DOCSLIB.ORG

Cosmopolitanism And/Or Ethnicism: Ezra Pound's Multilingual

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Cosmopolitanism And/Or Ethnicism: Ezra Pound's Multilingual Cosmopolitanism and/or ethnicism: Ezra Pound’s multilingual poetics Espen Grønlie Traveling Texts Department for Literature, Area Studies and European Languages Faculty of the Humanities University of Oslo Dissertation submitted for the degree of PhD October 2020 © Espen Grønlie Espen Grønlie 2021 Title: Cosmopolitanism and/or ethnicism: Ezra Pound’s multilingual poetics The illustration on page iii is taken from Abstracts (Moss: H//O//F, 2012) by Christopher Haanes ii iii iv Abstract This dissertation is a critical study of what I am calling Ezra Pound’s “multilingual poetics”. In it, I establish a practical and theoretical understanding of Pound’s tendency to deploy foreign languages in his poetry, discussing its philosophical, poetical and political implications. The dissertation has three parts. In part 1, I situate Pound’s multilingualism within the historical and philosophical contexts of linguistic relativism, the belief that different languages and their structures in various ways affect their users’ worldviews. In part 2, I discuss the cosmopolitanism of Pound’s early work, both his general ideas of mankind’s common spiritual capacity and his more specific literary quests into foreign languages and foreign poetic traditions. I suggest applying the term “literary cosmopolitanism” to the poetic practice characteristic of Pound’s early work. After having presented and discussed Pound’s documentary poetics in The Cantos, in part 3 I consider the broader implications of the cosmopolitan and ethnicist contradictions in Pound’s work, particularly as they apply to Pound’s infamous political commitments of the 1930s and 1940s. I show that Pound’s work in this period is marked by a gradual turn toward a totalitarian conception of society. By tracking this development in Pound’s thought and poetic practice, I indicate how it correlates to an evolution in his ideas about universalism and relativism in language and culture. When considering the relations between Pound’s multilingual poetics and his politics, I argue that his multilingual experiments undergo some significant changes in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Even if the later poems continue to be multilingual, they also have affiliations with a segregationist idea of avoiding hybridity. This means that the development in Pound’s politics may be read as forcefully present on the poetic microlevel. v Sammendrag Denne avhandlingen dreier seg om Ezra Pounds “flerspråklige poetikk”. Jeg drøfter hvorfor Pound bruker mange ulike språk i sin poesi og hvilke implikasjoner dette har, språkfilosofisk, poetisk og politisk. Avhandlingen har tre deler. I første del plasserer jeg Pounds flerspråklighet historisk og filosofisk innenfor tankeretningen lingvistisk relativisme, det vil si forestillingen om at forskjellige språk og strukturene som preger dem, på ulike måter påvirker språkbrukernes syn på verden. I andre del diskuterer jeg det kosmopolitiske ved Pounds tidlige diktning, både hans generelle forestillinger om menneskehetens felles åndsevner og hans mer spesifikke litterære sonderinger i ulike fremmedspråk og ulike poetiske tradisjoner. Jeg foreslår å benytte betegnelsen «litterær kosmopolitisme» om den poetiske praksisen som kjennetegner Pounds tidlige arbeider. Etter først å ha presentert Pounds dokumentariske poetikk i hans hovedverk The Cantos, drøfter jeg i tredje del de mer dyptgripende følgene av de kosmopolitiske og etnisistiske motsetningene i Pounds verk, særlig i forbindelse med Pounds beryktede politiske ståsted på 1930- og 1940-tallet. Jeg viser at Pounds verk i denne perioden er preget av en gradvis orientering i retning et totalitært samfunnssyn, og påviser hvordan denne utviklingen korrelerer med en utvikling i Pounds forestillinger om universalisme og relativisme i språk og kultur. Jeg drøfter forholdet mellom Pounds flerspråklige poetikk og hans politiske standpunkter og argumenterer for at eksperimentene med poetisk flerspråklighet endrer seg på 1920-, 1930- og 1940-tallet. Til tross for at de senere diktene også er flerspråklige, har de også en «segregasjonistisk» karakter, i den forstand at de unngår hybride former. På denne bakgrunnen argumenterer jeg for at Pounds politiske holdninger er markant til stede på mikronivå i poesien hans. vi Thank you I had never quite understood why, in an acknowledgment section such as this, the one person who is understandably grateful always insists that any errors are his or her own. Now I do understand, however – I am sure to have made errors at some instances in the pages that follow. But I never erred in enrolling at the University of Oslo, and in accepting the aid of the following people: my dear supervisor Christian Refsum, always ready to let me consume much too much of his time; my co-supervisor, the brilliant Pound scholar (among other things) Michael Kindellan; and the incredible polymath Richard Sieburth, who generously offered to be in charge of the midway assessment of my dissertation. I could not have done this without you. A special thanks for aiding me several times during my work goes to the incomparable Archie Henderson. He in turn got the energetic and inspiring Walter Baumann to help me at a crucial point. The highly competent and friendly staff at the Beinecke Rare Books & Manuscript Library made my two-month stay in New Haven, Connecticut, in the fall of 2019 a pure pleasure. I also want to express my earnest gratitude to Erling Hagen Agøy of the University of Oslo for aiding me with pinyin transliterations of Chinese. Similar gratitude is due to Lars Fredrik Janby and Jon Haarberg for helping me with some questions of Greek. Maya Klein of Tel Aviv University taught me a valuable lesson of Hebrew. Silje Susanne Alvestad and Lutz Etzard made additional contributions. I am deeply honored to be able to include a detail from one of Christopher Haanes’s “abstract calligraphic improvisations” on page iii; to my mind, at least, there is something reminiscent of Pound’s creative interpretations of Chinese written characters at play in Christopher’s improvised abstracts based on his intimate knowledge of the calligraphic tradition. My dear friend and colleague Camilla Chams turned out to be a constant inspiration in our shared office. For his lasting friendship and always fabulous conversation I want to thank Endre Ruset, a true poet. Pål H. Aasen has read and commented on most of my dissertation and has been patient with me and encouraging toward me as only a primo amico can be. Lastly, I will, even if I think they may find it somewhat of a cliché, thank my parents for believing in me. There is, I think, nothing to add but a hope that everyone realizes that the errors in this dissertation are all mine. Espen Grønlie Oslo, October 2020 vii viii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. v Sammendrag..................................................................................................................................... vi Thank you ....................................................................................................................................... vii Introduction: Ezra Pound and multilingualism in literature .......................................................... 1 First key concept: Linguistic relativism ........................................................................................ 2 Second key concept: Literary cosmopolitanism ............................................................................ 5 Monolingualism and ethnicism ..................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: Ezra Pound and linguistic relativism ............................................................................. 11 1.1. Pound’s linguistic relativism ................................................................................................ 12 1.2. Pound and universal language: “Debabelization” and the trilingual system ........................ 15 1.3. On misunderstanding the Chinese written character ............................................................ 23 1.4. Fenollosa and English poetry ............................................................................................... 29 1.5. Fenollosa and Heidegger ...................................................................................................... 31 1.6. Fenollosa and Derrida .......................................................................................................... 38 1.7. Fenollosa and Whorf ............................................................................................................ 41 1.8. Pound, anthropology and language ...................................................................................... 44 1.9. Pound’s relativism in a new light ......................................................................................... 48 1.10. Linguistic relativism and poetry ......................................................................................... 54 1.11. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 2: Literary cosmopolitanism in Pound’s early work ......................................................... 61 2.1. Pound and cosmopolitanism: the “Orbi Cantum Primum” fragment (1906–7) ................... 61 2.2. The semantics of cosmopolitanism .....................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Cultures and Traditions of Wordplay and Wordplay Research the Dynamics of Wordplay
    Cultures and Traditions of Wordplay and Wordplay Research The Dynamics of Wordplay Edited by Esme Winter-Froemel Editorial Board Salvatore Attardo, Dirk Delabastita, Dirk Geeraerts, Raymond W. Gibbs, Alain Rabatel, Monika Schmitz-Emans and Deirdre Wilson Volume 6 Cultures and Traditions of Wordplay and Wordplay Research Edited by Esme Winter-Froemel and Verena Thaler The conference “The Dynamics of Wordplay / La dynamique du jeu de mots – Interdisciplinary perspectives / perspectives interdisciplinaires” (Universität Trier, 29 September – 1st October 2016) and the publication of the present volume were funded by the German Research Founda- tion (DFG) and the University of Trier. Le colloque « The Dynamics of Wordplay / La dynamique du jeu de mots – Interdisciplinary perspectives / perspectives interdisciplinaires » (Universität Trier, 29 septembre – 1er octobre 2016) et la publication de ce volume ont été financés par la Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) et l’Université de Trèves. ISBN 978-3-11-058634-3 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-058637-4 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-063087-9 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number: 2018955240 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2018 Esme Winter-Froemel and Verena Thaler, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Contents Esme Winter-Froemel, Verena Thaler and Alex Demeulenaere The dynamics of wordplay and wordplay research 1 I New perspectives on the dynamics of wordplay Raymond W.
    [Show full text]
  • Thinking Literature Across Continents
    THINKING LIT ER A TURE ACROSS CONTINENTS This page intentionally left blank ranjan ghosh • j. hillis miller THINKING LIT ER A TURE ACROSS CONTINENTS Duke University Press • Durham and London • ​ 2016 © 2016 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper ∞ Typeset in Chaparral Pro by Westchester Publishing Services Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Ghosh, Ranjan, author. | Miller, J. Hillis (Joseph Hillis), [date] author. Title: Thinking lit er a ture across continents / Ranjan Ghosh, J. Hillis Miller. Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2016024761 (print) | lccn 2016025625 (ebook) isbn 9780822361541 (hardcover : alk. paper) isbn 9780822362449 (pbk. : alk. paper) isbn 9780822373698 (e- book) Subjects: lcsh: Liter a ture— Cross- cultural studies. | Liter a ture— Study and teaching—Cross- cultural studies. | Culture in liter a ture. | Liter a ture and transnationalism. | Liter a ture— Philosophy. Classification: lcc pn61 .g46 2016 (print) | lcc pn61 (ebook) | ddc 809— dc23 lc record available at https:// lccn . loc. gov / 2016024761 Cover art: Kate Castelli, The Known Universe (detail), 2013. Woodblock on nineteenth-century book cover. Courtesy of the artist. CONTENTS vii Preface j. hillis miller ix Acknowl edgments ranjan ghosh xi Acknowl edgments j. hillis miller 1 Introduction: Thinking across Continents ranjan ghosh 9 Introduction Continued: The Idiosyncrasy of the Literary Text j. hillis miller PART I: The Matter and Mattering of Lit er a ture 27 Chapter 1. Making Sahitya Matter ranjan ghosh 45 Chapter 2. Lit er a ture Matters Today j. hillis miller PART II: Poem and Poetry 71 Chapter 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Fredric-Jameson-Late-Marxism-Adorno-Or-The-Persistence-Of-The-Dialectic-1990.Pdf
    Late Marxism ADORNO, OR, THE PERSISTENCE OF THE DIALECTIC Fredric Jameson LATE MARXISM LATE MARXISM FredricJameson THINKHI\IJICJ\L E I� �S VERSO London • New York First published by Verso 1990 © FredricJameson 1990 This eclition published by Verso 2007 All rights reserved The moral rights of the author have been asserted 1 3 57 9 10 8 6 4 2 Verso UK: 6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG USA: 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014-4606 www.versobooks.com Verso is the imprint of New Left Books ISBN-13: 978-1-84467-575-3 ISBN-10: 1-84467-575-0 BritishLibrary Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Printed in the UK by Bookmarque Ltd, Croydon, Surrey For PerryAnderson Contents A Note on Editions and Translations lX INTRODUCTION Adorno in the Stream of Time PART I BalefulEnchantments of the Concept I Identity and Anti-Identity I5 2 Dialectics and the Extrinsic 25 3 Sociologyand the Philosophical Concept 35 4 The Uses and Misuses of Culture Critique 43 5 Benjamin and Constellations 49 6 Models 59 7 Sentences and Mimesis 63 8 Kant and Negative Dialectics 73 9 The Freedom Model 77 IO The History Model 88 II Natural History 94 I2 The Metaphysics Medel III viii CONTENTS PART II Parable of the Oarsmen I Biastowards the Objective I23 2 The Guilt of Art I27 3 Vicissitudes of Culture on the Left I39 4 MassCulture asBig Business 145 5 The Culture Industry asNarrative 151 PART III Productivities of the Monad I Nominalism 157 2 The Crisis of Schein 165 3 Reification 177 4 The Monad as an Open Closure 182 5 Forces of Production 189 6 Relations of Production 197 7 The Subject, Language 202 8 Nature 212 9 Truth-Content and Political Art 220 CONCLUSIONS Adorno in the Postmodern 227 Notes 25J Index 262 A Note on Editions and Translations I have here often retranslated quotes from Adorno's works afresh (without specific indication).
    [Show full text]
  • Words in the Mirror Luca Nobile
    Words in the mirror Luca Nobile To cite this version: Luca Nobile. Words in the mirror: Analysing the sensorimotor interface between phonetics and semantics in Italian. Pascal Michelucci; Olga Fischer; Christina Ljungberg. Semblance and Signifi- cation, 10, John Benjamins, pp.101-132, 2011, Iconicity in Language and Literature, 9789027243461. 10.1075/ill.10.06nob. hal-01363606 HAL Id: hal-01363606 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01363606 Submitted on 10 Sep 2016 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Words in the mirror Analysing the sensorimotor interface between phonetics and semantics in Italian by Luca NOBILE Université de Bourgogne [email protected] Please cite this paper as follows : NOBILE, Luca, « Words in the mirror : analysing the sensorimotor interface between phonetics and semantics in Italian », in Pascal MICHELUCCI, Olga FISCHER and Christina LJUNGBERG (eds), Iconicity in Language and Literature 10 : Semblance and Signification, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, John Benjamins, p. 101-131. Words in the mirror Analysing the sensorimotor interface between phonetics and semantics in Italian Luca Nobile Université de Bourgogne 1 Theoretical and methodological aspects 1.1 Echo-mirror neurons and arbitrariness The discovery of the mirror neurons by Giacomo Rizzolatti's team in the mid-1990s revealed a physiological, automatic connection between the perception of others' actions and the execution of one’s own.
    [Show full text]
  • Quietism (Philosophy) from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Contents
    Quietism (philosophy) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Contents 1 Cratylism 1 1.1 See also ................................................ 1 1.2 External links ............................................. 1 2 Language 2 2.1 Definitions ............................................... 4 2.1.1 Mental faculty, organ or instinct ............................... 4 2.1.2 Formal symbolic system ................................... 5 2.1.3 Tool for communication ................................... 5 2.1.4 Unique status of human language ............................... 6 2.2 Origin ................................................. 6 2.3 The study of language ......................................... 8 2.3.1 Subdisciplines ......................................... 10 2.3.2 Early history ......................................... 11 2.3.3 Contemporary linguistics ................................... 11 2.4 Physiological and neural architecture of language and speech ..................... 11 2.4.1 The brain and language .................................... 11 2.4.2 Anatomy of speech ...................................... 13 2.5 Structure ................................................ 14 2.5.1 Semantics ........................................... 14 2.5.2 Sounds and symbols ...................................... 15 2.5.3 Grammar ........................................... 17 2.5.4 Typology and universals .................................... 20 2.6 Social contexts of use and transmission ................................ 20 2.6.1 Usage and meaning
    [Show full text]
  • Postmodernism
    POSTMODERNISM OR, THE CULTURAL LOGIC OF LATE CAPITALISM FREDRIC JAMESON POSTMODERNISM, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism Post-Contemporary Interventions Series Editors: Stanley Fish and Fredric Jameson POSTMODERNISM, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism • FREDRIC JAMESON VERSO London· New York First published in the UK by Verso 1991 and in the United States by Duke University Press First printing in paperback 1992 791086 © 1991 Duke University Press All rights reserved Verso UK: 6 Meard Street, London WIF OEG USA: 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014-4606 Verso is the imprint of New Left Books British Library Cataloging in Publication Data Jameson, Fredric Postmodernism, or, The cultural logic of late capitalism. 1. Culture. Postmodernism. 1. Title 306 ISBN 0-86091-314-7 ISBN 0-86091-537-9 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper A number of chapters, or parts of chapters, of this book have appeared in previous publications, sometimes in an earlier form. Chapter 1.1984, "Postmodernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism." New Left Review, no. 146 (July-August): 59-92. Chapter 2.1984, "The Politics of Theory: Ideological Positions in the Debate." New German Critique, no. 53 (Fall): 53-65. Chapter 4. 1990, "Spatial Equivalents: PostmodernistArchitecture and the World System," The States of Theory, ed. David Carroll (Columbia University Press): 125-48. Chapter 6. 1988, "Postmodernism and Utopia." Institute of Contemporary Artpublication (Boston) (March): 11-32.Chapter 8.1990, "Postmodernism and the Market," in The Retreat of the Intellectuals: Socialist Register 1990, ed. Ralph Miliband and Leo Panitch (London: Merlin): 95-110.
    [Show full text]
  • Substance and Providence in the Old French Theological Romance
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2012 Substance and Providence in the Old French Theological Romance Ian Michael McConnon University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Medieval Studies Commons, and the Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons Recommended Citation McConnon, Ian Michael, "Substance and Providence in the Old French Theological Romance" (2012). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 545. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/545 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/545 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Substance and Providence in the Old French Theological Romance Abstract The doctrine of divine providence was considered fundamental to understanding the nature of reality in medieval Christian orthodoxy. One of our greatest modern impediments to proper understanding of this law are the radically different ontologies that flourished in the Latin estW through the recuperation of Ancient thought, most notably in the divisions between the Platonists and the Aristotelians. Whereas Biblical exegesis owed more to Augustine's Platonism, the rise of Aristotelian thought in the university curriculum entailed a serious threat to the doctrine of providence. The translation and dissemination of Islamic Aristotelians revealed an almost identical challenge to Islamic orthodoxy on the same matter. Philosophical, and especially ontological, speculation on the nature of substance (ontology) was therefore fertile ground for heresy. The main works under examination are the anonymous Queste del Saint Graal and the continuation of the Roman de la Rose by Jean de Meun. Deeply imbued with Augustinian figuralism and Biblical history, the Queste strongly distinguishes itself from the rest of the Lancelot en Prose, most notably La Mort le Roi Artu, in its theological purpose.
    [Show full text]
  • The Resistance to Theory
    The Resistance to Theory Paul de Man Foreword by Wlad Godzich Theory and History of Literature, Volume 33 University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis The Resistance to Theory This essay was not originally intended to address the question of teaching directly. f although it was supposed to have a didactic and an educational function - which ... it failed to achieve. It was written at the request of the Committee on Research Activities of theNroaern Language Association as a contribution to a collective volume entitled Introduction to Scholarship in Modem Languages and Litera­ tures. 1 was asked to write the section on literary theory. Such essays are expected to foHow a clearly determined program: they are supposed to provide the reader with a select but comprehensive list of the main trends and publications in the field, to synthesize and classify the main problematic areas and to lay oul a criti cal and programmatic projection of the solutions which can be expected in the foreseeable future . All this with a keen awareness that, ten years later, someone will be asked to repeat the same exercise. r found it diffic ult to live up. in minimal good faith. to the requirements of this program and could only try to explain . as concisely as possible, why th~ main theoretical interest of literary theory consists in the impossibility of its defin ition. The Committee rightly judged" iliat ililS was an mausplC IOUS way toI achieve the pedagogical objectives of the volume and commissioned another article. I thought their decision altogether justified, as well as interesting in its implications for the teaching of literature.
    [Show full text]
  • From Plato to Wittgenstein: Essays by G
    FROM PLATO TO WITTGENSTEIN: ESSAYS BY G. E. M. ANSCOMBE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK G. E. M. Anscombe,Mary Geach,Luke Gormally | 250 pages | 30 Oct 2011 | IMPRINT ACADEMIC | 9781845402334 | English | Thorverton, United Kingdom From Plato to Wittgenstein: Essays by G. E. M. Anscombe PDF Book Anscombe attended the Sydenham School, graduating in , and went on to St. Imprint Academic Epistemology Language Mathematics Science. This book examines his developing critique of the notions and embodiments of manliness prevalent in his culture Anscombe , From Plato to Wittgenstein: Essays. Download as PDF Printable version. The basic idea is that there is a morally relevant distinction between intended versus merely foreseen outcomes. Related Entries abortion action consequentialism Davidson, Donald double effect, doctrine of ethics: natural law tradition ethics: virtue moral psychology: empirical approaches war Wittgenstein, Ludwig. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Enlarge cover. Catholicism portal. See Torralba, J. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote. Error rating book. Sign in to use this feature. Proceedings of the British Academy. Open access to the SEP is made possible by a world-wide funding initiative. Category Task Force Discussion. My own recollection is that it was an occasion of sober discussion of certain quite definite criticisms, which Lewis' rethinking and rewriting showed he thought was accurate. The first is to read it straightforwardly as an indictment of the moral theories prevalent in the s and a subsequent argument for the development of an alternative theory of morality that does not postulate a legislator, but then also does not try to keep the defunct legislative structure that naturally falls out of religiously based ethics.
    [Show full text]
  • JRR Tolkien and Early 20Th-Century Radical Linguistic Experimentation
    Journal of Tolkien Research Volume 5 | Issue 1 Article 2 2018 Language as Communication vs. Language as Art: J.R.R. Tolkien and early 20th-century radical linguistic experimentation Dimitra Fimi Cardiff etrM opolitan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch Part of the Literature in English, British Isles Commons Recommended Citation Fimi, Dimitra (2018) "Language as Communication vs. Language as Art: J.R.R. Tolkien and early 20th-century radical linguistic experimentation," Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 5 : Iss. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol5/iss1/2 This Peer-Reviewed Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Library Services at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Tolkien Research by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at [email protected]. Fimi: TolkienandRadicalLinguisticExperimentation Among much hitherto unpublished material found in the recent critical edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1931 essay ‘A Secret Vice’,1 including previously omitted passages, drafts, and an entirely new essay, the editors have transcribed several loose pages and slips of paper with Tolkien’s scattered notes, often in telegraphic or unfinished sentences. This is where Tolkien mentions two surprising contemporary literary figures: James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. Joyce is not mentioned by name, but Tolkien has scribbled the name of one of the characters from what later became Finnegans Wake: Anna Livia Plurabelle (SV, p. 91).2 This is not the only time Tolkien is known to have noted this name: it also appears transcribed in his ‘Qenya Alphabet’ (later known as ‘tengwar’ letters) in a document also dated 1931, now edited and published as a facsimile in Parma Eldalamberon 20 (Tolkien, 2012, pp.
    [Show full text]
  • The Idea of the Book in the Middle Ages: LANGUAGE THEORY, MYTHOLOGY, and FICTION
    The Idea of the Book in the Middle Ages The Idea of the Book in the Middle Ages LANGUAGE THEORY, MYTHOLOGY, AND FICTION JESSE M. GELLRICH Cornell University Press ITH ACA AND LONDON Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program. Cornell University Press gratefully acknowledges a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that aided in bringing this book to publication Copyright © 1985 by Cornell University First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 1987 Second paperback printing 2019 The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. To use this book, or parts of this book, in any way not covered by the license, please contact Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu. Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-0-8014-1722-1 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-5017-4070-1 (pbk.: alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-5017-4071-8 (pdf) ISBN 978-1-5017-4072-5 (epub/mobi) Librarians: A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Excerpts from Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, translated, with a commentary by Charles Singleton, Bollingen Series 80, Volume 1: Inferno, copyright © 1973 by Princeton University Press; Volume 3: Paradiso, copyright © 1975 by Princeton University Press, are reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press. For my family and in memory of my father 19°1-197° Letters are indeed the indices of things, the signs of words, in which there is such power that they speak to us without voice the discourse of the absent.
    [Show full text]
  • Between Cratylism and Positivism: the Old Poem and What Alice Found There
    Sintagma 16: 513. ISSN: 02149141 c 2004 Universitat de Lleida. Imprès a Catalunya. BETWEEN CRATYLISM AND POSITIVISM: THE OLD POEM AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE AMADEU VIANA [email protected] Universitat de Lleida Resum. Entre cratilisme i positivisme: l'antic poema i tot allò que Alí- cia hi va trobar. En aquest article em referiré molt sumàriament a la lologia del dinou, mirant de relacionar-la amb tot el joc de paraules en Lewis Carrol, per tal d'establir-hi una trama correcta de (dis)continuïtats. El meu objectiu és considerar el Jabberwocky de Humpty Dumpty en el context de la feina i les descobertes de la moderna lologia. F. A. Wolf i J. Grimm condensen bona cosa dels experiments radicals i les troballes que tingueren lloc en aquells moments, que podríem con- trastar amb les aventures textuals d'Alícia a l'altra banda de l'espill. Els llibres de l'altra banda necessiten intèrprets i cerquen la versió correcta, original, de la ma- teixa manera que la interpretació dels mots depèn d'un mètode able. Segurament Lewis Carroll com a jove lòleg era capaç de jugar bé amb aquelles troballes, entre un món que s'acabava i un altre que començava. Paraules clau: Cratilisme, positivisme, Lewis Carroll, lologia moderna, segle dinou, jocs de paraules. Abstract. In this paper I shall refer summarily to nineteenth century philology in an attempt to relate it with the wordplay found in the works of Lewis Carroll in order to establish a correct range of (dis)continuities. My aim is to consider the Jabberwocky of Humpty Dumpty within the context of modern philological studies and discoveries.
    [Show full text]