The Politics of Intermedial Modernisms

The Politics of Intermedial Modernism challenges current conceptions of both modernist and intermedial studies by investigating the media practices of marginalized artists and networks in and beyond the time period (c. 1890 to 1950). This edited collection of essays asks three key questions: How does intermediality shape our understanding of modernism? How does modernism continue to shape our understanding of intermedia? What are the political stakes of engaging with materials intermedially? Taken together, the essays in this purposely interdisciplinary collection demonstrate that intermediality can be a fundamental condition and a critical method. The collection focuses on literature, art history, drama, music and media archaeology. It explores artists and coalitions that are often overlooked in approaches from a single discipline, method, or location to shift attention away from historical definitional debates about modernism and intermediality and enable the emergence of diverse voices and creative practices. Contributions to this collection highlight the political engagements of intermedial artists to address a lack of socio-political analysis in intermedial studies, especially in cultural “high” modernism. The interdisciplinary scope of this book invites a broad audience of academics teaching and researching in twentieth-century visual, literary, and sound cultures; media studies; performance studies, and undergraduate and postgraduate students working in these areas.