The Lyre of Orpheus: Popular Music, The Sacred, And The Profane - Softcover

Partridge, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199751404 ISBN 13: 9780199751402

Publisher: Oxford University Press, Usa, 2013

Synopsis

The myth of Orpheus articulates what social theorists have known since Plato: music matters. It is uniquely able to move us, to guide the imagination, to evoke memories, and to create spaces within which meaning is made. Popular music occupies a place of particular social and cultural significance. Christopher Partridge explores this significance, analyzing its complex relationships with the values and norms, texts and discourses, rituals and symbols, and codes and narratives of modern Western cultures. He shows how popular musics power to move, to agitate, to control listeners, to shape their identities, and to structure their everyday lives is central to constructions of the sacred and the profane. In particular, he argues that popular music can be important edgework, challenging dominant constructions of the sacred in modern societies. Drawing on a wide range of musicians and musical genres, as well as a number of theoretical approaches from critical musicology, cultural theory, sociology, theology, and the study of religion, The Lyre of Orpheus reveals the significance and the progressive potential of popular music.

About this title

Review

"The Lyre of Orpheus is a landmark book, opening up new ground for our understanding of religious elements of popular music. Partridge moves the discussion of religion and popular music on from concerns about the religious meanings of lyrics, or broad analogies of popular music scenes as 'religions, ' by addressing how music constructs emotional experiences which reinforce or transgress social understandings of the sacred... he shows how popular music continues to have religious significance in social settings far removed from traditional forms of institutional religion, as well as illuminating the complex relationships that persist between popular music and religious traditions. Demonstrating an authoritative understanding of both popular music and scholarly resources for interpreting it, Partridge has produced a book that will be a key reference point for future work in this field for many years to come." - --Gordon Lynch, Michael Ramsey Professor of Modern Theology, University of Kent

About the Author

Christopher Partridge is Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University, UK. He is the author of a number of books, including The Re-Enchantment of the West, 2 volumes (2004, 2005) and Dub in Babylon (2010) and the editor of several books, including UFO Religions (2003), Encyclopaedia of New Religions (2004), The Lure of the Dark Side (2009), Holy Terror (2010) and Anthems of Apocalypse (2012).

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, Usa
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0199751404
• ISBN 13: 9780199751402
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 368