A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
War and Trauma in the Music of Bruce Springsteen: “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Devils & Dust,” and “The Wall”
Authors: Susanna Välimäki
Editors: Nick Braae & Kai Arne Hansen
Publishing place: Basingstoke
Publication year: 2019
Book title : On Popular Music and Its Unruly Entanglements
First page : 103
Last page: 123
ISBN: 978-3-030-18098-0
eISBN: 978-3-030-18099-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18099-7
Web address : https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030180980
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/41168208
War and its traumatic aftermath for the individual is a prominent theme in the music of Bruce Springsteen. In this article, I explore the representation of war and trauma in Springsteen’s music by concentrating on three songs: “Born in the U.S.A.” (1984), “Devils & Dust” (2005), and “The Wall” (2014). Methodologically, I combine cultural trauma studies with cultural music analysis in order to examine the musical mechanisms by which the songs construct a discourse of trauma and remembrance. By focusing on the sonic substance and the mechanisms therein that generate cultural meanings, I aim to illuminate in a detailed way the workings of the sonic poetics of trauma in Springsteen’s war songs.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |  |
