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. | Mfundo ya nyengo, makamaka m’maiko otukuka kale, anthu amafunitsitsa pali zii koma ndizosatheka. Pali kulilima kwa zoyenda, kulira mosalekeza kwa mafoni, kutsatsa malonda mwa njira za makono m’mabasi, kapena m’masitima, ma TV akutulutsa phokoso kwambiri m’maofesi m’mene mulibe kanthu kali konse, zonsezi zimabweretsa m’sokonezo mosalekezanso. Mtundu wa anthu ukukhala ndi phokoso koma ufunitsitsa cete – ngakhale mu nkhalango, pa nyanja yotakata kapena pa msonkhano wofunika kukhale cete ndi kuchera khutu. Mkulu wina wa zamaphunziro a mbiri yakale, a profesa Alain Corbin, akulemba kuchokera kwao ku Sorbonne, ndipo a Erling Kagge, nzika ya kudziko la Norway koma katswiri wa zofufuza, mwa kukumbukila bwino kwao za zosasamalirika za ku Antarctica, kumene onse awiriwa anayesa kuthawira. Koma abambo Corbin akutero kuti mu “Mbiri ya Kacetecete”, mulibenso phokoso tsopano koposa m’mene zinalili kale. Kalero pamene kunalibe mathayera odzadza ndi mphweya, makhwalala mu matauni anali odzala ndi phokoso loboola nalo makutu lomwe limacokera ku mawilo ansimbi ndi nsapato za akavalo zikamayenda pa miyala. Anthu asanayambe kudzipatula cifukwa ca ma foni am’manja, mu mabsi ndi mu masitima ankalankhulana. Ogulitsa ma nyunzi-pepala naonso sanagosiya mulu wao nakhala cete ai, koma ankatsatsa mokweza mau, momwemonso anatero ogulitsa zipatso, ndi nsomba zogwidwa kumene. Ku mafiyeta ndi kumalo ena azisudzo ndi koimbira kumeneko ndiye kunali kosaneneka ndi cisawawa ca zoliralira ndipo makani ankacitika mokwezetsa mau. Ngakhale kumalo ena a dziko, anthu osauka ankaimba pomwe anali kugwira nchito yokhetsa nayo thukuta. Koma tsopano saimba ai. Zomwe zasintha sikuti kwenikweni ndi mlingo wa phokoso ai, omwe ngakhale zaka mazana za makedzana ankadandaulapo, cimene casintha ndi mlingo wa cisokonezo, cimene cangotenga malo amene akadangokhala a zii. Palinso coonadi cina, cifukwa ikalowelera – mkatikati mwa nkhalango, ndi m’cipululu copanda zomera, ndi mcipinda cimene okhalamo angocokamo mwadzidzidzi – kawirikawiri zimadetsa mtima koposa kulandiridwa. Mantha amalowamo; khutu lingokhala cicherere pa cina ciriconse, mwina ndi mkokomo wa moto, kapena kulira kwa mbalame kapena ndi mkuntho wa mayani, izi zidzasungika kucitira zakudza zosadziwika. Anthu amafuna cetecete, koma osati kwenikweni ai. |