WORLD SOUNDSCAPE PROJECT
SOUND REFERENCES IN LITERATURE



933.

Far below him rose the clamour of the newly awakened town; down in the the harbour the steam cranes whirred, the bars rattled in the iron-weighing machine, the lock-keepers' whistle shrilled, the steamers at the quayside steamed; the Kungsback omnibuses rattled over the cobblestones; hue and cry in the fishmarket, sails and flags fluttering in the water, screams of seagulls, bugle-calls Skeppsholm, military commands from Sodermalmstorg. Workmen in wooden shoes clattered down Glasbruksgatan, and all this gave an impression of life and movement.

August Strindberg, The Red Room, trans. Elizabeth Sprigge, J.M. Dent & Son, London, 1967, (Everyman Edition), p. 2.

TIME: 1879

PLACE: Stockholm

 

934.

Now the bells of Santa Katrina chimed seven and were echoed by Santa Maria's reedy treble, the Abbey and the German church joined in with their basses, and soon the whole air vibrated with the city's seven bells. And as, one after another, they fell silent, the last one could still be heard in the distance, singing its peaceful evensong. This had a higher note, a purer ring and a swifter tempo than the others..... there in the Santa Klara churchyard, whence the bell could still be heard...

TIME: 1879

PLACE: Stockholm

CIRCUMSTANCE: A May evening at seven o'clock.

August Strindberg, The Red Room, trans. Elizabeth Sprigge, J.M. Dent & Son, London, 1967, (Everyman Edition), p. 3.

 

935.

The noise of the sixteen birchwood fires blazing in sixteen porcelain stoves made a pleasant break in the emptiness of the place.

August Strindberg, The Red Room, trans. Elizabeth Sprigge, J.M. Dent & Son, London, 1967, (Everyman Edition), p. 6.

TIME: 1879

PLACE: Stockholm

CIRCUMSTANCE: description of government offices in Stockholm.


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