Zumthor

Soon to come....

this guy!

He's French! Now it all makes sense. (Consequently, Zumthor and Cerquiglini are slightly more difficult to process so this post will be completed when I have the time to sit down and compose my thoughts)

POSTPONED

Zumthor's work is quite complex and there are many different facets that he discusses in his chapter "Poet and Text" which I could spend many pages discussing; however, in order to keep this post from getting out of hand I'm going to focus on his portion about the work of a text, mainly discussed on pages 47-48.

One typically thinks of a work as a final product, the end result of an arduous task. Zumthor, however, uses the term work to discuss the many different versions that a text undergoes throughout the years. He defines a work as "a phase in the structuring process" which "has no end" (48). The idea of a work as a phase changes its relationship to the text. In class, we've debated over issues of originality and aura and how these ideas change our interpretation of a text. In regards to Zumthor, there is no base original text, but a variety of texts which make up the work. Essentially, a text is "a 'trace' of [a] work" that is left behind with each "version" or "new creation" (47). By using this definition, a text cannot lose its originality because each revision, edition, or translation of a text makes it original. There is no finished, unaltered product, but instead a work is meant to "grow, change, and decay" as time goes on.

In essence, a text is a living, breathing thing. It is a "recognizable entity" that transforms with each new society. It's the movement from

TO

A work is a new creation for each generation to marvel, contemplate, and explore.

The Ideal Book?

Let's be honest, when you walk into a bookstore with the intentions of purchasing an item (nothing in particular, whatever catches your eye) you tend to look for a certain dimension to your book. Back home, I head straight for the Fantasy Literature section at which point I start browsing. The first thing I look for is size. I like my books to be portable, about the same size as my journal, around 7.5/4.5" give or take.

Moleskins are perfect -->

Next, I flip through the first couple pages. A book with very large text will just not work. I want to be able to read it, but I don't want to feel like I'm using a magnifying glass. The texture of the paper is important to. I'm going to be taking this book with me everywhere. It needs to be sturdy and withstand many borrowing hands as I often lend my books out to friends (I believe in sharing the wealth). I'm also very particular about my cover art. I will scrutinize the front cover a book with utmost judgment if it doesn't suit the story. Along with the front cover, I also try to stray away from hard cover books. It's not that I have anything against hard covers, I just enjoy a paperback book. To me it says "READ ME" while a hardback says "Don't damage me, I'm expensive."

Considering all the things I subconsciously calculate about the quality of my own preferred books, I find it easier to understand the complexities of The Ideal Book as Morris sees it. He goes into detail explaining the proportions and quality of a book, while remarking on the aesthetics of the book as well. As he sees it, there is no reason for a book to be ugly, which I find refreshing in this mass-produced culture, even if Morris was writing some years ago.

First and foremost, he mentions the spacing between text, and states that a single space should be placed between words for clarification (something that I had never even thought about until reading his perspective on it), next he clarifies the ideal spacing laterally between words, for both aesthetics and accessibility. Down to the thickness of a page in relation to the size of the book, Morris specifies exact proportions that make significant differences to us now as book readers. He goes on describing font type, size, etc. and while these issues may seem trivial, they play an important part (at least in my opinion) to the development of the written word on a page in codex form.

***Update: Plans to discuss Immanuel Kant's perspective on aesthetics and how they coincide with William Morris' Ideal Book ALSO Morris' architecture and its function as an aesthetic TEXT.

#WhatisAura?

A surplus of questions surface when discussing the essence of TEXT. First of all, what the heck is it? Pinning down one precise definition is altogether impossible, and yet that's exactly what people try to do. They attempt to define an abstract idea the same way one would pin down a cloud - with much effort and little results. Walter Benjamin attaches his belief of TEXT to the existence of a textual aura in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, wherein he explicates the idea that the aura of something, the innate essence of a work, depletes over time as technology "substitutes a plurality of copies for a unique existence" and that the
"uniqueness of a work [...] is inseparable from [...] the fabric of tradition (II/IV).

On a more approachable level, aura is the originality of something, whether that be holding a manuscript in your hands, looking at the Mona Lisa directly, listening to the original composition of Mozart's Requiem, etc. For Benjamin, aura constitutes the quality of a work before mass production has taken affect. To him, the factory-produced version of a work/art/text fails in comparison to the original. It lacks the aura that the original work contained. On some levels, I agree with Benjamin. A photocopied version of a Renoir painting does not embody the same experience as standing in front of the original. The colors are brighter. The scenes are more real. The atmosphere appears touchable. An imprint in a textbook or as a poster lacks the same veracity. But like Alberto Manguel, author of Library as Mind, I believe that each printed book, while manufactured to be exactly like the original, gains a new, fantastic aura that the original never possessed. In our technological world, the mass production of objects allows them to reach a greater audience; consequently, these materials bring with them the capability to forge new auras, unique to the individuals that come across them. These texts develop throughout the years, earning dog-eared pages, highlighted passages, underlined phrases, notes squished in the corners, darkened edges from overuse and smudges from fingers flipping from page to page. This aura isn't destroyed or l'art pour l'art, but a unique aura unto itself.

What is the text of the Eadwine Psalter?

For some time now, we have discussed the different attributes of TEXT. Through both last semester’s lectures and the few that I have attended this semester, it’s evident that the nature of text is both allusive and ubiquitous. This is probably the only evident thing about what text actually is as I’ve come to realize throughout this study. In the example of the Eadwine psalter, several instances of text are now apparent, including: the words on the page, the different and intricate images, the texture of the material that the psalter was written upon, the varying stylized writings, the various illuminated variations of the letter B, the story that the images relay to the reader, the ink that the scribe used, the time frame when the manuscript was written, and the audience that the psalter was intended for (for Ecclesiastical purposes). The text of the psalter also consists of varying natures that people, as current viewers, bring into context, such as where the psalter is viewed. For me, the text also contains the different tabs that I have open on my laptop right now, the image of the psalter included amongst them, as well as the fact that I am now viewing the text through my laptop on a Monday night in 2012, whereas the original viewers of the text where holding it in their hands, up close and personal, in the 12^th century. The text of this image, and all other texts, consists of so much more than what we initially perceive. The way we read and view text builds on much more than just words on a page. It is the unveiling of minute details which add to the hierarchal TEXT.

Defining the indefinable

Texture: (n)(v) The process or art of weaving; to construct by or as by weaving; to give a texture to

Textile: (adj)(n) that has been or may be woven; pertaining to a man-made fibre or filament; non-natrist; applied to place; a woven fabric; any kind of cloth

Pretext: (n)(adj)(v) A reason put forward to conceal one's real purpose or object; an excuse or pretense; bordered, edged, or fringed; to use or put forward (a reason) as a pretext or excuse; to pretend, feign

Context: (n)(adj)(v) the weaving together of words and sentences; construction of speech, literary composition woven or knit together; to weave together

Hypertext: (n) text which does not form a single sequence and which may be read in various orders

Subtext: (n) appearing below other text on a page; an underlying theme in a piece of writing

Textuary: (adj)(n) Of or belonging to the text; textual; one who adheres strictly to the letter of scripture

Retexture: (v) the action or process of breaking up a whole into its component parts; unravelling; dissolution

Textual: (n) of a person; well acquainted with 'texts' or authors; well-read; literally exact in giving the text

Textology: (n) the study and analysis of the evolution of a text or texts, especially through rewriting, editing, and translation; the study of text production

Paratext: [not found in OED] All the material surrounding a text; i.e. the author's name, the editor's name, the front cover of the book, chapter titles, etc.


***All definitions are taken from the Oxford English Dictionary