Skip to main content
University of Michigan Press
Fulcrum logo

Share the story of what Open Access means to you

a graphic of a lock that is open, the universal logo for open access

University of Michigan needs your feedback to better understand how readers are using openly available ebooks. You can help by taking a short, privacy-friendly survey.

  1. Home
  2. ESC: Sonic Adventure in the Anthropocene

ESC: Sonic Adventure in the Anthropocene

Jacob Smith 2019 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license Open access availability of this work is made possible by generous support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Open Access Open Access
ESC is a work of experimental audio-based scholarship combining sound studies, radio history, and environmental criticism. This unique project is a fully open access, fully digital suite of audiographic essays, presented as a ten-part podcast series, combining spoken commentary, clips from classic radio dramas, excerpts from films and television shows, news reports, and the work of contemporary sound artists. A brief written essay on the ESC website provides a helpful introduction and context for this project.

ESC takes as its point of departure the CBS Radio adventure series Escape (1947–54). The postwar years saw both a decline in popularity for American radio drama, and the dawn of the Anthropocene era, with human beings emerging as the primary force affecting the earth's systems.

Jacob Smith considers Escape's adventure stories from an ecocritical perspective, analyzing the geographic, sociopolitical, and ecological details of the stories to reveal how they are steeped in social and environmental history.

The work of contemporary sound artists and field recordists underscores the relevance of sound in these narratives and demonstrates audio's potential as a key medium for scholarship. ESC features recordings by some of the most prominent sound artists working in this area, including Daniel Blinkhorn, Peter Cusak, David Dunn, JLIAT, Christina Kubisch, Francisco López, Sally Ann McIntyre, Chris Watson, and Jana Winderen.

ESC makes the urgency of our critical ecological moment audible in a new way. The audio essays articulate what it means to live in an Anthropocene era and posit alternative ways of conceptualizing our historical moment. ESC sharpens our ability to listen and respond to our world with greater ecological awareness.

All publication resources for _ESC, _including the introductory essay, audio materials, and backmatter, are available on Fulcrum. The audio materials are also available on Apple Podcasts.

ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-472-99901-9 (open access)
Subject
  • Digital Projects
  • Media Studies:New Media
Citable Link
  • Resources

  • Stats

Search and Filter Resources

Filter search results by

Keyword

  • adventure11
  • Anthropocene11
  • Ecocriticism11
  • field recording11
  • podcasting11
  • more Keyword »
Filter search results by

Creator

  • Smith, Jacob13
Filter search results by

Format

  • audio10
  • text3
Filter search results by

Year

  • 201910

Search Constraints

1 - 13 of 13
  • First Appearance
  • Section (Earliest First)
  • Section (Last First)
  • Format (A-Z)
  • Format (Z-A)
  • Year (Oldest First)
  • Year (Newest First)
Number of results to display per page
  • 10 per page
  • 20 per page
  • 50 per page
  • 100 per page
View results as:
List Gallery

Search Results

Document titled Introductory essay

Introductory essay

Introduction: ESC: Sonic Adventure in the Anthropocene


Episode One: Three Skeleton Key

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.


Episode Two: Leiningen vs. the Ants

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.


Episode Three: The Birds

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.


Episode Four: Action and The Grove of Ashtaroth

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.


Episode Five: Red Forest

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.


Episode Six: Port Royal

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.


Episode Seven: The Vanishing Lady

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.


Episode Eight: Evening Primrose

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.


Episode Nine: I Saw Myself Running

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.


Episode Ten: Earth Abides

Written and recorded by Jacob Smith, 2018.

Document titled Bibliography

Bibliography

ESC Bibliography

Document titled Links

Links

ESC: Additional Sources of Information

8,958 views since February 07, 2019
University of Michigan Press logo

University of Michigan Press

Powered by Fulcrum logo

  • About
  • Blog
  • Feedback
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Accessibility
  • Preservation
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Service
  • Log In
© University of Michigan Press 2020
x This site requires cookies to function correctly.