely agree that “Tiger Mothering” such as this is morally questionable (and in some cases abusive), but I should note that instances like these are only part of a much bigger picture. Scores of students and performers would no doubt concur with Dr. O’C’s recent SO! account of the potential for classical music praxis to have ameliorative effects. Despite this, however, classical music training seems to have become a central tenet of “Tiger Mother” methodology. In all the kerfluffle over Chua’s book, no one has been asking the most foundational question: Why is it so important to Asians and Asian Americans that their children play classical music?
Amy Chua, (CC) Larry D. Moore
In a recent interview on why she chose classical violin and piano for her children, Chua fancifully suggests that classical music is the antidote to materialism. She says that “classical music all about depth” and calls the violin and piano “very respectable instruments.” Indicative of more than just a love of classical music, Chua’s statements imply that other forms of music lack comparable artistic value and require less cultivation to perform and enjoy. In a similar vein, the Asian-descent classical musicians interviewed in Yoshihara’s Musicians From a Different Shore divulge their belief that playing classical music anchors one to a high social stratum. Acknowledging the contradiction between classical music’s high cultural status and its mostly poor compensation, the musicians identified social factors such as educational attainment and musical taste and ability as more important determining factors of class standing than income. Yoshihara thus links the importance Asians and Asian Americans place on classical music praxis to class consciousness and the production of cultural capital.
Class consciousness no doubt accounts for some of the zealousness exhibited by Tiger Mothers with regard to their children’s classical music training, but it’s not the only thing that keeps them roaring. Chua’s Battle Hymn illustrates that, in addition to class consciousness, the pressure to study classical music stems from an intra-racial expectation to perform Asianness adequately. Chapter 5 of Chua’s memoir, titled, “On Generational Decline,” is her cut-and-dried summarization of how subsequent generations of Chinese Americans become lazier as they’re allowed to revel in the comforts of middle class life. Chua chooses classical music for her children because it is “the opposite of decline, the opposite of laziness, vulgarity, and spoiledness.” Constructed as an appeal to Chinese Americans, Chua essentially argues that classical music training is key to an Asian person’s cultural and racial legitimacy. Unwilling to relinquish “the high cultural tradition of [her] ancient ancestors,” she expects her children to uphold a racially and culturally endorsed standard of melody-making that reinforces Asian gender norms and encourages other Asian parents to do the same.
One of Ellicott City's Korean Shopping Plazas, photo by Barbara Fisher
In Ellicott City, Maryland, the wealthy, culturally diverse “Ethnoburb” of Baltimore where I grew up, Asian American classical musicians abound and Asian American rappers are few. Here, (where the community-wide motto is “Choose Civility”) Asian youth gained a sort of “cred” for mastering the violin or piano, and this pressure to “prove” oneself along racial lines was something I always felt—particularly as a teen of mixed race. It was probably the biggest reason why I didn’t quit the violin until I graduated from high school. I hated it, but resentfully continued attending orchestra and private lessons in the fear that I would lose the meager amount of “cred” I’d built up. It hardly mattered, though. There was no chance of me getting into an Ivy League school or playing Carnegie Hall—I listened to rap and sometimes didn’t do my homework. In short, I would never be a “Super Asian” (a term coined by my Indian music stand partner and me), and as any Asian kid knows, if you’re not the best, you needn’t bother trying. None of the “Super Asians” had any interest in rap, and one even joked that I was a “chocolate-filled twinkie” for wearing a Pelle Pelle jacket to practice one week.
Wolfosonian Museum, Unknown Artist
People who looked like Sarah Chang were supposed to be in the business of making melodies, not rhymes. Chang performing a violin concerto is a comforting scene, a sonic image that reaffirms a familiar cultural narrative of femininity and class stature associated with Asianness in the US. A result of the gradual process of East Asian modernization (instigated by Western Imperialism), classical music was initially adopted by the people at the behest of the state, eventually becoming a integral part of middle class life in East Asia and a social marker of bourgeois womanhood that functioned to situate women vis à vis the domicile. Uncomfortable defining myself in this way (and feeling, also, that I never truly could), I gravitated towards something more “disruptive” that would allow me to show a different face to the world.
Rap became a vehicle for me to explain myself in more hybrid terms. On drives into Baltimore City, I heard it bellowing from the windows of the West Side’s crumbling row homes. The loud, curt, interjections! The spontaneity and candor! This loudness was initially what drew me in, but eventually I realized that rap had just as much profundity as anything classical you could throw at it. Listening to rap, I was finally on offense. It was a medium that spoke to me, because it made me feel capable of speaking back. And there was an entire legion of disaffected youth who seemed to feel the same way.
Nas performing in 2007
Despite this popularity, however, critics of rap maintain that the sounds that (predominately African American) rappers produce are nothing more than “noise.” In Black Noise, Tricia Rose observes that despite (and perhaps because of) rap’s widespread popularity and cultural relevance, it is often pitted as classical music’s polar-opposite—“unintelligible yet aggressive sound that disrupt[s the] familial domain” (63). Against charges that rap lacks “depth,” purveyors of hip hop (despite their hefty salaries) often accrue little to no widespread artistic acclaim. Evidence of what Jennifer Stoever-Ackerman terms the “sonic color-line,” this demotion and “Othering” of non-white sounds into “noise” (discussed further in her recent SO! post) has historically functioned to both generate and underwrite public attitudes about race, class and gender and to create dominant ideas about listening that she dubs “the listening ear.”
It seems that dominant modes of listening have everything figured out. If you look like this, you sound like that. But, what about people who look like me? What are we supposed to sound like? With which sonic cultural productions am I supposed to ally myself, and do I have a choice in the matter? How does “the listening ear” interpret a biracial Korean Euro-American or any person of mixed race heritage? Was there a distinction to be heard? I was sure there was, but didn’t quite know how to voice it.
For most of my life I have lived on the precipice of Asianness and something else, leaving me to feel—at times—confused, demoralized and illegitimate. As Michael Omi and Howard Winant famously note in their seminal work, Racial Formation, “Without a racial identity [in America], one is in danger of having no identity.” Acutely aware of my difference, I searched for ways of being heard as a multiracial subject in a fiercely stratified, race-conscious society. In the Introduction to The Sum of Our Parts: Mixed-Heritage Asian Americans, Michael Omi notes that within the historical and political context of the United States, (the “one-drop rule,” eugenic fears of racial intermixing, anti-miscegenation laws, etc.) multiracial identities have consistently been “contained, disregarded, [and] denied.” Disruptive to fixed notions about race, it is often a challenge for multiracial subjects to be recognized or understood by the state or the ear.
Rap assisted me in my effort to be heard as a multiracial person. While my Asian friends in All-State Orchestra were polishing their four-octave chromatic scales for the judging panel at Julliard, I was conscientiously studying Rakim’s flow and the RZA’s beats, hoping that one day it might make sense for me to show my face at a rap battle, if only as an observer. After the realization that Nas wasn’t the reason I could never be a “Super Asian,” my mom returned my copy of his masterpiece debut, Illmatic. As previously, I spent the hours before bedtime reciting the lyrics to Nasty classics like “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” moved by every skillful turn of phrase: “Nas is like the Afrocentric Asian/half man-half amazin,” I would repeat over and over until I got the cadences just right. Whatever the hell he was talking about, I was sure it applied to me.
Sound Related Panels at the MLA Conference: 1.6-1.9.2011
MLA 2011 offers almost an embarrassment of riches for the sound studies scholar in the new year, testifying to the remarkable recent growth of the field. I have scoured PMLA in order to bring you everything and anything of interest for audio culture peeps, from panels that strike right at the center of the field (“Frost and Sound Studies” for example, or the panel that yours truly will be speaking on, “Literature and Sound,” organized by Amitava Kumar on Saturday from 5:15–6:30 p.m., Plaza III, J. W. Marriott ) to panels that provocatively push (and sometimes explode) the boundaries between sound studies and other fields such as literary studies, music, poetry, disability studies, history, music, urban studies, and trauma studies. This being a blog and all, I have also included relevant panels about digital humanities scholarship, a link to the field that has been strengthened not only by Sounding Out! but by HASTAC’s 2010 online forum, “Feel the Noise.”
Like my coverage of ASA this past November, I will be tweeting real-time sound-related thoughts and ideas inspired by the sound-related panels I attend at our twitterfeed:http://twitter.com/soundingoutblog; follow us (and the MLA 2011 backchannel) for the scoop!
If I somehow missed you or your panel, please let me know!: jsa@binghamton.edu
Thursday, January 6th, 2011
Routes to Roots, Hollywood to Neighborhood
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Platinum Salon I, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the American Folklore Society. Presiding: Camilla Henriette Mortensen, Univ. of Oregon
“Routes to Roots, Hollywood to Neighborhood: A Soundtrack for the Angels,” Nick Spitzer, Tulane Univ.
For abstracts and sound track, visit http://americanroutes.publicradio.org/archives/show/623/ los-angeles-soundtrack-for-the-angels after 31 Dec.
Silence and Signification in Medieval and Renaissance Literatures: Formal Challenges
1:45–3:00 p.m., Platinum Salon A, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Irit Ruth Kleiman, Boston Univ.
1. “Loving the Love of Silence: Material Silence in High Medieval Monastic Books,” Thomas
O’Donnell, Univ. of York
2. “Pilgrims in Jerusalem: Repetition of Silence,” Phillip Usher, Barnard Coll.
3. “‘Mescheance’ and Silence in French Romance,” Irit Ruth Kleiman
Theater and Performance in and of Los Angeles: Alternative Archives
1:45–3:00 p.m., Platinum Salon B, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Division on Drama. Presiding: Ann Pellegrini, New York Univ.
1. “Acting like a Woman: Archival Engagement with the Women’s Building,” Lydia Brawner, New
York Univ.
2. “‘No, I’ve Not Forgotten’: Performance and Memory in Cambodian America,” Josh Takano
Chambers- Letson, Univ. of Cincinnati
3. “Records y Recuerdos: Music and Memory in Butchlalis de Panochtitlan’s The Barber of East L.A.,” Karen Tongson, Univ. of Southern California
Two- in- One: When the Same Individual Writes Both Words and Music
1:45–3:00 p.m., Platinum Salon I, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Lyrica Society for Word-Music Relations. Presiding: Jeff Dailey, Five Towns Coll.
1. “Hildegard’s Own Singing: O Virga ac Diadema,” Janet Youngdahl, Univ. of Lethbridge
2. “Charles Dibdin: Troubled in Mind, like a Rolling Stone,” Betsy A. Bowden, Rutgers Univ., Camden
3. “Composers and Writers and Librettists in Musical Theater of Early- Twentieth- Century Spain: The Cases of Tomás Bretón and Pio Baroja,” Victoria Wolff, Univ. of Western Ontario
4. “Mathematical Music: Bob Dylan’s Extra- lyrical Appeal,” Justin Tremel, Univ. of Texas, Austin
For abstracts, write to cfanarts@aol.com.
Literary Research in/and Digital Humanities
3:30–4:45 p.m., Diamond Salon 1, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Discussion Group on Libraries and Research in Languages and Literatures. Presiding: James Raymond Kelly, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst
Speakers: Heather Bowlby, Univ. of Virginia; Marija Dalbello, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick; Amy Earhart, Texas A&M Univ., College Station; Manuel M. Martin- Rodriguez, Univ. of California, Merced; Susanne Woods, Wheaton Coll., MA; Abby Yochelson, Library of Congress
Respondent: Robert H. Kieft, Occidental Coll.
This session is the inaugural meeting of a new interdisciplinary MLA discussion group formed by
librarians in the association for the discussion of matters of mutual interest with scholars. Panelists will present current work, and the group will discuss its future and how it can promote the creation and curation of scholarly collections and archives, publications, research data, and teaching and study tools through professional associations and on their own campuses.
For abstracts, visit http://guides.library.umass.edu/MLA2011
Wallace Stevens’s Voices
5:15–6:30 p.m., Diamond Salon 8, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Wallace Stevens Society.
Presiding: Elisabeth Oliver, McGill Univ.
1. “Less and Less Human: Stevens, Gibberish, and the Cry of the Animal,” Thomas Sowders, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge
2. “The War of ‘Of’ and Other Polyvocal Syntaxes in ‘An Ordinary Evening in New Haven,’” David Joseph Letzler, Graduate Center, City Univ. of New York
3. “The Poet’s Voice in the Echo of Stevens,” Dean Rader, Univ. of San Francisco
Performances of Black Cultural Trauma and Memory
5:15–6:30 p.m., Atrium I, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Lisa Thompson, Univ. at Albany, State Univ. of New York
Speakers: Herman Beavers, Univ. of Pennsylvania; Diana Rebekkah Paulin, Trinity Coll., CT;
Sonnet Retman, Univ. of Washington, Seattle; Valerie Smith, Prince ton Univ.; Lisa Thompson;
Lisa Woolfork, Univ. of Virginia
This roundtable will examine various ways African American novelists, poets, filmmakers, play-
wrights, and other artists engage with and evoke black cultural trauma and memory in their work. The six participants on this roundtable will con- sider how representations of black pain, horror, terror, suffering, violence, and struggle are memorialized, performed, evoked, and fetishized.
Friday, January 7th, 2011
Narrating Illness and Disability: Risks and Rewards
8:30–9:45 a.m., Olympic II, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Ann Jurecic, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick
1. “Listening, Telling, Suffering, and Carrying On: Reflexive Practice or Health Imperialism?”
Rita Charon, Columbia Univ.
2. “Life Narratives in the Risk Society,” Ann Jurecic
3. “Narrating Disability inside and outside the Clinic,” G. Thomas Couser, Hofstra Univ.
Respondent: Priscilla B. Wald, Duke Univ.
Planet Wiki? Postcolonial Theory, Social Media, and Web 2.0
8:30–9:45 a.m., 406A, LA Convention Center
A special session. Presiding: Amit Ray, Rochester Inst. of Tech.
1. “Border Politics on YouTube: Heriberto Yépez’s ‘Voice Exchange Rates’ (or the Bodies That Anti- matter),” Tomás Urayoán Noel, Univ. at Albany, State Univ. of New York
2. “Truths of Times to Come: Deleuze, Media, India,” Amitabh Rai, Florida State Univ.
3. “Remapping the Space In- Between: Social Networks of Race, Class, and Digital Media in the Brazilian City,” Justin Andrew Read, Univ. at Buffalo, State Univ. of New York
Respondent: Amit Ray
For abstracts and papers, visit https://honors.rit.edu/amitraywiki/index.php/Planet-Wiki
BBC Radio and British Writing
8:30–9:45 a.m., Diamond Salon 3, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Division on Twentieth-Century English Literature.
Presiding: Allan Hepburn, McGill Univ.
1. “Cultural Tectonics; or, Why the BBC Became Afraid: Harold Nicolson and the New Spirit in Literature,” Todd Avery, Univ. of Massachusetts, Lowell
2. “The Listener as Interface,” Debra Rae Cohen, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia
3. “Only Connecting? E. M. Forster, Empire Broadcasting, and the Ethics of Distance,” Daniel
Morse, Temple Univ., Philadelphia
New (and Renewed) Work in Digital Literary Studies: An Electronic Roundtable
8:30–9:45 a.m., Plaza I, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Association for Computers and the Humanities.
Presiding: Bethany Nowviskie, Univ. of Virginia
Speakers: Ernest Cole, Hope Coll.; Randall Cream, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia; Kathleen
Fitzpatrick, Pomona Coll.; Joseph Gilbert, Univ. of Virginia; Laura C. Mandell, Miami Univ., Oxford; William Albert Pannapacker, Hope Coll.; Douglas Reside, Univ. of Maryland, College Park; Andrew M. Stauffer, Univ. of Virginia; John A. Walsh, Indiana Univ., Bloomington; Matthew
Wilkens, Rice Univ.
Projects, groups, and initiatives highlighted in this session build on the editorial and archival roots of humanities scholarship to offer new, explicitly methodological and interpretive contributions to the digital literary scene or to intervene in established patterns of scholarly communication and pedagogical practice. Brief introductions will be followed by simultaneous demonstrations of the presenters’ work at eight computer stations.
For project links and abstracts, visit http://ach.org/mla/mla11
Analog and Digital: Texts, Contexts, and Networks
10:15–11:30 a.m., Atrium I, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Victoria E. Szabo, Duke Univ.
1. “Digital Networks and Horizontal Textuality,” David S. Roh, Old Dominion Univ.
2. “The Work of the Text in Haggard’s She: Full-Text Searching and Networks of Association,”
Robert Steele, George Washington Univ.
3. “Taken Possession Of: What Digital Archives Can Teach Us about Nathaniel Hawthorne, Religious Readers, and Antebellum Reprinting Culture,” Ryan C. Cordell, Univ. of Virginia
For abstracts, visit www.duke.edu/~ves4/mla2011
Polyglot Poetics
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 306B, LA Convention Center
A special session. Presiding: Martin McKinsey, Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham
1. “Language Interference in Charles Bernstein’s Shadowtime,” Linda Reinfeld, Rochester Inst. of Tech.
2. “Bilingual Poetics and Representation in Robert Sullivan’s Star Waka,” Katherine Baxter,
Stanford Univ.
3. “Hsia Yü’s Posthumanist Polyglot Poetics,” Pao Chai Patricia Chiang, National Chung Cheng
Univ; James Rollins, National Chung Cheng Univ.
Film Simulations of Disability
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Atrium I, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Division on Disability Studies. Presiding: David Mitchell, Temple Univ.,
Philadelphia
1. “Disability Film Festivals and the Politics of Atypicality,” David Mitchell; Sharon Snyder, Brace Yourselves Productions
2. “Faking It: Canadian Identity and Disability Cinema,” Sally J. Chivers, Trent Univ.
3. “Deaf by Design,” Robert L. Johnson, Midwestern State Univ.
4. “Filming Illiteracy: The Pathology of Dyslexia iin Claude Chabrol’s La cérémonie,” Lynn Tarte
Ramey, Vanderbilt Univ.
Satire, Wit, and Humor in the Works of Langston Hughes
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., Platinum Salon I, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Langston Hughes Society. Presiding: Sharon Lynette Jones, Wright State Univ.
1. “‘Go Home and Write a Page Tonight’: Sub- versive Irony and Resistant Reading in ‘Theme for English B,’” Daniel Charles Morris, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette
2. “When Music Fails as a Universal Language: The Human Violin in Langston Hughes’s ‘Home,’” Koritha Mitchell, Ohio State Univ., Columbus
3. “A Global Perspective of Jesse B. Semple: Echoes of ‘Bop’ in Ankara, Turkey,” Donna Akiba
Sullivan Harper, Spelman Coll.
For abstracts, visit www.langstonhughessociety.org
Silent Night: The Archives of the Deaf and Blind
1:45–3:00 p.m., Atrium I, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Scholarly Editions. Presiding: Marta L. Werner,
D’Youville Coll.
1. “Entering the Light: Deaf Studies Digital Journal and the Archives of Sign Language Poetics,”
H- Dirksen Bauman, Gallaudet Univ.
2. “Blindness and Exile in the ‘Dark Blue World’ of Jaroslav Jezek,” Michael Beckerman, New York Univ.
3. “Accessioning Helen Keller: Disability, History, and the Politics of the Archive,” David Serlin,
Univ. of California, San Diego
The History and Future of the Digital Humanities
1:45–3:00 p.m., Plaza I, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the MLA Program Committee. Presiding: Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Pomona Coll.
Speakers: Brett Bobley, NEH; Katherine D. Harris, San José State Univ.; Alan Liu, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara; Tara McPherson, Univ. of Southern California; Bethany Nowviskie, Univ. of Virginia; Morgantown; Stephen J. Ramsay, Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln; Susana Ruiz, Univ. of Southern California
This roundtable will bring together many different perspectives, from humanities computing to
digital media studies, including senior and junior scholars, research and teaching institutions, and faculty and staff members, so that we might explore the overlap, diffusion, and multiplicity of
views of the digital humanities that result.
Good Vibrations and Globalization: LA Pop and the Urban Crisis
3:30–4:45 p.m., Platinum Salon H, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Shaun Cullen, Univ. of Virginia
1. “Back Door Man: Jim Morrison between Watts and the Summer of Love,” Eric William Lott,
Univ. of Virginia
2. “‘What You See Is What You Get’?: Richard Pryor, Wattstax, and the Secret History of the Black Aesthetic,” Scott Saul, Univ. of California, Berkeley
3. “White Skin, Black Flag: SST Records and the Politics of White Ethnicity,” Shaun Cullen
Rethinking Style: Reinvigorating Writing Instruction with Rhetorical Stylistics
3:30–4:45 p.m., Platinum Salon B, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Rhetoric Society of America. Presiding: Jordynn M. Jack, Univ. of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill
1. “Rethinking Stylistic Pedagogy: Imitation, Sentence Combining, and Generative Rhetoric for
the Twenty- First Century,” Paul G. Butler, Univ. of Houston
2. “Speaking Figures: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Voiced Style,” Richard
Graff, Univ. of Minnesota, Twin Cities
3. “Teaching the Art of Amplifying,” Jeanne Fahnestock, Univ. of Maryland, College Pararrating Illness and Disability: Risks and Rewards, For abstracts, visit http://jordynnjack.com/rsa-at-mla/
Saturday, January 8th, 2011
Textual Scholarship and New Media
8:30–9:45 a.m., Diamond Salon 8, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Scholarly Editions. Presiding: Michael Eberle-
Sinatra, Université de Montréal
1. “Comic Book Markup Language: An Introduc- tion and Rationale,” John A. Walsh, Indiana Univ., Bloomington
2. “Crowdspeak: Mobile Telephony and TXTual Practice,” Rita Raley, Univ. of California, Santa
Barbara
3. “Alternate Reality Games and Transmedia Textuality: Interpretive Play and the Immaterial Ar-
chive,” Zach Whalen, Univ. of Mary Washington
Henry James and Alfred Hitchcock: The Men Who Knew Too Much
8:30–9:45 a.m., Platinum Salon H, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Susan Mary Griffin, Univ. of Louisville; Alan Nadel, Univ. of Kentucky
1. “Awkward Ages: James and Hitchcock in Between,” Mark Goble, Univ. of California, Berkeley
2. “Sounds of Silence in The Wings of the Dove and Blackmail,” Donatella Izzo, Università di Napoli l’Orientale
3. “Hands, Objects, and Love in James and Hitchcock: Reading the Touch in The Golden Bowl
and Notorious,” Jonathan E. Freedman, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor
The Institution(alization) of Digital Humanities
8:30–9:45 a.m., Atrium III, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Discussion Group on Computer Studies in Language and Literature.
Presiding: David Lee Gants, Florida State Univ.
1. “A Media Ecological Approach to Digital Humanities; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and
Love This Dynamic Field,” Kimberly Knight, Univ. of Texas, Dallas
2. “Power, Prestige, and Profession: Digital Humanities in the Age of Academic Anxiety,” Amy
Earhart, Texas A&M Univ., College Station
3. “Emerging Dialogue: Librarians and Digital Humanists,” Johanna Drucker, Univ. of California, Los Angeles
Narrating the (After)Life of a City: Sighting, Sounding, and Moving in Detroit
10:15–11:30 a.m., Platinum Salon F, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Patricia Yaeger, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor
1. “Detroit Still Lives: The False Movements of Spatial Stories in Ruins,” Renée Carine Hoogland, Wayne State Univ.
2. “Mean Martha Jean and the Queens of Soul,” Hortense Jeanette Spillers, Vanderbilt Univ.
3. “The Life of the Line: Finally Got the News All Cut Up,” Kathryne Victoria Lindberg,
Wayne State Univ.
Social Networking: Web 2.0 Applications for the Teaching of Languages and Literatures
10:15–11:30 a.m., Diamond Salon 2, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Information Technology. Presiding: Barbara Lafford, Arizona State Univ. West
1. “Writing for Nonprofits in Social- Media Environments,” Sean McCarthy, Univ. of Texas, Austin
2. “The Macaulay Eportfolio Collection: A Case Study in the Uses of Social Networking for Learning,” Lauren Klein, Graduate Center, City Univ. of
New York
3. “Social Media, Digital Vernaculars, and Language Education,” Steven Thorne, Portland State
Univ.
For abstracts, write to blafford@asu.edu
Other Sounds, Other Worlds: Literary Soundscapes in Asian and Transnational Contexts
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 304C, LA Convention Center
A special session. Presiding: Pieter Keulemans, Yale Univ.
1. “Sounding Spaces: The Role of Soundscapes in Amit Chaudhuri’s Novels Afternoon Raag and The Immortals,” Christin Hoene, Univ. of Edinburgh
2. “Auditors Abroad: Defamiliarized Listening in Japan and the West,” Kerim Yasar, Prince ton Univ.
3. “Selling the Soundscape of Beijing: Vendor Calls, Acoustic Attractions, and the Aesthetics of
the Literary Marketplace in Chinese Martial- Arts Fiction,” Pieter Keulemans
The Cold War in Africa
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 301B, LA Convention Center
A special session. Presiding: Gary Rees, Univ. of Houston
1. “South Atlantic Cold War Cartographies: Mapping State Terrorism in the Novels of Nadine
Gordimer and Mark Behr,” Kerry Bystrom, Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs
2. “Neoimperialism and the Body Politic: Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People,” Gary Rees
3. “The Cold War, Radio Diplomacy, and the Works of Naguib Mahfouz: Retelling the Narrative of Suez,” Douglas Eli Julien, Univ. of Minnesota, Morris
4. “Nonalignment and the Postcolony: India and Kenya in the Cold War,” James Daniel Elam,
Northwestern Univ.
Technology, Culture, and Authenticity, 1850–1910
5:15–6:30 p.m., Diamond Salon 2, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Douglas Mao, Johns Hopkins Univ., MD
1. “Feeling Real: Technology and the Sensations of Victorian War,” Rachel Teukolsky, Vanderbilt Univ.
2. “Authenticity in Utopia,” Douglas Mao
3. “Nature, Culture, and Technology: The Evolution of Subjectivities,” Regenia Gagnier, Univ. of
Exeter
Frost and Sound Studies
5:15–6:30 p.m., Diamond Salon 7, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Robert Frost Society.
Presiding: Robert Faggen, Claremont McKenna Coll.
1. “Robert Frost and the Spoken Word,” Tyler Brent Hoffman, Rutgers Univ., Camden
2. “Skillful Breaks: The Cultural Discourse of Frost’s Meter,” Michael L. Manson, American Univ.
3. “Breath Units: Projecting Verse from Robert Frost,” Natalie E. Gerber, State Univ. of New York, Fredonia
Respondent: Timothy Steele, California State Univ., Los Angeles
For abstracts, write to rfaggen@cmc.edu
“Giant Steps”: Jazz and Poetry
5:15–6:30 p.m., Plaza I, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Division on Poetry.
Presiding: Aldon Lynn Nielsen, Penn State Univ., University Park
1. “‘How to Stay Alive’: John Taggart’s Sheets of Sound,” Patrick J. Pritchett, Harvard Univ.
2. “Sex, Gender, and the Jazz Body in Contemporary Poetry,” Meta DuEwa Jones, Univ. of Texas, Austin
3. “‘All Blues’: The Role of Genre in the Poetic Tradition of Vernacaular and Experimental Black
Music,” Michael New, Penn State Univ., University Park
Ha- Ha Hungary: Humor in Hungarian Film and Literature
5:15–6:30 p.m., 304C, LA Convention Center
Program arranged by the Discussion Group on Hungarian Literature. Presiding: Gabriella Kec-
skes, Temple Univ., Philadelphia
1. “Why Laughter? Humor and Mockery in Petöfi and Mikszáth,” Enikö Molnár Basa, Library of
Congress
2. “‘Sirva vigad a magyar’: Melancholy Mirth and Witty Woe in Hungarian Literature,” Martha
Pereszlényi- Pinter, John Carroll Univ.
3. “Humor in Hungarian Folktales,” Katherine Mary Gatto, John Carroll Univ.
4. “Male Corpses, Female Voices: Images of European Gender Relations in György Pálfi’s Hukkle and Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver,” Gabriella Kecskes
For abstracts, write to gkecsk02@ temple .edu.
Literature and Sound
5:15–6:30 p.m., Plaza III, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Division on Literature and Other Arts. Presiding: Amitava Kumar, Vassar Coll.
1. “The Vectorized Self: From Space to Sound in Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays,” J. D. Connor, Yale Univ.
2. “Echo and the Siren’s Song: Ann Petry’s ‘On Saturday the Siren Sounds at Noon,’” Jennifer Stoever- Ackerman, Binghamton Univ., State Univ. of New York
3. “Ecstatic Time: The Syncopated Form of Holleran’s Dancer from the Dance,” Matt Bell, Bridgewater State Coll.
4. “Records, Race, and Rape in Wright and Ellison,” Erich Nunn, Auburn Univ., Auburn
Sunday, January 9th, 2011
Writing the City
10:15–11:30 a.m., Atrium III, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Jeffrey Allen Steele, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
1. “The Urban (Un)Seen,” Kimberly DeFazio, Clarkson Univ.
2. “The Mediated City in Sousandrâde’s ‘Inferno de Wall Street,’” Jacob Wilkenfeld, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
3. “In the Heart of the City: Rewriting the Nineteenth- Century City through Adultery,” Vir-
ginia Piper, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
4. “Revisiting the Flaneur,” Dana Aron Brand, Hofstra Univ.
Parsing the Unspeakable
10:15–11:30 a.m., Diamond Salon 1, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Barry George Stampfl, San Diego State Univ.
1. “The Death of Trauma,” Michelle Balaev, Wake Forest Univ.
2. “Unspeakable Fidelities: Violence, Justice, and ‘Being True,’” Naomi Iliana Mandel, Univ. of
Rhode Island
3. “Unspeakability and the Rhetoric of Cruelty,” Michael F. Bernard- Donals, Univ. of Wisconsin,
Madison
From the New Song and Rock en Español to Spanish and Iberian Pop
10:15–11:30 a.m., Platinum Salon H, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the Division on Popular Culture. Presiding: Silvia Bermúdez, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara
1. “Rock ’n’ Road Songs: Traveling New Routes in Spanish Rock Music,” Jorge P. Pérez, Univ. of Kansas
2. “Border Music in a Borderless World: Mapping the Sounds of NAFTA between Mexico and the United States,” William John Nichols, Georgia State Univ.
3. “Raperos, Boleros, and Salseros: Reconsidering the Authentic in Cuban Popular Music since
the Revolution,” Russell St Clair Cobb, Univ. of Alberta
Respondent: Frances R. Aparicio, Univ. of Illinois, Chicago
What the Digital Does to Reading
10:15–11:30 a.m., Diamond Salon 8, J. W. Marriott
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Information Technology. Presiding: Laura C. Man-
dell, Miami Univ., Oxford
1. “What Would Jesus Google? Plural Reading in the Digital Archive,” Daniel Allen Shore, Grinnell Coll.
2. “Social Book Catalogs and Reading: Shifting Paradigms, Humanizing Databases,” Renee Hudson, Univ. of California, Los Angeles; Kimberly Knight, Univ. of Texas, Dallas
3. “Illuminating Hidden Paths: Reading and Annotating Texts in Many Dimensions,” Julie
Meloni, Washington State Univ., Pullman
For abstracts, visit www.users.muohio.edu/mandellc/digRdg.html after 15 Nov.
Literature and/as New Media
12:00 noon–1:15 p.m., 309, LA Convention Center
Program arranged by the Division on Literature and Other Arts. Presiding: Jon McKenzie, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
Speakers: Sarah Allison, Stanford Univ.; N. Katherine Hayles, Duke Univ.; Richard E. Miller, Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick; Todd Samuel Presner, Univ. of California, Los Angeles; Craig J. Saper, Univ. of Central Florida; Holly Willis, Univ. of Southern California; Michael L. Witmore, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
This session engages the nexus of literature and new media from several perspectives, ranging
from emerging forms of electronic literature to computer- enabled modes of literary analysis to
the broader implications of IT and new media for literary and cultural study. In an age of digital
poetry, graphic novels, and iPhone “appisodes,” how useful is the notion of distinct media? In what ways do quantitative methods of “distant reading” and “counting literature” extend traditional forms of analysis, and in what ways do they threaten or simply sidestep them? And what’s at stake in recent calls to critically mash up new media forms and processes in order to reboot the humanities as “new humanities,” “Big Humanities,” and “Humanities 2.0”?
Sound Reproduction and the Literary
1:45–3:00 p.m., Diamond Salon 6, J. W. Marriott
A special session. Presiding: Jentery Sayers, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
1. “Sound as Sensory Modality in Electronic Literature,” Dene M. Grigar, Washington State Univ., Vancouver
2. “‘Cause That’s the Way the World Turns’: John Edgar Wideman’s Sent for You Yesterday and the Mnemonic Jukebox,” Jürgen E. Grandt, Gainesville State Coll., GA
3. “Analog History: Kevin Young’s To Repel Ghosts and the Textuality of the Turntable,” Paul
Benzon, Temple Univ., Philadelphia
Respondent: Jentery Sayers
For abstracts, examples, and biographies, visit www.hastac.org/ after 1 Dec.
Literature and Opera
1:45–3:00 p.m., 304A, LA Convention Center
Program arranged by the Division on Nineteenth-Century French Literature. Presiding: Elisabeth
Akhimoff Ladenson, Columbia Univ.
1. “Otello’s French Connection,” William Germano, Cooper Union
2. “Stendhal’s Ear,” Nicholas Dames, Columbia Univ.
3. “ Saint- Saëns’s Samson,” Kevin Richard Kopelson, Univ. of Iowa
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