1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910792086503321

Autore

Verma Neil

Titolo

Theater of the mind [[electronic resource] ] : imagination, aesthetics, and American radio drama / / Neil Verma

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago ; ; London, : University of Chicago Press, 2012

ISBN

0-226-85352-7

1-280-67831-3

9786613655240

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (305 p.)

Classificazione

AP 33283

Disciplina

812/.02209

Soggetti

Radio broadcasting - United States - History - 20th century

Radio plays, American - 20th century - History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: What Is the "Theater of the Mind"? -- Part 1. Radio Aesthetics in the Late Depression, 1937-1945 -- Part 2. Communication and Interiority in 1940s Radio, 1941-1950 -- Part 3. Radio and the Postwar Mood, 1945-1955 -- Coda: Instruction and Excavation -- Guide to Radio Programs -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

For generations, fans and critics have characterized classic American radio drama as a "theater of the mind." This book unpacks that characterization by recasting the radio play as an aesthetic object within its unique historical context. In Theater of the Mind, Neil Verma applies an array of critical methods to more than six thousand recordings to produce a vivid new account of radio drama from the Depression to the Cold War. In this sweeping exploration of dramatic conventions, Verma investigates legendary dramas by the likes of Norman Corwin, Lucille Fletcher, and Wyllis Cooper on key programs ranging from The Columbia Workshop, The Mercury Theater on the Air, and Cavalcade of America to Lights Out!, Suspense, and Dragnet to reveal how these programs promoted and evolved a series of models of the imagination. With close readings of individual sound effects and charts of broad trends among formats, Verma not only gives us a new



account of the most flourishing form of genre fiction in the mid-twentieth century but also presents a powerful case for the central place of the aesthetics of sound in the history of modern experience.