Sunday morning

There is nothing more fragile than the word.

--M. Holquist

I have forgotten the

word I intended to say, and

my thought, unembodied,

returns to the realm of shadows.

--O. Mandelstam

Holquist’s text/passage evokes an image of the word within a context—an imagined context that surrounds this word, creates its fragility, and determines its meaning. There is a quiet sense of concern for the word within this image.

The words of Mandelstam add to this imagery, portraying an impression of a word unembodied, retreating from the anguish of forgetting, and returning to a “realm of shadows.” Of these dark words of Mandelstam, questions arise regarding the circumstances—the external and internal conditions that create such a withdrawal of an unembodied word; concerning the state of the individual; and, the individual’s perception of the weight of the circumstances in this particular situation that brought about the retraction of the intended word.

The words of Holquist and Mandelstam suggest the potentially formidable internal and external nature of circumstance, and the fragility of the word [and the individual] placed within this context. Their words complicate the notion of context and its relationship to meaning making.

Sketch of Mikhail Bakhtin whose words have also inspired these thoughts of mine.