Mute Objects of Expression Read Online Free Page A

will then be his own, he will be able to make good on them.

    He will have heightened not only his enlightenedunderstanding, but his power over the world.
    He will have advanced toward joy and well-being, not only for himself, but for all.
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    Paris, March – September 1938

THE CARNATION
    For Georges Limbour

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    Accept the challenge things offer to language. These carnations, for instance, defy language. I won’t rest till I have drawn together a few words that will compel anyone reading or hearing them to say: this has to do with something like a carnation.
    Is that poetry? I have no idea, and it scarcely matters. For me it is a need, a commitment, a rage, a matter of self-respect, and that’s all there is to it.

    I make no claim to being a poet. I believe my vision is quite commonplace.
    Given an object, however ordinary, it seems to me that it invariably presents certain unique qualities which, if clearly and simply expressed, would elicit unanimous and invariable comment; they are the ones I’m trying to elicit.
    What’s to be gained by this? To bring to life for the human spirit qualities, which are not beyond its capacity and which habit alone prevents it from adopting.

    What sort of disciplines are required for this venture to succeed? Certainly those of scientific thought, but particularly a large measure of art. And that’s why I think one day such research might also legitimately be called poetry.

    The examples that follow 1 will reveal what serious groundwork this process assumes (or implies), what tools one may or must invoke, what procedures and rubrics: dictionary, encyclopedia, imagination, telescope, microscope, both ends of opera glasses, lenses for the myopic and the presbyopic, puns, rhyme, contemplation, forgetfulness, volubility, silence, sleep, etc.
    One will also observe what reefs must be avoided, what others to be confronted, along with what navigation (what tacking), and what shipwrecks – what shifts in point of view.

    It might well be that I’m not qualified to carry out such an undertaking – under any circumstances.
    Others will come along and put to better use the procedures I point out. They will be the heroes of tomorrow’s spirit.
    (Another day.)

    After all, what’s so unusual about the naïve program (viable for all authentic expression) solemnly propounded above?
    Probably just this: . . . that instead of feelings or human ventures, I choose as subjects the most indifferent objects possible . . . where the guarantee of the need for expression appears to me (instinctively) to reside in the object’s habitual mutism.
    . . . Both a guarantee of that need for expression and guarantee of the opposition to language, to standard expressions.
    Mute opposable evidence.
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    1
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    Opiniâtre. Opinionated: strongly attached to one’s opinion.
    Papillotes, papillons, papilles. Paper frills, butterflies, papillae: same root as vacillate.
    Déchiré. Torn or rent. From a German word skerran. Déchiqueter. To shred.
    Dents et dentelles. Teeth and lace.
    Chiffons. Rags, dust cloths. Crème, cremeux. Cream, creamy.
    Å’illet. Carnation: Linnaeus calls it a perfect bouquet, the ready-made bouquet.
    Satin.
    Festons. Garlands: “The beautiful forests outlined the crest of the slopes with a long pliant garland.”
    Fouetté. Whipped: whipped cream which turns into foam or froth with beating.

    Ã‰ternuer. To sneeze.
    Jacasse – magpie – and Jocasta?
    Jabot. Ruffle: appendage of muslin or lace.
    Froisser: to crumple or to crease; to cause irregular folds. (The source is a sound.)
    Friser. To crimp (as a napkin): to fold into small pleats, like waves.
    Friper: to crease (in the sense of crumple), to crush; confused with fespe, from fespa, which means rag and also fringe, a kind of plush.
    Franges. Fringe: etymology unknown. 2. Anatomical term: synovial folds.
    Déchiqueter: to shred into small scraps