"Is there a class in this audiotext?"

Paradise lost and the multimodal social edition

Olin Björk

John Rumrich

pp. 47-76

in: David Currell, Islam Issa (eds), Digital Milton, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Abstract

This chapter explains the pedagogical rationale for the design of digital audiotexts of three books of Paradise Lost at the University of Texas from 2005 to 2009. Developed from the conviction that hearing the poem is as vital as reading it for modern readers, the audiotexts help them do both simultaneously. The chapter situates the audiotexts in relation to the history of editing, Milton's writing process, criticism on the structure and sonic qualities of his verse, and recent research on reading practices and multimedia learning, including the cognitive reception of visual and oral language. The chapter concludes by proposing the audiotexts as a model for multimodal social editions, and considers how they might be refashioned given developments in social media, eBook marketing, and mobile technology since 2009.