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. | “Embeelay’ekiseela, waakili munsi ezikulaakulanye, abaantu baluubilila olusilika nga tebasobola kulusaanga. Okuwuluguma kw’ emotoka, eddoboozily’amasimu agakuba obutakoma, obulaango ku’byuuma bi kalimagezi mu baasi ne gaali za’kayoola, televisoni ezilekaana ne mu yafesi ezitaliimu muntu, kibuguutantanyan’okuteganya.Abaantu bamaliliza ne kerere ate ngabayayaanila kasirikiriro- oba mu nsiko, kun’salosalo ze’nyaanja, obamu’budukiro bwe’beewaddeyo okukakana okwekimmemmette. Alain Corbin, omuyigirizaw’ebyafaayo, awandikira mu budukiro e Sorbonne, ne Erling Kagge omulambuzi omu Daachi, okuva mu bijukizo ebyebyasigalilamu Antarctica, bombi jebagezaako okudukila. Nate, nga Mwaami Corbin bw’agaamba mu “A History of Silence”, kiyiinzika okubanga teyali kerere nga bwekyaali edda. Nga emipiira egya muwuwo teginabaawo, enguudoz’omukibuga zajulaanga ekibwatuko kyemipiira gyarimu zebyuuma. Nga Okwebonga kumasimu agabuliwendinkufuna tekunaba, baasi ne gaali za’kayoola zavuganga’nemboozi. Abantuunzi b’empapulaz’amawulire tebaalekaanga ebyamaguzi byaabwe mu kasilise, naye baabilaanga ngakudoboozi elyawagulu dala, nga’abatuunzib’ensaali, vayoleeti ne’byenyanja ebi’su. Ebibanda ne opera byebyaali ebifo bya kereren’akavuyo. Ne mu byaalo, abakopi baayiimbanga bwebakola. Tebakyaayiimba enakuzino. Ekikyuuse ssibwebuungi bwakerere, abeemyaaka egyedda bwe bemulugunyaangako, naye obuungi bwo kubuguutanya. Ekijjuzaa kabaanga akasilise kekaandiyingilide. Walabiseewo obutakwatagana obulala, kubaanga bwe buyingilila- munda mwe’kibira kya’payini, mu bu’kunya bwe’ddungu, mu kiseenge kye’baakavaamu mu bwangu- kitela okutiisa mu’kifokyokwaaniriza. Okutya kuyingirawo; okutu kudukka ku’kintu kyona, oba kwesooza oba akanyonyi akakaaba oba eddoboozi lye’bikoola, kye’kinaawonya ekisassalala ekitamanyidwa. Abaantu baagala akasiriikiriro, nayes sinyo ddala. |