Malleus: Vibrations from the Middle Ear (a new review column of English and German spoken arts)

March 16, 2008 By 5 Comments

Malleus Maleficarum German and English Audio Column

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Introduction to Malleus with Chris Dueker

Welcome to Malleus: Vibrations from the Middle Ear, a weekly review column of English and German language audio drama, audio books, and other spoken word recordings. Malleus came about for two reasons: 1) to provide critical reviews of spoken arts recordings that rarely receive them and 2) to introduce English-speakers to the remarkable German phenomenon colloquially termed the ?H?rspiel-Boom?. To that end this English language column will cover both English (U.S.A., Canada, Britain, and Australia) and German productions. Malleus will tend to focus on science fiction, fantasy, and horror, three fantastical genres that have enjoyed considerable success over radio?s phantom airwaves. However, from time to time other genres will be featured. Readers can expect to see reviews of both old and new productions, from Old Time Radio and obscure LPs to cutting edge MP3 downloads. Most recordings discussed will be in print; a few will require scouring ebay or making a trip to your local library.

Aside perhaps from a willingness to bring the hammer down hard on inferior work, what distinguishes Malleus most from other review columns is its bi-lingual emphasis. There are a few decent review sites focusing on English-language audio drama and more devoted to German productions, but as far as I know this is the first Internet column to address both. Why do it? Honestly, audio drama has been my favorite pastime for twenty-five years, and English and German are the languages I know. That said, Germany?s h?rspiel (audio play) industry really is something special. You might think every country would have its own vibrant audio drama scene: not so. France for example, whose native tongue is admired the world over, strangely lacks a significant audio drama tradition. Germany not only has one, it bucks the contemporary trend of declining production common to English-speaking countries. On the contrary, Germany has been enjoying a true ?audio drama boom? for the past ten years that exceeds anything in the country?s history. That?s right, folks: not only are professional German audio drama companies thriving, new ones are entering the market every year. It?s gotten to the point that German companies are now licensing more major American properties for audio drama than their American counterparts are (Star Wars, Hellboy, TSR?s Forgotten Realms, to name a few). Today Germany is producing work on a scale and level of sophistication that rivals the best of what even the BBC has to offer. This column will open that world up to you.

Malleus will strive for 50 / 50 coverage of English and German language productions, so even if you?re not interested in the German scene there should be something to catch your eye. Variety will be emphasized: upcoming reviews consider English language productions Jack Flanders: Midnight at the Casa Luna by ZBS, The Buoy by Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theater, Deathlands #73: Labyrinth by Graphic Audio, and German language productions John Sinclair by Wortart, Drizzt – Die Saga vom Dunkelelf #1 – Der Dritte Sohn by Lausch, and Chronik der Unsterblichen: Blutkrieg by ZYX Music, among others. All reviews will run approximately 2-4 typed pages and feature a 1 to 10 star rating.

So again, welcome. I hope you’ll find Malleus interesting, provocative, and illuminating to the dark passageways of your ears. And I’d like to express my sincere thanks to Fred Greenhalgh of Radio Drama Revival for hosting this column.

Chris Dueker
March 13, 2008

For the curious: The malleus of the column title is one of three ossicles in the middle ear, named for its shape (Latin for ?hammer?.) Along with the incus and stapes, the malleus transmits vibrations from the eardrum into waves of fluid in the inner ear.

Legal Nonsense: The title Malleus: Vibrations from the Middle Ear and all reviews posted in this column are copyright 2008 Chris Dueker. Reviews may not be reprinted or otherwise redistributed without permission. All opinions expressed in Malleus are my own, and do not reflect those of Radio Drama Revival.

Filed Under: Malleus, News
  • http://www.giddio.com Jens

    Nice! But where is a link to it?

  • http://www.giddio.com Jens

    Listen to your interview on the blog. If you want to talk about the recent Hoerspiel-Boom, you can’t brush aside children’s audio drama. It’s the root of the boom! I know, I’m one of the “Kassettenkinder”.

    Jens

    http://www.Giddio.com – Audio adventures for kids!

  • Chris Dueker

    Hey Jens,

    Thanks very much for your comments. It’s good to hear from you, particularly since you have a far richer perspective on German children’s audio drama than I ever will. If I slighted your childhood love and present field, you have my apology. As someone who grew up with the American Newbery Award Records audio dramas for children, and spent considerable time tracking them down again as an adult, I do appreciate your passion.

    My intention in the interview was not to belittle children’s audio but to be honest about my perspective and my tastes. I’m an adult outsider who came upon the German scene around 1999. Understandably, I gravitated toward genres produced for adults. In starting this column, I also imagined that the majority of people who would read it would be adults with an interest in mature material. I admit this may have been shortsighted of me.

    Malleus is ultimately intended to be a review column rather than a historical primer. I’m starting it off with a short essay on the hoerspiel boom in the interest of giving non-Germans some sense of context. While I recognize the long legacy of children’s audio drama in Germany, it is my belief that adult titles, in particular the Grusel-Krimis and their descendants, have driven the modern day boom ? in part by expanding the audience for hoerspiel beyond children. I respect that you may feel differently, and to be fair the Grusel-Krimis of the 80′s that inspired the current wave can even be considered children’s drama of a kind (I will be briefly discussing the 80?s Europa and Tonstudio Braun horror serials and the Gespenster Krimis that inspired them). I’m also aware that many German adults still collect and enjoy children’s hoerspiele.

    However, my conviction that the start of John Sinclair: Edition 2000 was a watershed moment for contemporary hoerspiel isn’t unique to me. The wave of titles it inspired, some of which are acclaimed the most sophisticated hoerspiele ever made (Poe, Burns), is also a matter of record. We may have to agree to disagree on this particular point.

    Malleus will focus on adult genres, primarily science fiction, fantasy, and horror. These are my passions, and I assure you I know this material extremely well, German and English. As a matter of personal interest and experience, I am not going to cover German children’s drama. Since I do not have the background to speak to the German children’s audio drama tradition, my discussion of the Hoerspiel boom will not deal with it at length either.

    You’re quite right that this leaves an unfortunate void in my account of the Hoerspiel-Boom. I would be more than happy to have you do a guest column to give the children’s audio drama tradition in Germany it’s due. Please give it serious consideration. With your knowledge as a fan and experience as a contemporary producer of children’s audio drama you could open up an important body of work to an English-speaking audience. If this is of interest to you, let me know.

    Regardless, you have my promise that I will try to be more upfront in the future about what I’m leaving out, and more careful about how I speak of it.

    With respect,

    Chris

  • http://www.giddio.com Jens

    Chris,

    You are absolutely right about focusing on audio drama! What I mean is that those kids who have grown up with their audio adventures starting in the ’70s are now the ones who carry the Hoerspiel boom as listeners as well as producers.

    But to clarify for everybody: You write your column on Radio Drama Revival?

    Email me!

    All the best,

    Jens

  • Chris Dueker

    Hi Jens,

    To answer your question first – yes, Malleus is going to be hosted by Radio Drama Revival. There are no plans to integrate it into the audio podcast – that was just to introduce the written column. Malleus will cover a different German or English release every week. It actually hasn’t even started yet – next Saturday will see the first substantial post go up.

    Regarding children’s hoerspiele, thanks for clarifying your point. Now I see where you’re coming from: you’re talking about the impact of the Klassiker from Europa’s heyday. (I didn’t grow up on them as you did, but I have listened to a fair number. My personal favorites are Europa’s first three Damonenkiller releases and the uncensored version of Konga, Der Menschenfrosch from the Macabros series. Can’t beat that title! The Tonstudio Braun Sinclairs, I confess, just aren’t my cup of tea.) Of course you’re right about that era inspiring the current audience and the producers. Oliver Doering has been quite explicit about drawing that connection too.

    The interview was really just to introduce the column, not to be a serious discussion of hoerspiel history. In other words, it’s an advertisement rather than the content itself. Naturally I will be bringing up the Europa and Tonstudio Braun cassette era in the article next week, and touch on how they laid the foundation for the current market. Fred’s got a first draft of the essay and he’ll confirm that that material is discussed. Right, Fred? ;)

    Still, my citation of 70′s-80′s material is going to be very brief, since the goal is just to give non-German speakers a little context before launching into reviews of contemporary material. You still have an open invitation to write an essay that goes into the cassette era at greater length. As someone who grew up with it, you’d have a personal angle that would be great to hear.

    I’ll send you this response as a personal email too so we can continue this conversation.

    Best wishes,

    Chris

    P.S. Nice to hear from a fellow Kassettenkind. I grew up collecting the ZBS serials on cassette here in the USA.