Blind Noise and Deaf Visions: Henry Green's Caught, Synaesthesia and the Blitz

Living in a city subjected to aerial bombardment is an experience dominated by the aural rather than the visual sense: bombs are heard, not seen. Accordingly, much of the writing about the London Blitz relies on the imagery of blindness. There is, however, a notable exception. Henry Green's 1943 novel, Caught, presents a picture of London during the Blitz that overflows with intense colors. The colors, which do not inhere in any of the objects Green describes, are to be understood as a quasi-synaesthetic response to the sounds of bombing. This response is attributable to Green's progressive deafness.