Ecology in Canada: Sonic Waterscapes, Literary Waterways, Photo-Lyric Water Soundtracks

Abstract

In this essay I intend to demonstrate how soundscapes might be harbingers of environmental crises and, consequently, how literature translates those same soundscapes and the stories they have to tell. While exploring soundscapes as theorized by Raymond Murray Schafer (1933-2021), one of the most renowned Canadian composers and communication scholars, this contribution also aims to detect his influence on Canadian writers and artists in their literary and creative renditions of Canada’s most characterizing waterscapes.

Keywords

• literary ecology
• canadian studies
• soundscape
• water
• r. murray schafer
• a. michaels
• m. creates