Tim Sommer – författare

Modern literary archives play a key role in how authors’ lives and works get canonized and consecrated as cultural heritage. This interdisciplinary volume combines literary studies, book history, textual criticism, heritage studies, archival theory, and the digital humanities to examine the past, present, and future of literary archiving. Featuring contributions from leading international scholars and archive professionals, the book explores the objects, practices, and institutions that have been at the heart of the modern archival landscape since its emergence in the nineteenth century. Covering a wide range of questions, the volume reconstructs how literary manuscripts turned into secular relics and analyzes the impact that the rise of the archive has had on the scholarly study and public perception of literature as cultural heritage. Individual chapters range from historical accounts of the Romantic origins of manuscript worship to critical discussions of the archiving of contemporary writers’ born-digital material.

Examining the transatlantic writings and professional careers of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, this book explores the impact of literary, cultural, political and legal manifestations of authority on nineteenth-century British and American writing, publishing and lecturing. Drawing on primary texts in conjunction with a rich body of archival sources, this study retraces Romantic debates about race and nationhood, analyses the relationship between cultural nationalism and literary historiography and sheds light on Carlyle’s and Emerson’s professional identities as publishing authors and lecturing celebrities on both sides of the Atlantic.

Analyses Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson against the background of Anglo-American print culture and oral performanceDevelops a new analytical framework for the study of nineteenth-century transatlantic writing that combines literary studies, book history and cultural sociologyReframes canonical works through unfamiliar texts and contextsDraws on a rich body of archival sources and historical periodical publicationsOffers an in-depth account of nineteenth-century Anglo-American print culture and the transatlantic lecture systemExamining the transatlantic writings and professional careers of Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, this book explores the impact of literary, cultural, political and legal manifestations of authority on nineteenth-century British and American writing, publishing and lecturing. Drawing on primary texts in conjunction with a rich body of archival sources, this study retraces Romantic debates about race and nationhood, analyses the relationship between cultural nationalism and literary historiography and sheds light on Carlyle's and Emerson's professional identities as publishing authors and lecturing celebrities on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 1985, Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in a dorm shower at the University of South Carolina and asked him to form a band. For the next eight years, Hootie & the Blowfish—completed by bassist Dean Feldman and drummer Soni Sonefeld—played every frat house, roadhouse, and rock club in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, becoming one of the biggest independent acts in the region.In Only Wanna Be with You, Tim Sommer, the ultimate insider who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1993, pulls back the curtain on the band's indie days; the chart-topping success of their major-label debut, cracked rear view; the year of Hootie (1995); the lean years; Darius Rucker's history-making rise in country music; and one of the most remarkable comeback stories of the century. Featuring new and extensive interviews with the band members, some of the band's most famous fans, and stories from the recording studio, tour bus, and golf course, this book is essential reading for Hootie lovers and music buffs.

Experience the exclusive, behind-the-scenes story of one of the biggest bands of the ninetiesIn 1985, Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in a dorm shower at the University of South Carolina and asked him to form a band. For the next eight years, Hootie & the Blowfish—completed by bassist Dean Felber and drummer Soni Sonefeld—played every frat house, roadhouse, and rock club in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, becoming one of the biggest independent acts in the region.Thirty years after the band's major label debut, cracked rear view, author Tim Sommer pulls back the curtain on the band that defied record-industry odds to break into the mainstream by playing hacky sack music in the age of grunge. Only Wanna Be with You includes extensive new interviews with the band members and some of their most famous fans, as well as stories from the recording studio, tour bus, and golf course. Only Wanna Be with You is essential reading for Hootie lovers and music buffs.

Die internationale Romantikforschung hat sich in den vergangenen zwei Jahrzehnten zu einem breit ausdifferenzierten und kaum noch zu überblickenden Feld entwickelt. Dieser Band bietet einen Orientierungsvorschlag und gibt einen weitreichenden Überblick über aktuelle Befunde, theoretische Trends und methodische Zugriffe. Im Mittelpunkt stehen acht Leitkategorien der aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Auseinandersetzung mit ‚der Romantik‘: Definitionen, Kanon, Politik, Ästhetik, Natur, Materielle Kultur, Medien und Transnationalität. Erkenntnisse und Desiderate werden sowohl in Form von systematischen, metaperspektivischen Analysen aufgeschlüsselt als auch anhand von detaillierten Einzelstudien exemplarisch vorgeführt. Ein Schwerpunkt der Aufsätze liegt auf literatur- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Fragen aus den Bereichen Germanistik, Anglistik, Romanistik und Komparatistik; die vom Band gebotene Forschungsdiskussion ist aber durchweg disziplinübergreifend ausgerichtet und greift auch Impulse aus Philosophie, Kunstgeschichte und den Digital Humanities auf. Die abschließende Sektion des Bands bildet ein Cluster essayistisch angelegter Beiträge, die Ausblicke auf thematische und methodische Zukunftszenarien der Romantikforschung skizzieren.

In the first collection of his essays, outspoken critic Tim Sommer challenges some conventional beliefs about rock and explains how left-of-the-dial music in the '80s turned a generation of awkward loners into a cultural community.Sommer is a musician, journalist, record producer and radio DJ. He was an on-air news correspondent for MTV and VH1 and later did A&R for Atlantic Records, where he signed, among others, Hootie & the Blowfish.Dispatches From the Kingdom of Outsiders contains dozens of fervent and often surprising takes on music, culture and politics, offering a powerful and entertaining corrective to the timidity of so much modern music journalism.From his precocious emergence as a teenaged rock writer, Sommer describes the Zelig-like experiences of his life, mounts controversial arguments about well-known artists, connects music and politics in unexpected ways and reflects on a handful artists whose deaths affected him.Grouped into seven themed sections, the book covers U2 and R.E.M. to the Beatles and Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan to Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen. It also includes in-depth interviews with Dave Davies of the Kinks and a previously unpublished interview with Mark E. Smith of the Fall.Sample chapter titles: I Was Almost a Temporary Beastie BoyMeet the Beatles’ First Left-Handed BassistWhat Was the First Punk Rock Record?Weezer’s cover of Toto's “Africa” Is the Most Repugnant Pop Recording of All TimeHow Kent State Helped Create the Template for American Indie RockWith its diverse collection of subjects and entertaining opinions, this colorful, rollicking collection of writing will appeal to (and perhaps infuriate) a wide variety of music fans.Billy Idol: "Tim Sommer goes deep on a whole century of rock and pop culture, from Bowie to Buddy Bolden, Spike Milligan to Taylor Swift, and everything in between. Punk was always a state of mind, as much as a sound or a look, and this book is punk AF."Thurston Moore, co-founder of Sonic Youth: "It was the pleasure of noise, be it from the margins or from the mainstream, that inspired Tim to pontificate so excitedly. While his “dispatches” are modestly critical and discerning, they are essentially informed by joy, an aspect of shared dialogue utterly welcoming -- and one the world necessitates now more than ever."Geoff Edgers, national arts reporter, The Washington Post and author of Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever: "Sommer is a throwback to when people writing about music wrote whatever they wanted, took shocking takes not to garner social media attention but because they really believed in them, and did not worry about industry repercussions. He's also a little insane. This is a truly original document of the kind of smart, free, joyous writing we so rarely find anywhere today. Tim Sommer writes because he has to, not because he's trying to impress anyone, and his takes -- on the Beatles, Glenn Branca, Kent State and just about anything that pops into his brain -- are refreshingly disinterested in scoring social media points."