June 15, 2008
Faulkner's Voice
I love that Faulkner sounds exactly like what you think Faulkner would sound like (Faulkner on college English and Faulkner accepting his Nobel). Hemingway on the other hand sounds nothing like what I expected. (Hemingway accepting the Nobel). I assumed Hemingway would sound something like Orson Wells.
Related: Teddy Roosevelt's voice
06/15/08 03:33 AM
Nancy said...
Then this speech archive site is for you:
http://accent.gmu.edu/howto.php
06/16/08 10:24 AM
Milena said...
You are right. Hemingway sounds stilted and unsure. Not at all stentorian which is how I figured he would always sound. Faulkner did sound like what Faulkner might sound but towards the end there not so much. Can't say why. Love it that you think about these things. Still remember how disappointed I was the first time I heard David Beckham's voice - thought he sounded girly. Returning to the literary vein however, Isabel Allende sounds just like she should. Have you ever heard her?
06/16/08 04:47 PM
JP said...
For me, it's the other way around. When I first read Faulkner, in high school, I imagined his voice as the voice of God - very profound, resonant, authoritative. I was shocked, and quite disappointed, the first time I heard his high, thin voice.
By the way, Kevin says hi.
06/17/08 10:47 AM
raul said...
My childhood art teacher lived down the road from Faulker and in her words, "In high school we used to drive up there and sit on his porch. He taught us all to drink." She and her husband were both from the area near Oxford Mississippi and had that specific accent and I always pictured his voice like theirs so it wasn't a surprise... But Hemingway, man what a disappointment... with his enunciated 'writers' he sounds almost effete.
06/17/08 01:14 PM
Jacob said...
Here are some of F Scott Fitzgerald's voice: http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/voice.html
He sounds less upper crusty than I would have imagined, but I guess that's the thing about FItzgerald, he wasn't really upper crust, but wanted to be.
James Joyce's voice: http://ubu.artmob.ca/sound/joyce_james/Joyce-James_Anna-Livia-Plurabelle.mp3 - a bit more hobbitlike than one would think
Sylvia Path's voice:
http://www.salon.com/audio/2000/10/05/plath_sow/
More formal than expected
No luck on Flannery Oconnor's voice:
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/08/i_hear_you_got_.html
Here's an article about a Jack London recording but without a link to the actual audio (LAME!):
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080209/NEWS/802090314/1033/NEWS01#
A recording of Tolstoy's voice also exists (again no link):
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080228/100226008.html