Music, Poetry, Propaganda: Constructing French Cultural Soundscapes at the BBC during the Second World War PDF
Preview Music, Poetry, Propaganda: Constructing French Cultural Soundscapes at the BBC during the Second World War
Modern F rench I dentities 78 Modern F rench I dentities 78 C l a i r e Offering new perspectives on the role of broadcasting in the construc L Claire Launchbury a tion of cultural memory, this book analyses selected instances in u n relation to questions of French identity at the BBC during the Second c h World War. The influence of policy and ideology on the musical and b u Music, Poetry, the poetic is addressed by drawing on theoretical frameworks of r y the archive, memory, trauma and testimony. Case studies investigate • cultural memories constructed through three contrasting soundscapes. SM Propaganda o The first focuses on the translation of ‘Frenchness’ to the BBC’s uu domestic audiences; the second examines the use of slogans on the nsi dc margins of propaganda broadcasts. In the third, the implications of s, cP the marriage of poetry and music in the BBC’s 1945 premier of ao Constructing French Cultural pe Francis Poulenc’s cantata setting of resistance poems by the surrealist et sr Soundscapes at the BBC during poet Paul Éluard in Figure humaine are assessed. Concentrating on ay, the role of the archive as both narrative source and theoretical frame, t th Pro the Second World War this study offers a new approach to the understanding of soundscapes ep and demonstrates the processes involved in the creation of sonic Ba Bg cultural memory in the context of global conflict. Can dd ua r: iC n o gn ts ht e ru Sc et cin o ng dF r We Claire Launchbury is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in French at onc g the University of Leeds. She studied music at the University of Exeter rlh n d before doing postgraduate work in music and French studies at Royal C a Wu Holloway, University of London. alt L ru r r a l e t e P ISBN 9783034302395 www.peterlang.com Modern French Identities 78 Modern French Identities 78 C l a i r e Offering new perspectives on the role of broadcasting in the construc L Claire Launchbury a tion of cultural memory, this book analyses selected instances in u n relation to questions of French identity at the BBC during the Second c h World War. The influence of policy and ideology on the musical and b u Music, Poetry, the poetic is addressed by drawing on theoretical frameworks of r y the archive, memory, trauma and testimony. Case studies investigate • cultural memories constructed through three contrasting soundscapes. SM Propaganda o The first focuses on the translation of ‘Frenchness’ to the BBC’s uu domestic audiences; the second examines the use of slogans on the nsi dc margins of propaganda broadcasts. In the third, the implications of s, cP the marriage of poetry and music in the BBC’s 1945 premier of ao Constructing French Cultural pe Francis Poulenc’s cantata setting of resistance poems by the surrealist et sr Soundscapes at the BBC during poet Paul Éluard in Figure humaine are assessed. Concentrating on ay, the role of the archive as both narrative source and theoretical frame, t th Pro the Second World War this study offers a new approach to the understanding of soundscapes ep and demonstrates the processes involved in the creation of sonic Ba Bg cultural memory in the context of global conflict. Can dd ua r: iC n o gn ts ht e ru Sc et cin o ng dF r We Claire Launchbury is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in French at onc g the University of Leeds. She studied music at the University of Exeter rlh n d before doing postgraduate work in music and French studies at Royal C a Wu L Holloway, University of London. alt ru r r a l e t e P www.peterlang.com Music, Poetry, Propaganda Modern French Identities Edited by Peter Collier Volume 78 PEtEr Lang Oxford l Bern l Berlin l Bruxelles l Frankfurt am Main l new York l Wien Claire Launchbury Music, Poetry, Propaganda Constructing French Cultural Soundscapes at the BBC during the Second World War PEtEr Lang Oxford l Bern l Berlin l Bruxelles l Frankfurt am Main l new York l Wien Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Launchbury, Claire, 1976- Music, poetry, propaganda : constructing French cultural soundscapes at the BBC during the Second World War / Claire Launchbury. p. cm. -- (Modern French identities ; v. 78) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBn 978-3-0343-0239-5 (alk. paper) 1. British Broadcasting Corporation--History--20th century. 2. radio and literature--great Britain. 3. radio and music--great Britain. 4. Mass media and nationalism--France. 5. World War, 1939-1945--Music and the war. 6. World War, 1939-1945--Propaganda. 7. Collective memory. I. title. Pn1991.3.g7L38 2012 791.440941’09044--dc23 2012003897 ISSn 1422-9005 ISBn 978-3-0343-0239-5 © Peter Lang ag, International academic Publishers, Bern 2012 Hochfeldstrasse 32, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland [email protected], www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net all rights reserved. all parts of this publication are protected by copyright. any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution. this applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems. Printed in germany Contents Acknowledgements vii List of Abbreviations ix List of Tables xi Chapter 1 On Cultural Memory and Soundscapes 1 Chapter 2 Sounding the Nations 19 Chapter 3 Translating Cultural Memory in Features and ‘French Night’ at the BBC 55 Chapter 4 Constructing Cultural Soundscapes at the French Service 99 Chapter 5 The Cultural Soundscapes of Liberation 139 Conclusion 167 Bibliography of Primary Sources 171 Bibliography of Secondary Sources 183 Index 205 Acknowledgements This project grew out of doctoral research undertaken at Royal Holloway, University of London, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. At Royal Holloway, I am very grateful for the support and guid- ance of fered by Julian Johnson, Colin Davis and Rachel Beckles-Willson as well as to colleagues in College, Andrew Bowie, Ruth Cruickshank, Robert Eaglestone and Eric Robertson in particular. I am grateful for the friendly support of my colleagues in French at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Leeds and the Research Strategy Committee directed by Max Silverman. I undertook considerable archive research at the BBC Written Archive Centre in Caversham and would like to thank Rachel Lawson and Jessica Hogg for their help and Jacqui Cavanagh for her sterling maintenance of such a treasure trove. I should also like to thank the staf f of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Archives nationales, the Archives diplomatiques at the Quai d’Orsay, the Britten-Pears Library, the British Library and the reproduction services at the Beinecke Library at Yale. At Peter Lang I am grateful to Graham Speake and Hannah Godfrey for their editorial support and patience. Un grand merci radiophonique to Karine Le Bail, whose own work on the French broadcasting has richly informed my research. Grateful thanks also to Jenny Doctor, Peter Dickinson, Myriem Chimènes, Nigel Simeone, Lucinda Gordon-Lennox, Peter McMullin, Maeve McCusker who provided material, read, edited and commented on various stages of this manuscript. My mother, Janet Launchbury, provided very real and material support in the final stages of my doctoral studies for which I am most grateful. A final word of gratitude goes to my examiners, Barbara Kelly and particularly to Michael Sheringham, whose interest in this project has been of immense encouragement and support.
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