Objecting to Edison
Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville’s Problem with the Phonograph
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21728584 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Terrence Cullen (0000-0001-6068-6620, Vassar College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 3-4 |
| Pages | 317-327 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Dix-Neuf (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1478-7318 • E-ISSN: 1478-7342 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14787318.2025.2468612 |
| OpenAlex | W4411487505 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 7 |
The Parisian typesetter and proofreader Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (1817–79) is credited with inventing the earliest device to record sound, the phonautograph, which would be overshadowed by the arrival of Edison's phonograph in France in 1878. This essay focuses on Scott’s critique of the phonograph as both a mechanical object and an object of media attention. It first traces his discussion of the phonograph’s failure to legibly record speech back to his earlier work on stenography and then shows how, for Scott, the French press echoes the phonograph’s not always meaningful noises that drown out his years of silent labour
Art · Electrical engineering · Phonograph · Engineering · Historical and Literary Studies · Music Technology and Sound Studies · Musicology and Musical Analysis
| Highly cited | No |
|---|