First published 2011 by Karnac Books Ltd.
Published 2018 by Routledge
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Copyright 2011 by Colum Kenny
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ISBN-13: 9781855758414 (pbk)
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And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, .
Martin Luther King
Born in Ireland in 1951, Professor Colum Kenny , BCL, PhD, barrister-at-law, is chair of the Masters in Journalism programme at the School of Communications, Dublin City University. He also coordinates an interdisciplinary module entitled Belief & Communication. A board member of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and of the EU Media Desk in Dublin, Kenny contributes frequently to public debates about culture and society. The author of eight books, he is married with three sons and lives in Bray, Co. Wicklow.
I am standing alone in a field. It is late and almost dark, and the crows no longer call from the old wood across the River Nore. Tonight is warm, for Ireland. No breeze disturbs the scent of summer flowers. No car moves. Venus shines brightly in the southern sky.
We know this neighbouring planet now. Two dozen spacecraft have travelled millions of miles to probe its clouds and map its surface. Copernicus remained silent about aspects of its brightness that did not suit his theory of the solar system. Our silence reaches out into space.
My gaze tonight goes beyond Venus and is lost in deepening darkness. Far away a star explodes, but no one will hear it. Here is infinity. The sky is crossed by the sound of an invisible aircraft, high above Ballilogue, making its way from America to some city in Europe or Asia.
Now there is silence as complete as any can be in this country. An animal shuffles and stomps its hoof on hard ground. A distant dog barks. It is peaceful again. The very silence is an invitation to thought, to speech.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
Silent types
CHAPTER TWO
Busy silence
CHAPTER THREE
Theories of silence
CHAPTER FOUR
Silence and the arts
CHAPTER FIVE
Film, TV, and music
CHAPTER SIX
Constraints of silence
CHAPTER SEVEN
Silence in therapy
CHAPTER EIGHT
Sacred silence
CHAPTER NINE
The silence of God
Guide
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