Where do podcasts come from? Letters as an antecedent

Anthony Haynes writes: Cultural forms and communicative genres tend not to emerge from a vacuum: they tend to emerge from existing forms. In the case of podcasts, obvious candidates include lectures, essays, sermons, and radio interviews.

And, we suggest here, letters.

In this, the second of a series of three episodes devoted to the topics of letters,  we examine the resemblance between podcasting and letters.

Using as a case study the literary correspondence between George Lyttleton and Rupert Hart-Davis, we explore the significance of various aspects of content and form, ranging from voice and types of orality to friendship and disagreement.

Reference

The Lyttleton Hart-Davis letters were published in six volumes by John Murray (1978-84).


Further listening

If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might particularly enjoy the following:

• But what about letters: their scholarly use as grey literature
• Online lecturing, with Bart Hallmark

Credits

• Sound production: Bart Hallmark
• Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra