Il genere del suono: Un'esplorazione del suono secondo la prospettiva di genere

by Anne Carson, Carmen Gallo (Other), Patrizio Ceccagnoli (Translator)

“Ogni suono che emettiamo è una sorta di autobiografia.”

La storia umana è piena di suoni considerati sgradevoli, addirittura voci acute, pettegolezzi, logorrea, isteria, lamenti e grida rituali. Chi li produce? Chi è deviante o carente rispetto all’ideale maschile di donne, catamiti, eunuchi e androgini rientrano tutti in questa categoria.

Dai miti dell’antichità greca a Margaret Thatcher, passando per le amicizie di Gertrude Stein e le teorie di Freud, il saggio di Anne Carson esplora il modo in cui gli stereotipi di genere influenzano da sempre la percezione del suono nella cultura occidentale.
Carson ci invita ad ascoltare di nuovo e, così facendo, a reinventare le nostre concezioni di ordine, virtù e soggettività.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Essays, Philosophy, Music, Gender, Queer

91 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Anne Carson is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, classicist, and one of the most distinctive contemporary writers in English. Born in Toronto in 1950, she studied Classics at the University of Toronto and has taught Ancient Greek and Classics at universities including McGill University, the University of Michigan, and Princeton University.

Carson’s work crosses conventional boundaries between poetry, fiction, essay, literary criticism, translation, drama, and visual art. Drawing extensively on Ancient Greek literature and philosophy, she frequently translates, reimagines, and places classical texts and figures in dialogue with modern life. Her writing combines scholarly erudition with formal experimentation and recurring concerns with love, desire, loss, beauty, grief, memory, and language. Her fusion of classical scholarship and literary invention has made her one of the most influential genre-defying writers of her generation.

Her major works include Eros the Bittersweet (1986), Glass, Irony and God (1992), Plainwater (1995), Autobiography of Red (1998), Economy of the Unlost (1999), Men in the Off Hours (2000), The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos (2001), Decreation (2005), Nox (2010), Antigonick (2012), Red Doc> (2013), Float (2016), Norma Jeane Baker of Troy (2019), and Wrong Norma (2024). She is also renowned for her translations and adaptations of Greek literature, including If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho and works by Sophocles and Euripides.

The Beauty of the Husband won the T. S. Eliot Prize, and Carson has also received the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Lannan Literary Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a MacArthur Fellowship. Her 2024 collection Wrong Norma was a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry.

In 2026, Carson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.”

Reviews

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I wonder if there might not be another idea of human order than repression, another notion of human virtues than self-control, another kind of human self than one based on dissociation of inside and outside. Or indeed, another human essence than self.”

Anne Carson I’ve loved you since I read a pdf of “An Oresteia” I found on Tumblr in 2016.

[idkclau · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Every sound we make is a bit of autobiography. It has a totally private interior yet its trajectory is public. A piece of inside projected to the outside. The censorship of such projections is a task of patriarchal culture that (as we have seen) divides humanity into two species: those who can censor themselves and those who cannot.”

[Lilly Brenneman · Rating 5 out of 5]

sex is cancelled out by sound and sound is cancelled out by sex

[sona · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was originally published in 1992 and usually is published as part of Carson’s essay collections, but this year has been republished as a standalone pamphlet ! and did in fact catch my eye in an indie bookshop — the title may be particularly striking given politics / interest in gender studies at the moment but i do wonder why this chapter alone !

the essay was not at all what i expected given the title — rather than a contemporary take or an exploration of how sound, gender and power have intersected across time, this had a big focus on ancient philosophers and older attitudes using a few case studies. it felt a little more like a few cherry picked examples rather than a developed or nuanced argument but did touch on some v interesting themes including animalistic comparisons of women’s voices in mythology and links to sex with control of both sets of “mouths”.

i would’ve liked this balanced with a more modern take and particularly more (any?!) thought to intersectionality here — the essay touches on the perceived superiority of men having “logic” with no mention of class divides and access to education, and there’s no mention of the roles of race (the angry black woman stereotype), existing power structures (workplaces), or thoughts beyond a gender binary which are huge factors when considering how we react to women’s noise today. but reading this has led to some rly interesting discussions on these themes so points for that !

“throughout most of the ancient and some of the modern discussions of voice: female sound is bad to hear both because the quality of a woman’s voice is objectionable and because woman uses her voice to say what should not be said”

[Aurelija Bivainytė · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oj tas Aristotelis. Įlytinti balsai ir garsai Vakarų kultūroje. Visai geras žingsnis metų pradžiai:

“I wonder if there might not be another idea of human order than repression, another notion of human virtue than self-control, another kind of human self than one based on dissociation of inside and outside. Or indeed, another human essence than self.”

[Marc Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Video review to follow

[Fien Vasse · Rating 4 out of 5]

JA mevrouw anne praat tegen me in een taal die ik niet begrijp💕💕💕

[Yasemin]

Seansta bu kitap imgesiyle gözümün önüne geldi. Danışanımın ilk seansında sesindeki bölünmüşlükle karşılaştığım anın hayretiyle kabul ettim bu imgeyi. Ve hemen kitabı çıkarıp okudum. Sesle taşınanların cinsiyete yüklenenlerin duygu, dürtü dışavurumları oluşu, sese logosun eklemlenmediği yerde susturma, kapatma ve yaban göndermeleri üzerine Homeros'tan Ernest Hemingway'e bildiğimiz erkeklerden örneklendirmeler var. Alexander Graham Bell'in eşi ile ilgili anekdotsa ilginçti. Bizdeki güncel politik şahsiyetlerden incileri de maaleseff anımsattı. Tabii Freud'un, psikanaliz kuramının atasının, kadınlarla ilgili yanlış, aşırı ve kendi analiz edilmemiş meselelerine de göndermelerde bulunulmuş. 21 sayfalık bir makale okumak gibiydi. Bilinen kabullerin üzerine düşünmek hem zorlayıcı bir "ee,ne var ki bunda" hissi veriyor hem de kışkırtıcı olabiliyor. Anne Carson'un da verdiği örneklerin kimini tam bu bağlama oturtamadım. Kısa bir yazı olunca açımlanmasındaki kısıtlayıcılıktan da kaynaklanmış olabilir.
Kadınların sesine üst ve alt ağıza dair anlamlar yüklenmesini psikanaliz, mitoloji ve edebiyatla örneklerle vurgulamış. Kimi zaman coğrafya zaman her şeyin üstüne çıkıyor anatomi:)

"Sessizlik kadınların kosmosudur(iyi düzen)"
Sofokles
"Çünkü kadının her daim hali hazırdaki duygularının ağzına gelip sonra da diliyle dışarı çıkması onun doğuştan gelen zevkidir" (Andromache)
Bir erkek o anki duygularınkn ağzına gelip sonra da diliyle dışarı çıkmasına izin verirse kadınlaşmıştır.
Herakles'in Trachinia'i'nın sonunda:
" bir kız gibi hıçkırarak ağlıyorum halbuki önceden işimi sızlanmadan yürütürdüm, şimdiyse acı içinde bir kadın olduğum ortaya çıktı."

[Andrew Kornfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t know much about this book before picking it up, so I didn’t expect it to rely so much on ancient Greek tradition to make sense of the relationship between gender and sound, but I actually think that was a really valuable and new frame for me. Some interesting and relevant ideas about how gender and the human is constructed through the regulation of sound/our voices. Had to sit with the last few sentences for a minute:

“I wonder about the concept of self-control and whether it really is, as the Greeks believed, an answer to most questions of human goodness and dilemmas of civility. I wonder if there might not be another idea of human order than repression, another notion of human virtue than self-control, another kind of human self other than one based on dissociation of inside and outside. Or indeed, another human essence than self.”

I wonder too!

[Salem ☥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The censorship of such projections is a task of patriarchal culture that (as we have seen) divides humanity into two species: those who can censor themselves and those who cannot."

This was terrifically interesting. So much so, that by the time it was over—I wanted more. Anne Carson always has a way of doing that.

[Lotta · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Putting a door on the female mouth as been an important project of patriarchal culture from antiquity to present day. Its chief tactic is an ideological association of female sound with monstrosity, disorder and death."

Lyhyt, mutta vaikuttava lukukokemus.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absoluut een aanrader als je per ongeluk een queer boekwinkel in Brighton inloopt en iets kleins (doch mega interessants) zoekt om op het strand/in het bos te lezen en intellectueel over wil komen met alle knappe alternatieve mensen hier

[Saskia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would not have coped in Ancient Greece for many reasons and I now know that some of them would be related to how much I yap but that also women in Ancient Greece were major yappers which the men hated so maybe I would have been fine x

This was a very powerful essay!

“It is a fundamental assumption of these gender stereotypes that a man in his proper condition of sophrosyne should be able to dissociate himself from his own emotions and so control their sound. It is a corollary assumption that man’s proper civic responsibility towards woman is to control her sound for her insofar as she cannot control herself…Female sophrosyne is coextensive with female obedience to male direction and rarely means more than chastity”

[sohu · Rating 5 out of 5]

como persoa que ás veces non fala porque a súa voz dalle unha disforia horrible penso que os apuntamentos de Carson son, sen necesidade de ser abertamente queer, o suficientemente expansivos para apelar dende a Ilíada ata a unha rapaza trans da Galiza.

[C.W. Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

just remarkably well researched and well argued. a truly novel argument from one of the greatest writers and thinkers on gender and antiquity. so so beyond good.

[Elsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I wonder if there might not be another idea of human order than repression, another notion of human virtues than self-control, another kind of human self than one based on dissociation of inside and outside. Or indeed, another human essence than self.”

Planning on a little evening of shouting, wailing, gossiping, screaming, and very much letting the inside show on the outside in the most savage way. Anyone wanna join?

[Iman Lost Her Old Account · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never stop being obnoxiously loud!

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was so ready for more. Love how she ended changing the tone of the essay to a personal one. Have felt her defying words against those who deem them unpleasant and wrong.

[Ayah B · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting. too wide of a scope but carson recognises this in her concluding sentences. makes me want to read more on the subject beyond the ancient greek framework. super short essay. can read in one sitting

liked that carson mentions the 'ololyga' ie. zaghrouta

some quotes that stuck:
"For in her voice as she is blabbering away can be read her emotions, her character and her physical condition."

"Every sound we make is a bit of autobiography. It has a totally private interior yet its trajectory is public. A piece of inside projected to the outside. The censorship of such projections is a task of patriarchal culture that divides humanity into two species: those who can censor themselves and those who cannot."

"The orifice through which vocal activity takes place and the orifice through which sexual activity takes place are both denoted by the word 'stoma' in Greek ('os' in Latin)."

[Nihlah Assegaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Every sound we make is a bit of autobiography. It has a totally private interior yet its trajectory is public.”

[brietta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness I’m SCREAMING. Why else do we read other than to understand the world or ourselves a bit better. “The Gender of Sound” does both and does it all.

This is a call for us to move beyond the expectation that we must constantly regulate ourselves and keep our emotions in check. We need to embrace a radical way of being that allows us to express ourselves without shame or any form of restraint. We need to let go of the pressure to conceal our struggles behind a composed exterior and instead embrace a way of living in which our outward expressions reflect our inner selves.

Anne Carson I’m so proud of you, especially as a Canadian writer, to be awarded with this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature.

“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.”

The “association of disorderly female sound with wild space, with savagery and the supernatural.”

“It is a corollary assumption that man’s proper civic responsibility towards woman is to control her sound for her insofar as she cannot control it herself.”

“Every sound we make is a bit of autobiography. It has a totally private interior yet its trajectory is public. A piece of inside projected to the outside. The censorship of such projections is a task of patriarchal culture that (as we’ve seen) divides humanity into two species: those who can censor themselves and those who cannot.”

“We have noticed this combinatory tactic already throughout most of the ancient and some of the modern discussions of voice: female sound is bad to hear both because the quality of a woman’s voice is objectionable and because woman uses her voice to say what should not be said.”

“Lately, I have begun to question the Greek word sophrosyne [self-control]. I wonder about this concept of self-control and whether it really is, as the Greeks believed, an answer to most questions of human goodness and dilemmas of civility. I wonder if there might not be another idea of human order than repression, another notion of human virtue than self-control, another kind of human self than one based on dissociation of inside and outside. Or indeed, another human essence than self.”

[Fin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did not realise this is just a repub of an essay from Glass Irony & God and feel a lil ripped off butttt this is an amazing essay regardless. Loved learning about those Baubo statues + provided extra evidence to my growing conviction that Gertrude Stein is the most important author of the 20th C (not that I've read her but still). Excellent choice reading it with a sore throat too...

Every sound we make is a bit of autobiography. It has a totally private interior yet its trajectory is public. A piece of inside projected to the outside. The censorship of such projections is a task of patriarchal culture that divides humanity into two species: those who can censor themselves and those who cannot.

[Katsia Lazar]

Every sound we make is a bit of autobiography.

The essay was first published in 1992 and laid out references, texts, rituals of the ancient Greek tradition of several thousands of years before, and yet in 2026 it is as relevant as ever, even if it lacks the examples from a more recent history. This (subject’s) standing through time alone proves its worth (also, its pamphlet size doesn’t come into proportion with the vast meanings it conveys).

The piece I loved most - not intellectually but womanly, physically - is the reference of Gertrude Stein’s description by one of her biographers: ‘She used to roar with laughter, out loud. She had a laugh like a beefsteak. She loved beef’. If I analyze it, I read men's fear in it, if I don’t analyze it, I feel like laughing and enjoying myself and, maybe, a steak afterwards :)

[amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Every sound we make is a bit of autobiography. It has a totally private interior yet its trajectory is public. A piece of inside projected to the outside. The censorship of such projections is a task of patriarchal culture that (as we have seen) divides humanity into two species: those who can censor themselves and those who cannot.”

men really have always been men (insult). I knew this would draw a lot from ancient greek works but I almost wish this was about 200 pages longer and covered more history. Really interesting and infuriating to read.

[Saga Berggren · Rating 4 out of 5]

”Every sound we make is a bit of autobiography. It has a totally private interior yet its trajectory is public. A piece of inside projected outside. The censorship of such projections is a task of patriarchal culture that (…) divides humanity into two species: those who can censor themselves and those how cannot.”

[Kätlin Kaldmaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who when where & why is given the right to utter a sound. Carson goes back to Ancient Greece to carve out of wood and paint red the reason why - for example - women as politicians still need voice coaching to sound ”trustworthy”.
Urrrrjuhh! Women of all kinds, let’s release all these sounds of all kinds!!!

[Sofi · Rating 4 out of 5]

a really interesting analysis of the political and societal history and impacts of the female voice and the way men policed it throughout the ages. this short book lays a heavy focus on ancient greek stories. I would have anjoyed a few more connections to modernity (the last 500 years or so) but that's just a personal preference. carson still gets the point across.

[Sasha · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

read this for class - really interesting, though extremely short little book i wish had been longer so that it could dive deeper. as it stands, this is almost entirely about ancient greece rather than human history. not much charting “from the myths to antiquity to margaret thatcher (et al)” here, there’s one single sentence about thatcher!

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

“As if the entire female gender were a kind of collective bad memory of unspeakable things, patriarchal order…seems to conceive of its therapeutic responsibility as the channelling of bad sound into politically appropriate containers.”

[alva · Rating 3 out of 5]

”It is confusing and embarrassing to have two mouths.”

En essä om sophrosyne, män som hatar kvinnorösten och hur våra uppfattningar om kön påverkar hur vi hör ljud.