randomWalks

check out this theory.





a href="http://www.byoi.blogspot.com/">byoi!



it's about two down from the top. it's the one about the aunt and schizophrenia.

byoi!



sorry

http://www.viterbo.edu/personalpages/faculty/RSamuels/palimpsest.html



So the first question that I'm sure is leaping to everyone's mind is "What the *heck* is a palimpsest, anyway?" Well, to answer that, let me first refer to Webster:



1. Writing material or manuscript on which the original writing has been erased for reuse.

2. An object, a place, or an area that reflects its history



Cool. So the first and most obvious meaning is that I've had a site before, and while I haven't exactly erased the first site this is the second version of my online journal. Also the bit about it referring to an object that reflects its history is pretty neat, too. But what drew me to the name was the pronunciation. Hah! Kidding. I know it's an unwieldy mouthful. Seriously though, what really appealed to me was the definition I found on the web:



Palimpsest



A palimpsest is a manuscript on which an earlier text has been effaced and the vellum or parchment reused for another. It was a common practice, particularly in medieval ecclesiastical circles, to rub out an earlier piece of writing by means of washing or scraping the manuscript, in order to prepare it for a new text. The motive for making palimpsests seems to have been largely economic--reusing parchment was cheaper than preparing new skin. Another motive may have been directed by the desire of Church officials to "convert" pagan Greek script by overlaying it with the word of God. Modern historians, usually more interested in older writings, have employed infra-red and digital enhancement techniques to recover the erased text, often with remarkable results.



Among the many important palimpsests, the most notable is the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus of which only 209 leaves have survived. Over the original fifth century text of the Bible, is written the twelfth century sermons of St. Ephrem.



For poststructuralist literary critics, the palimpsest provides a model for the function of writing. Like Freud's discussion of The Mystic Writing Pad, the palimpsest foregrounds the fact that all writing takes place in the presence of other writings--that it is not people who "speak" language, but language which "speaks" people. Palimpsests subvert the concept of the author as the sole originary source of her work, and thus defer the "meaning" of a work down an endless chain of signification.



© 1995 Christopher Keep, Tim McLaughlin, robin

robin.escalation@ACM.org





So that really spoke to me. I believe whole-heartedly that every word we write, every thought we commit to the page, is heavily influenced by our surroundings, our speech, our language, and (most important of all) our past. I am the sum total of my past experiences, and there is no way that I could ever extricate myself from what I have seen/heard/done, and my writing, whether it be inspired or prosaic, is the direct result of that.

And that, dear readers, is my palimpsest.

you would really enjoy reading medieval manuscripts and the very early manuscripts from the ottoman empire. they can be found at the library of congress. but you got to wear gloves,sir. wear gloves.

woohoo, coolness points for linking naropa. although it would have been even cooler if you had posted the larger-than-life name of their writing department, the jack kerouac school of disembodied poetics.