"The knowledge toward which we seem driven by language, or which language seems to promise, is inherently sacred as well as secular, redemptive as well as satisfying. The nomina sint numina position (that there is an essential identity between name and thing, that the real nature of a thing is immanent and present in its name, that nouns are numinous) suggests that it is possible to find a language which will meet its object with perfect identity. If this were the case, we could, in speaking or writing, achieve the “at oneness” with the universe, at least in its particulars, that is the condition of complete and perfect knowing.”
~Lyn Hejinian – The Rejection of Closure
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2 comments:
the thing stretches farther than its name. the name seems to play catchup, as the thing itself has a meaning that is essentially open, but the meaning of the word must have a meaning that is closed. do you agree?
I'm not sure I do... but then, I enjoy words with multiplicity of meaning. I think this is where syntax comes into play and that particular arrangements of particular words can approach the openness of the thing you refer to.
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