Anne Carson is well known for bringing back to life old myths and dusty classics, by deconstructing and examining them.
In her essay The Gender of Sound, which is the final piece in her book Glass, Irony, and God (1995), the Canadian poet and essayist analyses how Western culture has historically associated certain sounds with gendered expectations.
“Putting a door on the female mouth has been an important project of patriarchal culture from antiquity to the present day. Its chief tactic is an ideological association of female sound with monstrosity, disorder and death.”
She explains how loud, uncontrolled, or high-pitched voices, particularly women’s voices, have been viewed as disruptive, excessive, and even dangerous. Carson traces how ancient texts, such as those by Aristotle and Sophocles, describe female sound as something to be silenced or contained. Meanwhile, male speech was considered rational, authoritative, and public. She connects these historical perspectives to modern-day, showing how the policing of women’s voices continues in contemporary culture.
Resonance isn’t just about being heard—it also implies listening and response. Carson’s essay suggests that historically, those in power have refused to truly hear—or listen to—women’s voices, categorising them as noise. But resonance requires an audience willing to vibrate in return, meaning true change happens not just when voices speak but when they are acknowledged and allowed to shape the world.
If society has historically sought to silence certain voices, perhaps the response is not just resistance but a radical rethinking of sound itself—one that allows for a new kind of resonance, both personal and collective. We might need not just more voices, but more ways to carry those voices—more bell towers, more platforms, more echoes, and more spaces where mindful resonance can happen.We have always imagined Les Passagées to become a container in this sense, a space where voices can resonate collectively and individually : the foundation of our action lies in the recognition and enrichment of everyone.
© photos by Jeff Brown & Peter Smith