The acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton refers to silence as an endangered species that, through careful attention, reveals itself to us as “not the absence of something but the presence of everything.”

In our present world, oversaturated by information and noise, to attend to both silence and sound is to deliberately resist the fragmentation of our attention spans and capacities for care. Where sound can be distilled to its scientific essence as vibrations that are transmitted as energy through a physical medium, silence eludes definition and remains in flux, insisting on being heard on its own terms. Crucially, silence is not the negation of sound, but rather, an invitation to alternative modes of listening.

Our symposium theme, “Silence and Sound,” calls attention to the ways in which we attune ourselves to varying soundscapes—whether real or imagined—in literary acts of reading and writing. What places do silence and sound occupy in literature and the arts, and how can we make sense of our attentions and devotions to what we choose to listen to or what otherwise goes unheard?

The second annual iteration of the NTU English Graduate Research Symposium is open to all Singapore-based postgraduate students, independent scholars and researchers, and creative practitioners in English, Creative Writing, and related arts/cultural fields. We also welcome submissions from Singaporeans based abroad for their postgraduate studies and/or research for our online symposium panels. We hope to continue fostering a welcoming platform for emerging literary scholars and writers working across local institutions, and to encourage the sharing of novel ideas and perspectives.

Organising Committee

Graduate Students

Adeline Loh

Angel

Ni Zengxin

Zeng Yu

Faculty Advisors

Assoc. Prof. Sim Wai Chew
Assoc. Prof. Richard Barlow

Supported by the School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University
ntuengsymposium@outlook.com

An excerpt from One Square Inch of Silence: One Man's Quest to Preserve Quiet

Silence is a sound, many, many sounds. I’ve heard more than I can count. Silence is the moonlit song of the coyote signing the air, and the answer of its mate. It is the falling whisper of snow that will later melt with an astonishing reggae rhythm so crisp that you will want to dance to it. It is the sound of pollinating winged insects vibrating soft tunes as they defensively dart in and out of the pine boughs to temporarily escape the breeze, a mix of insect hum and pine sigh that will stick with you all day. Silence is the passing flock of chestnut-backed chickadees and red-breasted nuthatches, chirping and fluttering, reminding you of your own curiosity.