Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T01:25:00.787Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 6 - Sounds of the Séance

from Part III

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2024

Melissa Dickson
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Get access

Summary

Opening with an account of the emergence of spiritualist practice in nineteenth-century America and Britain, Chapter 6 analyses the range of sonic phenomena – from raps and taps to more elaborate musical manifestations – which were frequently used to register the supposed presence of spiritual phenomena in séances. To date, cultural histories of attempted communications with the dead have tended to focus on the technological appropriations or extra-sensory abilities which were believed necessary to access the spirit realm, while overlooking the profound social, emotional, bodily, and sensory experiences associated with the intimate space of the Victorian séance. This chapter, in contrast, is dedicated to the human, rather than the technological, connections forged by the séance, and the profound desire on the part of many séance attendees to obviate the need for spiritual telegraphy altogether by once more realising the actual physical and intellectual intimacy that technology could only simulate.

Type
Chapter
Information
Acoustics in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Science
Listening at the Threshold
, pp. 129 - 148
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Sounds of the Séance
  • Melissa Dickson, University of Queensland
  • Book: Acoustics in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Science
  • Online publication: 13 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009490436.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Sounds of the Séance
  • Melissa Dickson, University of Queensland
  • Book: Acoustics in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Science
  • Online publication: 13 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009490436.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Sounds of the Séance
  • Melissa Dickson, University of Queensland
  • Book: Acoustics in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Science
  • Online publication: 13 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009490436.007
Available formats
×