Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A probing and theoretically rich study on the history of linguistics, replete with impeccable research, insightful analyses, and daring but compelling conclusions, The Writing of Spirit is a brilliant accomplishment, certain to have a major impact on our understanding of language, physiological psychology, and the limits of structuralism." -- -John T. Hamilton Harvard University
Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I. Eternal Etymology: From Sprachgeist to Ferdinand de Saussure 1. Language Ensouled Grammatical Life * Life Science * Kosmon Psychon * How Inflection Unfolds * Etymology: the Method * Spirit Superfluous? * The Demise of Analysis 2. Saussure's Dream In Search of the Literal * Neither Flesh nor Spirit * But Rather Writing * Postmeditation 3. Verse Origins Through the Letters Wafts the Spirit * 2 L, 2 P, 4 R (=2+2) * Little Sticks, Letter Rhymes * The Rhythm of Geist * The Cult of Cancellation Part II. Tending Toward Zero: From Runes to Phonemes 4. Wagner's Poetry of the Spheres Philology + Harmony * Wotan's Staff 5. Pythagoras in the Laboratory The Wagnerian Sound of Sense * Wave Systems (Acoustics) * The Undulating All (Psychophysics) * A Philology of the Ear (Poetics) 6. Jakobson's Zeros Analogy: the Method * Zero Degree Rhyme * The Silent "e" * Mama and Papa * In Retrospect: The Future Afterword Notes Bibliography Index
