Special issue edited by Ellen Patat, Daniela Bombara
The monographic issue investigates the intersection of literary music and soundscapes, examining how sound shapes space, memory, emotions, and societal dynamics. By analyzing the presence of sound in art and literature, this special issue challenges the traditional Western emphasis on visual perception, instead illuminating the richness of other sensory experiences. The historical, literary, and cultural dimensions of soundscapes are examined, focusing on their role in constructing identity and understanding historical contexts.
Key topics include the role of sound in Italian literature, with comparative studies on authors such as Maria Messina and Kate Chopin, who use sound to portray gender dynamics and oppression (Daniela Bombara’s article). Ellen Patat’s research delves into the acoustic dimensions of travel narratives by female explorers, highlighting cultural exchanges and the significance of silence in these interactions. Some articles also discuss the impact of sound on memory, as seen in Francesca Piccone’s study of WWI phonospheres and Francesca Favaro’s examination of ancient Greek influences in Italian poetry.
Other contributions explore sound in multimedia contexts, such as Isabella Livorni’s analysis of disjointed audio-visual elements in Demartinian documentaries, and Milan Reynolds’ investigation into technological reproducibility in musical composition. The issue concludes with reflections on silence, particularly in Giacomo Bevilacqua’s graphic novel, and how it serves as a medium for identity and healing. The collection asserts the integral role of sound in literature and culture, advocating for interdisciplinary approaches to understand the sonic dimensions of human experience. This examination bridges gaps between sound studies and literary analysis, offering profound insights into how sound shapes our world.
The monographic issue is available for reading and downloading at the following link: https://interferenceslitteraires.be/index.php/illi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ellen PATAT & Daniela BOMBARA Introduction/ Introduzione
LITERARY SOUNDS /SUONI LETTERARI
Daniela BOMBARA Soundscapes ribelli, fra silenzi, emarginazione e riscatto: la dimensione sonora sofferta e conflittuale in alcune opere di Maria Messina e Kate Chopin / Rebellious soundscapes, between silences, marginalization, and redemption: the painful and conflictual sound dimension in some works by Maria Messina and Kate Chopin 11
Ellen PATAT Sounds from the past. Nordic soundscapes in travelogues by female travellers in the late 19thcentury / Suoni del passato. Paesaggi sonori nordici nei diari di viaggio delle viaggiatrici alla fine del XIX secolo 29
Francesca FAVARO Con strumenti antichi: musiche di Grecia nella poesia italiana fra Ottocento e Novecento / With ancient instruments: music from Greece in Italian poetry between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries 44
Francesca PICCONE The sound experience in the trenches. Was phonospheres in the sensorial revolution of the early twentieth century / L’esperienza sonora in trincea. Fonosfere di guerra nella rivoluzione sensoriale di primo Novecento 71
Cecily CAI Il mare era dovunque. The Ligurian soundscape in Montale’s early poetry / Il mare era dovunque. Il paesaggio sonoro ligure nella prima produzione poetica di Montale 88
SOUND IN MULTIMEDIA CONTEXTS /SONORITÀ IN CONTESTI MULTIMEDIALI
Angela BELLIA Soundscape and sound experience: an overview ofthe approachesand methods for the study of sonic materiality of the past / Paesaggio sonoro ed esperienza sonora: una panoramica sugli approcci e sui metodi per lo studio della materialità sonora del passato 109
Isabella LIVORNI Southern Italian soundscapes, Southern Italian bodies: sound, image, and trance states in ‘demartinian’ ethnographic documentaries / Paesaggi sonori del Sud Italia, corpi del Sud Italia: suono, immagine e stati di trance nei documentari etnografici ‘demartiniani’ 124
Milan REYNOLDS The magnetic voice: experiments in tape and text in twentieth century Italy / La voce magnetica: esperimenti su nastro e testo nell’Italia del Novecento 140
Cristiano BEDIN Il soundscape dell’interiorità: la rappresentazione del silenzio nel graphic novel Il suono del mondo a memoria di Giacomo Bevilacqua / The soundscape of interiority: the representation of silence in the graphic novel Il suono del mondo a memoria di Giacomo Bevilacqua 158