Kenneth Burke and the Problem of Sonic Identification

Joel Overall Belmont University

Abstract

As music reviewer for The Nation in 1934, Kenneth Burke attended the New York premiere of Paul Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler, a symphony that Burke felt had the dangerous potential to merge Nazi ideology with other dissenting German voices. Through this review and his introduction of the theoretical term “identification” in Attitudes Toward History, Burke joins a growing body of sonic rhetorics scholarship that investigates the semiotics of sound. Burke’s attention to sonic identifications reveals the fragile nature of sound, meaning, and division.

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2017-07-03
DOI
10.1080/07350198.2017.1318348
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Citation Context

References (33) · 3 in this index

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  2. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  3. A Rhetoric of Motives
  4. Attitudes Toward History
  5. Counter-Statement
Show all 33 →
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