One-sided conversations

This will be an ongoing list of references mentioning the one-sided conversations you hear when listening to a person talking on a phone.

Giddens, consequences of modernity, p141
You are more 'connected' with the person you are conversing with on the phone (who may be in Australia) than with the person who is sitting in the same room.
* "space of flows" - the network here is another space that you occupy that doesn't overlap with the physical place you occupy.
* reminiscent of Thrift's whales; 'being with' someone, the space where you are 'with' this other person is huge.


Huxley, brave new world (1932)
"parleying with silence"

Montgomery, per telephone (1893)
Play with opening scene - ten minutes of female gossip on phone
Wasn't this boring for the audience?  Was it such a novelty?  A new experience for both writer and listener, who had to figure out context etc. from only one speaker.  Before the phone era, where/how could you 'eavesdrop' on someone and only hear half the conversation?


Twain, telephonic conversation (1880)