This book is a captivating exploration of the art of declamation during the 19th century, examining the powerful impact of auditive aspects on the fields of literature, rhetoric, melodrama, and performance. Shifting the focus from the pedagogical benefits of declamation to its role in the cultural sector, this study highlights its particular importance during the pivotal transition from the semi-professional to the professional sphere.

Sigrid Nieberle, University Professor of Modern German Literature, TU Dortmund University, Germany

As the first English-language book-length study of literary declamation in the German context, The Speaking Muse is long overdue, for it sheds important light on widespread, yet long-neglected cultures of literary performance in German-speaking lands. Mary Helen Dupree's theoretically informed approach to declamatory performance and its intermedial resonances in print is a model of cultural studies scholarship and should be of broad interest to scholars working at the intersections of performance history and media studies.

Sean Franzel, Professor of German and William H. Byler Distinguished Chair in the Humanities, University of Missouri, USA