Cover not available

Article published In: Life Storytelling across Media and Contexts
Edited by Jarmila Mildorf and Zuzana Fonioková
[Narrative Inquiry 35:2] 2025
► pp. 337–358

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Soundscapes and storytelling in literary interviews

Audionarratological perspectives

ORCiD logo with link | Paderborn University
Published online: 8 July 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.24083.mil
Abstract
Interviews have long depended on recordings, but the interview ‘text’ has traditionally been transcribed and published in written form. Scholars therefore hailed the advent of digitization for making recordings available to a broader audience and displaying their orality. Despite this growing interest in the significance of speaking voices, other sonic aspects of interviews are still largely ignored. Set within the frameworks of multimodal research and audionarratology, this article explores the sonic environment of an interview conducted by journalist Heinz Ludwig Arnold with German author Günter Grass in 1970, subsequently published in written form in 1990 and released as an audio recording in 2011. It analyses how voices, background sounds and noises impact on narratives told and on the interview trajectory at large and how they can inform our interpretation of interview materials. The article argues for a more comprehensive approach towards the sonic dimension of audio-recorded interviews and interview narratives.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Multimodal research and audionarratology: Exploring interfaces of sounds, voices and narrative
  • The literary interview
  • The literary interview with Günter Grass
    • Voices and boundaries
    • The sonic dimension: Backgrounds, foregrounds and a sense of space
    • Background noises, narrative disruption and pauses
    • Attention to the situation, topic shifts and curtailed narratives
  • Concluding remarks: The sonic dimension of interviews revisited
  • Notes
  • References
References (51)
References
Amelung, M. (2007). Fünf Grass’sche Jahreszeiten: von dem Mädchen, das immer so leicht errötete. Langen Müller Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arnold, H. L. (1990). “…aber am meisten liegt mir Lyrik”: Erstes Gespräch mit Günter Grass. In Schriftsteller im Gespräch mit Heinz Ludwig Arnold, Vol. 11. (pp. 115–158). Haffmanns Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). Meine Gespräche mit Schriftstellern. Original sound recordings. 3 MP3-CDs. Quartino.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bernaerts, L., & Mildorf, J. (2021). Audionarratology: Lessons from Radio Drama. Ohio State University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bezemer, J., & Jewitt, C. (2018). Multimodality: A Guide for Linguists. In L. Litosseliti (Ed.), Research Methods in Linguistics (2nd ed.) (pp. 281–304). Continuum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bull, M. (Ed.) (2019). The Routledge Companion to Sound Studies. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crapanzano, V. (1990). On Dialogue. In T. Maranhão (Ed.), The Interpretation of Dialogue (pp. 269–291). University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frisch, M. (2006). Oral History and the Digital Revolution: Toward a Post-Documentary Sensibility. In R. Perks & A. Thomson (Eds.). The Oral History Reader (2nd ed.) (pp. 102–113). Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grimm, G. (Ed.) (2008). Schriftsteller-Inszenierungen. Aisthesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herman, L., & Vervaeck, B. (2019). Handbook of Narrative Analysis. University of Nebraska Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoffmann, T. (2009). Das Interview als Kunstwerk: Plädoyer für die Analyse von Schriftstellerinterviews am Beispiel W. G. Sebalds. Weimarer Beiträge 55(2), 276–292.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoffmann, T., & Kaiser, G. (Eds) (2014). Echt inszeniert: Interviews in Literatur und Literaturbetrieb. Wilhelm Fink. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jefferson, G. (1989). Preliminary Notes on a Possible Metric Which Provides for a ‘Standard Maximum’ Silence of Approximately One Second in Conversation. In D. Roger & P. Bull (Eds.), Conversation: An Interdisciplinary Perspective (pp. 166–196). Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jenks, C. J. (2013). Working with Transcripts: An Abridged Review of Issues in Transcription. Language and Linguistics Compass, 7(4), 251–261. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jewitt, C. (Ed.) (2014). The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis. Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johannsen, A. (2014). “…dass ich nicht kam wie ein Kläffer”: Heinz Ludwig Arnolds Gespräche mit Schriftstellern: Peter Handke, Rolf Hochhuth, Günter Grass. In T. Hoffmann & G. Kaiser (Eds), Echt inszeniert: Interviews in Literatur und Literaturbetrieb (pp. 223–237. Wilhelm Fink. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jovanovic, D., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2018). Multimodal Dialogue on Social Media. Social Semiotics, 28(5), 683–699. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jürgensen, C. (Ed.) (2011). Schriftstellerische Inszenierungspraktiken: Typologie und Geschichte. Universitätsverlag Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Karpf, A. (2014). The Human Voice and the Texture of Experience. Oral History, 42(2), 50–55.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kowal, S., Bassett, M. R., & O’Connell, D. C. (1985). The Spontaneity of Media Interviews. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 141, 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lang, L. (2022). Medialer Habitus und biographische Legende: Schriftstellerische Inszenierungspraktiken im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung. J.B. Metzler. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Love, R., & Wright, D. (2021). Specifying Challenges in Transcribing Covert Recordings: Implications for Forensic Transcription. Frontiers in Communication, 61, 797448. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Masschelein, A., Meurée, C., Martens, D., & Vanasten, S. (2014). The Literary Interview: Towards a Poetics of a Hybrid Genre. Poetics Today, 35(1/2), 1–49. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McDonald, K. (2020). Scripting the Radio Interview: Performing Desert Island Discs. Radio Journal, 18(2), 175–192. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McNeill (1995). Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meurer, J. (2025). Gespräche. In C. Jürgensen & M. Scheffel (Eds), Günter Grass Handbuch (pp. 433–447). De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mildorf, J. (2016). Pictures into Sound: Aural World-Making in Art Gallery Audio Guides. In J. Mildorf & T. Kinzel (Eds.), Audionarratology: Interfaces of Sound and Narrative (pp. 239–256). De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Dialogic Interactions on Radio: Studs Terkel’s Literary Interviews. In J. Mildorf & B. Thomas (Eds.), Dialogue across Media (pp. 117–136). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2023). Poeticity and Parody: The Literary Interview on Radio and Podcast. In A. Ensslin, J. Round & B. Thomas (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Literary Media (pp. 148–158). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2024). Music and Narrative in Art Exhibition Audio Guides: “Beckmann & Amerika.” In C. Van Nerom, A. Peeters & B. Bouckaert (Eds.). Music and its Narrative Potential (pp. 201–218). Brill Fink. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mildorf, J., & Kinzel, T. (Eds.) (2016). Audionarratology: Interfaces of Sound and Narrative. De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ngo, T., Hood, S., Martin, J. R., Painter, C., Smith, B. A. & Zappavigna, M. (2022). Modelling Paralanguage Using Systemic Functional Semiotics: Theory and Application. Bloomsbury. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Halloran, K. L., Pal, G., & Minhao, J. (2021). Multimodal Approach to Analysing Big Social and News Media Data. Discourse, Context & Media 401. (05/01/2024).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paul, G., & Schock, R. (Eds.) (2014). Sound der Zeit: Geräusche, Töne, Stimmen. Wallstein. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pauwels, L. (Ed.) (2023). Visual and Multimodal Urban Sociology: Imagining the Sensory City. Emerald Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pinch, T., & Bijsterveld, K. (Eds.) (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roach, R. (2018). Literature and the Rise of the Interview. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2020). The Role and Function of Author Interviews in the Contemporary Anglophone Literary Field. Book History, 231, 335–364. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rifkin, J. R., Du, K. M., & Cutright, K. M. (2023). The Preference for Spontaneity in Entertainment. Journal of Consumer Research, 50(3), 597–616. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruchatz, J. (2013). Interview. In N. Binczek, T. Dembeck & J. Schäfer (Eds), Handbuch Medien der Literatur (pp. 528–535). De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rühlemann, C. (2024). Gaze Alternation Predicts Inclusive Next-Speaker Selection: Evidence from Eyetracking. Frontiers in Communication (Sec. Multimodality of Communication) 91:1396925. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sharpless, R. (2006). The History of Oral History. In T. L. Charlton, L. E. Myers & R. Sharpless (Eds.), Handbook of Oral History (pp. 19–42). Altamira Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sterne, J. (Ed.) (2012). The Sound Studies Reader. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stivers, T., & Sidnell, J. (Eds.) (2005). Multimodal Interaction. Special issue: Semiotica 1561.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stöckl, H. (2019). Linguistic Multimodality — Multimodal Linguistics: A State-of-the-Art Sketch. In J. Wildfeuer et al. (Eds.). Multimodality: Disciplinary Thoughts and the Challenge of Diversity (pp. 41–68). De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Leeuwen, T. (2014). Parametric Systems: The Case of Voice Qualities. In C. Jewitt (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis (pp. 68–77). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Walzer, D. (2020). Interview. In N. Binczek & U. Wirth (Eds), Handbuch Literatur & Audiokultur (pp. 209–227). De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Westmoreland, M. R. (2022). Multimodality: Reshaping Anthropology. Annual Review of Anthropology 511, 173–194. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wierling, D. (2003). Oral History. In M. Maurer (Ed.). Aufriß der Historischen Wissenschaften, vol. 71: Neue Themen und Methoden der Geschichtswissenschaft. Reclam.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zimmermann, H. (2017). Günter Grass und die Deutschen: Eine Entwirrung: Essay. Wallstein. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue