Days [ ) Silence | Harold Pinter, 1969

Man Ray: Lee Miller – Hand on Lips,  1929

There are two silences. One when no word is spoken. The other when perhaps a torrent
of language is being employed. This speech is speaking of a language locked beneath it.
That is its continual reference. The speech we hear is an indication of that which we
don’t hear. It is a necessary avoidance, a violent, sly, anguished or mocking smoke screen
which keeps the other in its place. When true silence falls we are still left with echo
but are nearer nakedness. One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant
stratagem to cover nakedness.

Harold Pinter, Silence, 1969