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.


14 November 2020

re. object matter


Theatre of the Actors of Regard  
Definition of Object Matter by Oxford Dictionary :
noun.
the matter that is the object of an action or study,
the matter dealt with or treated.
"subject matter" is the more commonly used term.

By binary convention, we usually write 
    the subject regards the object
Similarly, we might further write 
    the subject matter regards the object matter
However, if we write 
    the subject matter regards the subject matter
that suggests a very different view : 
    meta-matter

meta- 
The third sense, "higher than, transcending, overarching, dealing with the most fundamental matters of," is due to misinterpretation of metaphysics (q.v.) as "science of that which transcends the physical." This has led to a prodigious erroneous extension in modern usage, with meta- affixed to the names of other sciences and disciplines, especially in the academic jargon of literary criticism: Metalanguage (1936) "a language which supplies terms for the analysis of an 'object' language;" metalinguistics (by 1949); metahistory (1957), metacommunication, etc. 

Expert, texpert choking smokers
Don't you think the joker laughs at you 
(ho ho ho, hee hee hee, hah hah hah)
See how they smile like pigs in a sty, 
    see how they snide
I'm crying

- 'I Am The Walrus', John Lennon/The Beatles

matter (n.) 
c.1200, materie, "the subject of a mental act or a course of thought, speech, or expression," from Anglo-French matere, Old French matere "subject, theme, topic; substance, content; character, education" (12c., Modern French matière) and directly from Latin materia "substance from which something is made," also "hard inner wood of a tree." According to de Vaan and Watkins, this is from mater "origin, source, mother" (see mother). The sense developed and expanded in Latin in philosophy by influence of Greek hylē (see hylo-) "wood, firewood," in a general sense "material," used by Aristotle for "matter" in the philosophical sense.

I am he as you are he as you are me
and we are all together

- 'I Am The Walrus', John Lennon/The Beatles

matter derives from mater, mother, origin
as does material 
matrix, too, to which all matter returns :
  matter to matter
  mother to matrix
  dust to dust
  

Theatre of the Actors of Regard   
 detail
 A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
 someone looks at something...

 LOGOS/HA HA