David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


20 June 2009

Iran today : the sites and sounds of silence

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The following is taken directly from the blog Language in the Vicinity of Things :

"Meanwhile, here are two images from a blog by an Iranian artist, who shall remain nameless for safety reasons. (The blog, written under a pseudonym, is at https://un.poivron.org/~tasche/). The (first) one is a photoshopped version of a photo this same artist had posted earlier. Subtitled "Waking up to a bad dream," it shows a woman holding up a folder newspaper; the visible part of its front page - both text and images - has been largely blacked out. The original image, posted on June 13 with its front page still visible, was titled "Mahmoud is gone." Since I don't read Farsi, I cannot be sure of the contents of this page, but the title suggests that it might be a paper which, on the basis of the on election day reports about Moussavi's victory, later revoked, still suggested that Moussavi had won. In any case, this blackout functions as a mute indictment of the patent mockery into which the political-theological hardliners and their paramilitary stooges - or is the other way around? - have turned these elections."



Perhaps this Black Label study made some months back is appropriate here. (bL)



Continue from Language in the Vicinity of Things :

"...The second (non-)image, from a new posting by this artist, shows a different kind of erasure: the shameless censorship with which the Iranian government tries to quell the uprising, blocking more and more web sites and proxy servers."


Submit? (Left open)