A theme of the age, at least in the developed world, is that people crave silence and can find none. The roar of traffic, the ceaseless beep of phones, digital announcements in buses and trains, TV sets blaring even in empty offices, are an endless battery and distraction. The human race is exhausting itself with noise and longs for its opposite—whether in the wilds, on the wide ocean or in some retreat dedicated to stillness and concentration. Alain Corbin, a history professor, writes from his refuge in the Sorbonne, and Erling Kagge, a Norwegian explorer, from his memories of the wastes of Antarctica, where both have tried to escape.
And yet, as Mr Corbin points out in "A History of Silence", there is probably no more noise than there used to be. Before pneumatic tyres, city streets were full of the deafening clang of metal-rimmed wheels and horseshoes on stone. Before voluntary isolation on mobile phones, buses and trains rang with conversation. Newspaper-sellers did not leave their wares in a mute pile, but advertised them at top volume, as did vendors of cherries, violets and fresh mackerel. The theatre and the opera were a chaos of huzzahs and barracking. Even in the countryside, peasants sang as they drudged. They don’t sing now.
What has changed is not so much the level of noise, which previous centuries also complained about, but the level of distraction, which occupies the space that silence might invade. There looms another paradox, because when it does invade—in the depths of a pine forest, in the naked desert, in a suddenly vacated room—it often proves unnerving rather than welcome. Dread creeps in; the ear instinctively fastens on anything, whether fire-hiss or bird call or susurrus of leaves, that will save it from this unknown emptiness. People want silence, but not that much. | Yon sijè nan epòk sa, omwen nan mond ki devlope a, se ke moun mande silans epi yo pa ka jwenn okenn. Bri sikilasyon, son telefòn san rete yo, anons dijital nan bis ak tren yo, pòs televizyon ki ap fè bri nan biwo ki vid yo, sa yo se batri ak distraksyon san fen. Ras imèn nan ap fatige tèt li ak bri epi li anvi gen opoze a—kit se nan mond sovaj yo, sou lanmè sovaj lan oswa nan kèk espas retrèt ki dedike a trankilite ak konsantrasyon. Alain Corbin, yon pwofesè istwa, ekri sou refij li an nan Sorbonne, epi Erling Kagge, ekri sou memwa li yo de dezè Antaktik yo, kote yo toulède te eseye chape kò yo. E sepandan, jan Mesye Cordin mansyone nan "A History of Silence", pwobableman pa gen plis bri ke jan li te konn abitye ye. Anvan te gen kawotchou pnematik yo, lari nan vil yo te ranpli ak bri metalik asoudisan akoz wou ki gen bò an metal yo ak fè anba pye cheval yo sou wòch yo. Anvan te gen izòlman sou telefòn mobil yo, bis ak tren yo te rezonnen kòm konvèsasyon. Machann jounal yo pa't konn kite machandiz yo nan yon pil atik ki bèbè, men yo te fè piblisite pou yo ak pi gwo volim vwa yo, menm jan ak machann seriz, flè vyolèt yo, ak pwason makwo ki fre yo. Teyat ak opera yo te yon kawo akoz kri huzzah ak rèl yo. Menm nan zòn andeyò yo, peyizan yo te konn chante lè y'ap travay di. Yo pa chante kounye a. Sa ki te chanje se pa tèlman nivo bri yo, ki nan syèk anvan yo te lakòz moun plenyen pou yo tou, men se nivo distraksyon an, ki okipe espas ke silans te ka anvayi. La a prezante yon lòt paradòks, paske lè li anvayi espas lan—nan pwofondè yon forè bwapen, nan yon dezè ki vid, nan yon chanm ke yo evakye sibitman—li souvan pwouve ke li enèvan olye ke li akeyan. Laperèz mete pye; zòrèy yo enstenktivman fikse sou nenpòt bagay, kit se sifelman dife oswa son zwazo yo oswa ti bri fèy bwa yo, ki pral retire li nan vid enkoni sa a. Moun vle gen silans, men pa anpil konsa. |