Constructing a reverberant temporality
Sonic articulations of national belonging in Clear Light of Day
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17819801 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yu Zeng (0000-0001-8961-3644, Nanyang Technological University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-20 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sound Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2055-1940 • E-ISSN: 2055-1959 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/20551940.2026.2658870 |
| OpenAlex | W7160067338 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
This paper examines the intersection of time, belonging, and sound in post-Partition India through Anita Desai’s novel Clear Light of Day (1980). Temporality has been an essential concern in post-Partition India to date, as extensively shown in state regulations that centralise individuals’ perception of time and formalise a unified national identity. Desai’s novel, I argue, provides unique sonic solutions to India’s temporal homogeneity; it demonstrates how national time is challenged by alternative sonic interventions that integrate diverse forms of national belonging into social landscapes. Drawing on Benedict Anderson’s idea of national simultaneity in print capitalism, I construe sound as an alternative medium to facilitate the national simultaneity of post-Partition India. I see Desai’s novel as representing the 1980’s Indian writers’ literary resistance to Nehruvian chrononormativity, which transforms Indian people’s shared trauma of Partition into new imaginaries of nationhood, homeland, and futurity. I coin the term “reverberant temporality” to describe the sonic resonance in which new temporal orders are constructed beyond the state monopolisation of time, thus creatively accommodating multiple trajectories of belonging and aspiration. Reverberant temporality actively resists chrononormativity by expanding the scope of national simultaneity, welcoming heterogeneous perceptions of family and social life within and beyond national boundaries.
Context (archaeology) · Feature (linguistics) · Focus (optics) · Microphone · Noise (video) · Diverse Musicological Studies · Music History and Culture · Sound Studies and Aurality
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |