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Lectures on Conversation, Volumes I and II
Volume I contains the lectures of Fall 1964 through Fall 1967, in which Sacks explores a great variety of topics, from suicide to children's games to Medieval Hell as a nemonic device to pronouns and paradoxes. But two key issues emerge: rules of conversational sequencing - central to the articulation of interaction, and membership categorization devices - central to the social organization of knowledge. This volume culminates in the extensive and formal explication of turn-taking which Sacks delivered in Fall, 1967.
Volume II contains the lectures of Spring 1968 through Spring 1972. Again he touches on a wide range of subjects, such as the poetics of ordinary talk, the integrative function of public tragedy, and pauses in spelling out a word. He develops a major new theme: storytelling in converstion, with an attendant focus on topic. His investigation of conversational sequencing continues, and this volume culminates in the elegant dissertation on adjacency pairs which Sacks delivered in Spring, 1972.
Volume II contains the lectures of Spring 1968 through Spring 1972. Again he touches on a wide range of subjects, such as the poetics of ordinary talk, the integrative function of public tragedy, and pauses in spelling out a word. He develops a major new theme: storytelling in converstion, with an attendant focus on topic. His investigation of conversational sequencing continues, and this volume culminates in the elegant dissertation on adjacency pairs which Sacks delivered in Spring, 1972.
- GenresSociology
Paperback
First published February 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 11, 2015
This is a dauntingly massive collection of lectures which were never intended for publication, at least not in this form.
Had not Harvey Sacks been killed in a car crash, I'm sure he could have worked many of his ideas into a groundbreaking work.
As it is, we are left to reflect on what might have been.
A more rigorous editing job would have made this volume more accessible to a wider audience but ,in fairness, this was not really the aim.
As a body of analysis it goes far deeper than popular titles on 'how conversations work' .
Sacks studied vast numbers of transcripts of phone dialogues, many relating to individuals who were depressed, suicidal or otherwise distraught.
In one sense he was de-sensatiionalising the content and looking for connections that only come from such a rigorous and immersive study.
This is certainly not a book to be read from beginning to end and I am a long way from completing it. In places I found it hard to get to grips with the linguistic complexity of his work. Nevertheless, I can recognize that this is a valuable reference book.
I would not be surprised if Sacks' reputation continues grow as more academics quote from his studies.
Had not Harvey Sacks been killed in a car crash, I'm sure he could have worked many of his ideas into a groundbreaking work.
As it is, we are left to reflect on what might have been.
A more rigorous editing job would have made this volume more accessible to a wider audience but ,in fairness, this was not really the aim.
As a body of analysis it goes far deeper than popular titles on 'how conversations work' .
Sacks studied vast numbers of transcripts of phone dialogues, many relating to individuals who were depressed, suicidal or otherwise distraught.
In one sense he was de-sensatiionalising the content and looking for connections that only come from such a rigorous and immersive study.
This is certainly not a book to be read from beginning to end and I am a long way from completing it. In places I found it hard to get to grips with the linguistic complexity of his work. Nevertheless, I can recognize that this is a valuable reference book.
I would not be surprised if Sacks' reputation continues grow as more academics quote from his studies.
Displaying 1 of 1 review