Review of Sam Dolbear and Esther Leslie, <em>Dissonant Waves: Ernst Schoen and Experimental Sound in the Twentieth Century (</em>Goldsmiths Press, 2023)

Dissonant Waves tells the life story of Ernst Schoen, a pioneer of early radio and the Leader of the Programming Department at Südwestdeutsche Rundfunkdienst AG (SWZ), the Frankfurt regional radio station. It also tells the story of his social milieu – musicians, artists, philosophers and writers which included Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, and other well-known figures. The writers follow in the spirit of Ernst Schoen’s experimental aesthetics, innovating the biographical genre by presenting a fragmented, non-linear narrative, especially in the first part of the book. For Flann O’Brien scholars and enthusiasts, the volume offers an insight into the avant-garde possibilities of mass communications media and radio in particular. Both Flann and Schoen challenged the distinction between high art and popular culture in their own ways and engaged in a search for new means of expression.