21 August 2009

Discourse on Language, pt. 1

"Literature is the expression of a feeling of deprivation, a recourse against a sense of something missing. But the contrary is also true: language is what makes us human. It is a recourse against the meaningless noise and silence of nature and history."

-Octavio Paz

I am not sure that I agree with everything in this quote, but what I do like about it, very much, is that it asserts the reality and validity of language--the fact that only human beings can discourse about first causes, motives, beauty . . . and, despite the possibility of misunderstanding, whether deliberate or unintentional, we can, indeed, still gain some measure of knowledge about these things.
This topic is one of recurring, almost compelling, importance for me; I shall continue to poke at it.

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