Prelude
If I have a wish it is to find you where I find poetry
Do you ever close your eyes in full sunlight Here close your eyes
You are everything that has not yet been lost
-Joanna Klink, excerpted from “Aerial”, Raptus, 2010
| Die Sprache verkleidet den Gedanken. Und zwar so, dass man nach der äußeren Form des Kleides, nicht auf die Form des bekleideten Gedankens schließen kann; weil die äußere Form des Kleides nach ganz anderen Zwecken gebildet ist als danach, die Form des Körpers erkennen zu lassen. -Ludwig Wittgenstein, Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung 4.002, 1921 |
Language disguises the thought; so that from the external form of the clothes one cannot infer the form of the thought they clothe, because the external form of the clothes is constructed with quite another object than to let the form of the body be recognized. -Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico Philosophico 4.002 1921; tr. Charles K Ogden 1922 |
Cherry
This is the opening prelude of the second book, titled Pawn and Storm. The first full chapter of this book will be posted on Monday, at which point the standard Monday/Friday update schedule will resume.
Now, as for the actual author’s notes: This prelude sets the scene and establishes the mood of this book, in the same way as the previous (and future) books are laid out. This time, the prelude is somewhat narrower in scope; it does not set the tone of the story as a whole, since the first book already exists. In an effective sense, you might think of it like this prelude actually has a third, unstated excerpt consisting of the first book, which passes the existing tone forward. Implications of this model, as well as of the quotations used, are left as an exercise for the reader; as usual, I write to provide questions, not answers.
The title of this book has a complex set of meanings and implications. This is by design, and was also the case for the previous book, though Seed and Trellis may have seemed more obvious in the connection between the ideas. With Pawn and Storm, it is perhaps clearer that this title scheme, as with numerous other elements of this story’s essential structural layout, is heavily laced with complex symbolism that may not be immediately apparent.