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This idea plays with my imagination and plays with my world:
Writing is not doomed to be the shadow of speech. Be attentive to yourself as you write and you will mark there are times when the words form themselves on the paper de novo, as the Romans used to say, out of the deepest inner silences. We are accustomed to believe that our world was created by God speaking the Word; but I ask, may it not rather be that he wrote it, wrote a word so long we have yet to come to the end of it? May it not be that God continually writes the world, the world and all that is in it?
From J.M. Coetzee’s ‘Foe’
I am a loyal reader of Groundwork, who posted a quote by David Foster Wallace today. The quote inspired me to find one of my own quotes that was equally thought provoking and meaningful – to me, at least. At the moment, I feel like I can’t match that quote, but it could be the result of the newness of the Wallace quote to me.
So, I post a quote that is maybe not as fresh as the one found at Groundwork:
Like most US feminism, post-colonialism is a way of being politically radical without necessarily being anti-capitalist, and so is a peculiarly hospitable form of leftism for a ‘post-political’ world. Terry Eagleton in LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS, 13 May 1999 on A CRITIQUE OF POST COLONIAL REASON: TOWARD A HISTORY OF THE VANISHING PRESENT by Gayatri Spivak
I believe – that is, there is no medical proof – that the sciatic nerve in my right leg is slightly afflicted and so causes me to lean towards the left. It has done so – unproven – for years and may even explain my gangster like gait. But it may also explain some of the quotes I will post:
“Such a perfect democracy constructs its own inconceivable foe, terrorism. Its wish is to be judged by its enemies rather than by its results. The story of terrorism is written by the state and it is therefore highly instructive. The spectators must certainly never know everything about terrorism, but they must always know enough to convince them that, compared with terrorism, everything else must be acceptable, or in any case more rational and democratic.” Guy Debord in COMMENTS ON THE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE
As the US drives the global war on terror, this quote may seem a bit out of place amidst all the electioneering at the moment. You know as well as I do, though, that it will return, as it always does and there will always be someone providing a thoughtful analysis on the phenomenon of terrorism. James Baldwin did it in the 70s – and I may post the quote at some time – , Noam Chomsky did it again after 9/11 – although, I can’t for the life of me find where I wrote it down – , and I’m sure many others (whom some of you better read than myself will be able to refer us to) have provided equally thought provoking words.
