Sounds Senses ed. by Yasser Elhariry

Abstract

Reviewed by: Sounds Senses ed. by Yasser Elhariry Aaron Prevots Elhariry, Yasser, ed. Sounds Senses. Liverpool UP, 2021. ISBN 978-1-800-85688-2. Pp. 312. This volume aligns with the aims of the annual Francophone Postcolonial Studies to promote pioneering transcultural, transhistorical work and help set research agendas. Its strengths include a lively Prelude (3–20) on “Ghérasim Luca’s Francophonics”; an Introduction (21–55) that energetically encourages in-depth critical attention to sound in terms of “the unheard and the unintegrated” (25); the varied, well-balanced sections Poetry (57–118), Cinema (119–78), and Voices (179–252), as well as an Outro (253–82); a solid critical apparatus throughout; and a commendably sophisticated, in-depth focus from its twelve contributors on the nuances and implications of sound. If sound studies is namechecked less often than visual studies, these essays do much to (re)assert its value as a springboard to critical analysis. Moreover, instructors at all levels may find useful tools for exploring language, literature, culture, music, and film. The well-chosen topics receive lucid, absorbing attention, covering several centuries and into the present moment. An acknowledged but clearly explained potential weakness is the fact that many of the essays reveal “no explicit postcolonial framework,” even as such frameworks linger “beneath each and every word” (25). Indeed, the mix of chapters creatively awakens us to many senses and sensations, places and paths, underscoring texts and contexts, storytelling alongside argumentation, sound’s intersections with sight. The Prelude alerts us to these strategies, then the Introduction and the essays provide historical and theoretical background. The Outro, on “The ‘Tchip’ Heard Round the World,” both reinforces the overarching appeal to sound as a way to grasp human presence—to understand “alterity and ipseity” (24)—and foregrounds sonic culture in today’s streets and schools, regarding teens’ new “‘mouth noise from Africa’” triggering “a cascade of emotions” and “funky feelings” (256). The book’s generous yet controlled tonal range with respect to the stated themes makes for welcome surprises such as these, as well as the necessary nods of acknowledgement from the reader concerning postcolonialisms. It succeeds in mapping critical terrain authentically and innovatively. Overall, its flow and transitions are smooth, not least as to comparative approaches. Topical highlights exemplifying its multidimensionality and cohesiveness are Ghérasim Luca’s “vivid,” “visual” chants (8–9); poetic writing from Joachim Du Bellay (23) to Luc Bénazet (30) and beyond; reminders that we can destabilize and “unsound [...] standardized french [sic]” (39); “the transcultural movement of lyric” (61) in the “Tunisian fisherman-turned-poet” (62) Moncef Ghachem; ancestrally charged “rhythmic discrepancies” (81) in Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine, including in relation to Francis Bacon; sounds and “reverberations” (100) that (re)configure Caribbean identity, also through the “female voice” (108); the role that “sound and voice” [End Page 216] (122) play in materially touching us and reshaping bodies and spaces; the “acoustical complexity” (143) of Abderrahmane Sissako’s desertscapes; the cinematic soundscapes of Algiers 1937–2003, particularly “urban sonic life” (161); “audible” (182) representations of Palestinian history in Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir and other texts; the accentuated “auditory esthetic” (232) in Franco-Chinese Literature; and the “narrative tempo” (239) that music creates. Important, well-presented scholarship, recommended for a wide readership and university libraries. [End Page 217] Aaron Prevots Southwestern University (TX) Copyright © 2022 American Association of Teachers of French