‘A phonograph, nothing else.’ Poetry and early sound recording in Sweden

This article examines the early encounters between poetry and sound recording in Sweden from the introduction of the phonograph in the late nineteenth century to the emergence of more established literary recording practices in the early twentieth century. Drawing on articles, literary works, and surviving recordings, it investigates how sound recording challenged notions of voice, authenticity, and literary mediation. The article argues that the Swedish reception of the phonograph was structured by a persistent tension between voice and noise. While the technology was celebrated for its ability to reproduce human speech, it simultaneously exposed the unstable conditions of vocal expression. This contradiction is traced in debates surrounding the phonograph, in literary representations by writers such as August Strindberg, and in early recordings of poetry. Particular attention is given to the 1899 recording of Gösta Forssell’s poem ‘Fanan’ (The Flag), whose acoustic layering of speech, noise, and technological interference exemplifies the ambiguities of recorded literary performance. In its concluding discussion, the article situates these developments within a longer history of Swedish poetry and sound media, connecting early phonographic practices to later experiments in sound poetry and radiophonic composition.