Speaking Over the Words: Realizing Text into Audio

Sound is the medium of movement. One can remain on a page or freeze a film, but try to freeze sound, and silence is the result. Sound moves people; it is the human warning system when the body sleeps. Sound is “primal”; it is the basis of our communications and the first available sense of a fetus to the outside world.i Attempting to translate or adapt something into sound presents a plethora of concerns and challenges. This article situates this range of audio productions based on written texts, and explores how the process of transformation can be understood as both ‘translational’ and ‘adaptational.’ It will put forward a tentative model for understanding the dynamics of transforming a written text into audio form, taking into account what forms of audio production are currently available and how further study can open inroads to exploring audio productions.ii However, the model itself has distinct limitations, which will be explored in the second half of the article. The article will conclude by considering where future studies of text to audio production might lead. My main focus of interest centers on audio productions that have been taken from a print-first text, but even that discussion will need to include some exploration of written texts, radio, and even, film. The goal is to look at material intentionally written for the reading audience and consider how such material has been re-presented for a listening audience.iii My purpose consists of raising questions concerning the adaptation and translation of text into audio.

___

  • Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Studio City, CA: Dove Audio, 1990. CD.
  • ---. The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Live in Concert. Los Angeles, CA: Dove Audio, 1996. CD.
  • ---. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Quintessential Phase. BBC Audiobooks America, 2007. Audiobook.
  • ---. Life, the Universe and Everything. Beverly Hills, Calif: Dove Audio, 1991. CD.
  • ---. Mostly Harmless. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Audio, 1992. CD.
  • ---. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Audio, 1991. CD.
  • ---. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Audio, 1992. CD.
  • ---, and Harry Enfield. Dirk Gently: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. North Kingstown, R.I: BBC Audiobooks America, 2009. Audiobook.
  • ---, and Stephen Fry. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Santa Ana, CA: Books on Tape, 2005. Cassette.
  • ---, Dirk Maggs, and Mike Stott. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. North Kingstown, RI: BBC Audiobooks America, 2009. Audiobook.
  • ---, Geoffrey McGivern, and Simon Jones. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Quandary Phase. BBC Audio. London: BBC Audiobooks Ltd, 2005. Audiobook.
  • ---, Geoffrey McGivern, and Simon Jones. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Tertiary Phase. BBC Audio. Auburn, CA: Audio Partners, 2004. Audiobook.
  • ---, and Geoffrey Perkins. The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. London: BBC Enterprises, 1988. Cassette.
  • “American Foundation for the Blind - Home Page.” American Foundation for the Blind, 2010. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.
  • “APA - Audio Publishers Association - the Voice of the Audiobook Industry.” Audio Publishers Association, 2010. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.
  • Aragay, Mireia. Books in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship. Contemporary cinema. Vol. 2. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006. Print.
  • “AudioFile, the Magazine for People Who Love Audiobooks.” AudioFile Magazine, 2010. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.
  • Brooks, Max. World War Z: [an Oral History of the Zombie War]. New York: Random House Audio, 2006. Audiobook.
  • Bull, Michael, and Les Back. The Auditory Culture Reader. Oxford: Berg, 2003. Print.
  • Camlot, Jason. “Early Talking Books.” Book History 6 (2003): 147-73.
  • Clarke, Susanna, and Simon Prebble. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel. Hampton, NH: BBC Audiobooks America, 2004. Audiobook.
  • Currie, Gregory. Narratives and Narrators: A Philosophy of Stories. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
  • Cutchins, Dennis R, Laurence Raw, and James M. Welsh, eds. Redefining Adaptation Studies. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2010. Print.
  • Dickens, Charles, and Patrick Stewart. A Christmas Carol. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Audioworks, 1991. Audiobook.
  • Douglas, Susan J. Listening in: Radio and the American Imagination. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004. Print.
  • “Download Tristram Shand/Laurence Steren,” Audible.com, 17 Aug. 2011. Web. 3 Mar. 2012.
  • Eaton, Lance. “Behind the Mike: Barbara Rosenblatt.” Library Journal, 1 May 2010. Web. 1 Jun. 2011.
  • Gaiman, Neil. “The end of the Audiobook Argument.” Neil Gaiman's Journal, 29 Feb. 2009. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.
  • GraphicAudio. “The Cutting Corporation,” 2010. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.
  • Homer, and Simon Armitage. The Odyssey. North Kingstown, RI: BBC Audiobooks America, 2004. Audiobook.
  • Homer, Robert Fagles, and Ian McKellen. The Odyssey. New York: Penguin Audiobooks, 1996. Audiobook.
  • Huwiler, Elke. “Storytelling by Sound: a Theoretical Frame for Radio Drama Analysis.” The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media 3.1 (2005): 45-59. Print.
  • Katz, Mark. Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music. A Roth Family Foundation Book on Music in America. Berkeley: U. of California P. 2004. Print.
  • Kozloff, Sarah. “Audio Books in Visual Culture.” Journal of American Culture 18.4 (1995): 83-95. Print.
  • King, Stephen, and Blair Brown. Rose Madder. New York, NY: Penguin AudioBooks, 1995. Audiobook.
  • ---, Pat Conroy, John Grisham, and Peter Straub. The Wavedancer Benefit. New York: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2002. Audiobook.
  • ---, and George Guidall. Wolves of the Calla. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2003. Audiobook.
  • Jordan, Robert, Michael Kramer, and Kate Reading. Crossroads of Twilight. New York: Audio Renaissance, 2003. Audiobook.
  • “The Mercury Theatre on the Air.” Kim Scarborough’s Homepage, 2008. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.
  • Nabokov, Vladimir, and Jeremy Irons. Lolita. New York: Random House, 1997. Audiobook.
  • Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the World. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. Print.
  • Pelevin, Viktor. The Helmet of Horror: The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. New York: Canongate, 2006. Print.
  • ---. The Helmet of Horror: The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Brilliance Audio, 2006. Audiobook.
  • Philips, Deborah. “Talking Books: The Encounter of Literature and Technology in the Audio Book.”
  • Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 13.3 (August 2007): 293-306. Print.
  • Rand, Ayn, and Scott Brick. Atlas Shrugged. Ashland, OR: Blackstone Audio, Inc, 2008. Audiobook.
  • Rand, Ayn, and Edward Herrmann. Atlas Shrugged. HighBridge Classics. St. Paul, MN: HighBridge, 1995. Audiobook.
  • Rattigan, Dermot. Theatre of Sound: Radio and the Dramatic Imagination. Dublin: Carysfort Press, 2002. Print.
  • “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America.” National Endowment of the Arts Research Division Report #46, (June 2004). Web. 10 Jan. 2011.
  • Rubery, Matthew. “Play it again, Sam Weller: New Digital Audiobooks and Old Ways of Reading.” Journal of Victorian Culture 13.1 (2008): 58-79. Print.
  • Scholes, Robert, James Phelan, and Robert L. Kellogg. The Nature of Narrative. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.
  • Shokoff, James. “What is an Audiobook?” Journal of Popular Culture 34.4 (2001): 171-81. Print.
  • Sterne, Jonathan. The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. Print.
  • Stone, Brad. “Amazon Backs off Text-to-Speech Feature in Kindle.” NYTimes.com, 27 Feb. 2009. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.
  • Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1912. Archive.org. Web. 10 Jan. 2011.
  • Whitten, Robin. “Growth of the Audio Publishing Industry.” Publishing Research Quarterly 18.3 (2002): 3-10. Print.
  • Zahn, Timothy. The Last Command. New York: Bantam Books, 1994. Print.
  • Zahn, Timothy, and Anthony Daniels. Star Wars: The Last Command. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio, 1993. Audiobook.
Journal of American Studies of Turkey-Cover
  • ISSN: 1300-6606
  • Başlangıç: 1995
  • Yayıncı: -