The Collective Voice: Modern Literature and the Politics of Speech

While collective speech can seem a disparate set of practices—from prayers to protest chants, and from football songs to oaths of allegiance and national anthems—Matthew Taunton argues that we can think of these together. Speaking in unison is often considered to be in decline in an individualistic modernity, and associated with earlier, more ritualistic, and even 'primitive' states of being. In this incisive new book, Taunton draws on a fascinating archive of literary texts from Britain, C...