Folk speech, pagan spells, and "beyonsense" language
 

Velimir Khlebnikov, in "On Poetry" :
 
"[S]pells and incantations, what we call magic words, the sacred language of paganism, words like 'shagadm, magadam, vigadam, pitz, patz, patzu'--they [...] form a kind of beyonsense language in folk speech. Nevertheless, an enormous power over mankind is attributed to these incomprehensible words [...] [T]he language of magic spells and incantations does not wish to be judged in terms of everyday common sense. Its strange wisdom may be broken down inot the truths contained in separate sounds: sh, m, v, etc. We do not yet understand these sounds [...] [b]ut there is no doubt that these sound sequences constitute a series of universal truths passing before the predawn of our soul"
 
also Khlebnikov, in "Our Fundamentals":
"Beyonsense language is thus the universal language of the future, although it is still in an embryonic state. It alone will be able to unite all people. Rational languages have separated them."
 
see Jerome Rothenberg's similar points in "The Poetics of Sound" (in Technicians of the Sacred and Pre-Faces & Other Writing)

> from Charles Bernstein's A Poetics (1992)

> tagged with #language, #magic, #sound

> created Feb 10, 2025 at 9:11:52 AM


> part of unfinished everything


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unfinished everything is an original work / ongoing project (1997-present) by jeremy p. bushnell

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