From Jabberwocky to Lettrism. Eugène Jolas. Transition. no. 1 (January 1948), ed. George Duthuit. pp. 104-120.
The language of poetry has undergone more radical changes in the past fifty years than were recorded during the previous three hundred years. During the XVIIth, XVIIIth and XIXth centuries, language remained generally static, with the exception, perhaps, of the addition of certain technological terms. Esthetic language, however, hardly varied at all from Racine to Valéry, from Marlowe to Eliot. And this despite the fact that all-important scientific discoveries were being made, that human consciousness was continually expanding, that new dimensions of thought cried out for new expression. Even today, it cannot be truthfully said that academic language has greatly altered during the last four or five decades, and the tragic misunderstandings resulting from persistent use of exhausted terms are only too numerous. What has characterized this period, however, is the continuous metamorphosis which has been taking place on the periphery of academic language, where individuals with sensitive antennae, sensing linguistic decomposition and conscious of the growing trend to abolish the frontier-posts of words, have understood that one of the solutions to the problems of verbal symbolism is to be found in phonetic transformation. more... http://tinyurl.com/yk7hva3 _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
