Modern Noise and Man’s Ingrained Inattentiveness

This brief essay proposes to consider how two eloquent Catholic authors, Hilaire Belloc and Evelyn Waugh, describe and deal with the phenomenon of noise, an unmistakable mark of the intrusive modern world even in times of putative peace. The first account is from 1925 and deals with a famous city upon the water in northeastern Italy, Venice; and the second account is from 1938, some thirteen years later, and deals with the high, upland capital of Mexico, Mexico City.

In a “coda,” we will juxtapose some good words from Josef Pieper and Simone Weil on this same subject.

Click here to VIEW full size, DOWNLOAD as PDF file, and/or PRINT.