Two of our esteemed faculty members - Prof. Mark Berry and Dr Tim Summers - have featured chapters in a newly released Cambridge University Press book, Wagner in Context.
Richard Wagner
Edited by David Trippett, this new Cambridge University Press release entitled Wagner in Context, as part of the Composers in Context series, explores the broad cultural consequences of Richard Wagner's output. The book features two chapters by faculty members at Royal Holloway: ‘Revolutionary Politics’ by Prof. mark Berry and ‘The Wagnerian Erotics of Video Game Music’ by Dr Tim Summers.
Book description
Few composers embodied wider cultural interests than Wagner or had greater cultural consequences. This is the first collection to examine directly the rich array of intellectual, social and cultural contexts within which Wagner worked. Alongside fresh accounts of historical topics, from spa culture to racial theory, sentient bodies to stage technology, America to Spain, it casts an eye forward to contexts of Wagner's ongoing reception, from video gaming to sound recording, Israel to Friedrich Kittler, and twenty-first century warfare. The collection brings together an international cast of leading authorities and new voices. Its 42 short chapters offer a reader-friendly way into Wagner studies, with authoritative studies of central topics set alongside emerging new fields. It sheds new light on previously neglected individuals such as Minna Wagner, Theodor Herzl and Houston Stewart Chamberlain, and investigates the global circulation of Wagner's works, his approach to money, and the controversies that continue to accompany him.
For more information about this book or to purchase a copy, please visit this website: Wagner in Context (cambridge.org)
