Abstract
In a historical moment where sound and aural senses are elided, either as a result of technological advancement or as noise pollution, Elizabeth Hay’s novel Late Nights on Air mounts a defense of sound and listening by foregrounding alternative discourses from the period that derive from the Canadian North. Specifically, by alluding to Glenn Gould’s method of contrapuntal listening and the explorer John Hornby, whom John Moss in 1971 aligned with the “greatest Arctic narrative [of] silence” (56), the novel configures sound and listening as efficacious, both in terms of political engagement and identity formation. Ultimately, in Late Nights on Air sound and, by extension, aural sensory engagement within a specifically Canadian northern tradition disallows a reductive understanding of Canada’s sonic environment in the late twentieth century as technologically obsolete or as ecologically threatening by revealing its value as a political and identity-forming tool.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.