The Sound of Undoing: A Memoir in Essays (American Lives) - Softcover

Towers, Paige

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1496232879 ISBN 13: 9781496232878

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 2023

Synopsis

Winner of the 2024 Wisconsin Library Association Literary Award 
Winner of the 2024 Eric Hoffer First Horizon Award 
Winner of the 2024 Eric Hoffer Academic Press Award 
Shortlisted for the 2024 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize 

A memoir in essays, The Sound of Undoing deconstructs the way sound has overwhelmingly shaped Paige Towers’s life. Each essay focuses on a different sound, some perceptible—like the sound of a loon call or gunshot—and others abstract—like the sound of awakening. Given a hypersensitivity to noise from which she has both suffered and benefited since childhood, Towers uses these sounds as a starting point for making sense of past events. She reflects on the estrangement of a beloved sister, sexual abuse and assault, and the link between mental illness and noise in her family, as well as nature, religion, violence, and other themes. Experimental in form and provocative in content, The Sound of Undoing also makes use of research on silence, nature and noise pollution, listening, sound art, autonomous sensory meridian response, and the acoustic environment in general. By exploring memories and feelings triggered by certain noises, this lyrical meditation untangles a life infused with meaning through sound.

About this title

About the Author

Paige Towers is a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in Hobart, Washington Post, The Guardian, Harvard Review, McSweeney’s, and many other publications.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1496232879
• ISBN 13: 9781496232878
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 210