‘Sonar, Conn. Report all Contacts’: The Sonic Mediation of War in Submarine Literature

• Published in: Journal of war and culture studies 2025-01, Vol.18 (1), p.72-93
• Main Author: Raymaekers, Lieven
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aesthetics; Human agency; Operators; Research subjects; Technology
• ISSN: 1752-6272; 1752-6280
• DOI: 10.1080/17526272.2024.2436759

Through an analysis of Denys Rayner’s The Enemy Below (1956) and Rick Campbell’s Ice Station Nautilus (2016), this article demonstrates that military submarine novels critically reflect on the entanglements between technology, human agency, and (acoustical) imaginations of the ocean. After all, crew members must rely on advanced technologies to traverse and survive in the inhospitable subaqueous space. Moreover, as light does not travel through water, perception in this underwater world depends on auditory technology. Operators of these sonic technologies (such as hydrophones and sonar) often function as recognizable figures familiarizing audiences with the intricate technology and knowledge necessary to render this inaccessible space comprehensible. Examining depictions of these operators, this paper argues that delineating their (technological) sensorium is key not only in understanding the aforementioned novels’ narrative structure and the aesthetics of the submarine soundscape, but also in determining the precarious position of the human subject in this technological environment.