Sound

Michel Chion is a composer, filmmaker, teacher, researcher, and the author of several books, including Film, A Sound Art; The Voice in Cinema; and Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen.James A. Steintrager is Professor of English, Comparative Literature, and European Languages and Studies at the University of California, Irvine; he is the author, most recently, of The Autonomy of Pleasure: Libertines, License, and Sexual Revolution.

• Introduction. Closed Grooves, Open Ears / James A. Steintrager  viiPreface to the French Edition of 2010  xxviiI. Hearing1. Listening Awakes  32. The Ear  163. Sound and Time  29II. A Divided World4. Voice, Language, and Sounds  455. Noise and Music: A Legitimate Distinction?  55III. The Wheel of Causes6. The Sound That You Cause: Ergo-Audition  837. Sounds and Its Cause: Casual Listening and Figurative Listening  1018. Sound and What It Causes: Real and Supposed Effects  121IV. Sound Transformed9. How Technology Has Changed Sound  13110. The Audiovisual Couple in Film: Audio-Vision  150V. Listening, Expressing11. Object and Non-Object: Two Poles  16912. Between Doing and Listening: Naming  212Notes  243Glossary  265Bibliography  269Index  275

"Chion's work is refreshing in many ways.... It is clear that Chion lives his topic deeply, and has not simply “researched” it. Alongside the extended theorisation, the book teems with thought-provoking observations, like the best of Jean Baudrillard (who could always be appreciated for his vignettes if not for his theories) or Roland Barthes. How good it is to find that someone else has asked himself why being subjected to one side of a conversation on a mobile phone is even more frustrating than overhearing a two-way conversation in person – and Chion has an answer." - David Revill (Times Higher Education) "This work . . . is an excellent addition to the literature on sound. It is a stimulating and thought-provoking book that addresses not only basic philosophical ideas but also highly practical questions that inform the reader about encounters with sound. . . . The notes that are provided at the end of the work offer further details and are extremely useful. The glossary is incredibly valuable, especially in describing the French words the author uses. The bibliography is also extensive. In summary, the book is excellent. Recommended. All readers." - M. G. Prasad (Choice) "Michel Chion’s opus is itself a delight to read. . . . His writing miraculously foregrounds sound without fixating upon its objecthood. Organizationally, he provides clarity through schematic listings of key points throughout the essays and a helpful glossary of terms that he has generated throughout his career." - Shayna Silverstein (TDR: The Drama Review) "Chion and Schaeffer are part of an active, interventionist, history: they are about how humans seize technologies and put them to undesigned uses, they are about how to dis-alienate the spectacular. Bravo!" - Tim Hodgkinson (Cultural Critique)