The "letter kills" because it is undead. Text is the skeleton of speech, its dead dry bones. Speech is simultaneously music, dance, and text/logos(the text-word, a reduction of the speech-word).
Speech is "music" because its organized sounds are intended to communicate emotion as well as thought. Living thought is no less emotional than "thoughtful." Text is the stain of speech, intended for the eyes alone, neglecting the ears.
I call it a virus because it is dead until it is adopted by a living host. This living host quotes it in living speech or virus-like text. Original writers mutate the viruses/sentences they adopt. "Memes" are just about equivalent to what I mean by virus, by the virus metaphor emphasizes the undead status of text, which must be interpreted into living speech again. Imagine all the ways Hamlet might be read, focusing on the emotional/tonal variations. It's exactly this emotional element that text cannot communicate.
Subscribe To
Posts
Comments