Last week I started reading a new book and this line caught my eye, “The dictionary is where language goes to die.”  The book is Intertextuality (The New Critical Idiom) by Allen Graham.  I bought it for a little light reading to relax before bed.

I found the quote interesting because earlier in the day I had gone to my dictionary to look up the meaning of a word.  Don’t remember the word, but trying to find the meaning of a word got me thinking about how we know what things mean – how do we find meaning and ultimately, the Truth (note the capital T – the real truth, the truth that sets the world free)?

Normally I just try to watch old WWII movies to keep myself from thinking about such things,  but our copy of “Saving Private Ryan” got a large scratch on it and I couldn’t watch it so my mind started to wander.  Then I went and started looking up things.  Using google, I searched Wikipeda for stuff, then found a word I didn’t know and went to the dictionary on my computer to get a quick definition.

Then it hit me that we define words with other words and the meaning of a word like say, “tree” is dependent on my ability to describe what a tree is with words you know the meaning of.  That in turn got me to thinking about the lessons in language that I learned while getting my BA in English and the reason way I was drawn to the noble study of literary criticism.

Literary criticism is an often misunderstood academic study and discipline.  It isn’t about witty remarks on how horrible the last novel I read was – rather it is about how we derive mean from a literary work.  In this case the criticism part really refers more to “critical thinking” than “criticizing that horrible movie.”

There are a number of ways to do that which are referred to as “literary theories,”  that is to say ways of viewing a text.  One of my favorite theories is the notion of intertextuality.  So once I let my mind start drifting towards literary theories I remembered that I didn’t have a book to read and went to look at my “to-read” list on Good Reads.

What joy to find that top of my list was Graham’s book on Intertextuality.  The Kindle version of the book was about the same price as a 12 pack of beer so I figured I could afford to buy it.

Well, if I’d bought the beer, this post would have been a lot shorter.

I could go into great lengths to explain the theory to you, but the three of you who read this far would now be clicking to a different website.  So here’s the short version: How do you know what I am talking about in this blog post?  How can you understand its meaning?  Simple, you’ve read other texts that use the same words – language – and assume that I am using the word or phrase in a similar way and then in your brain you construct a mental picture of what you think I am saying.  Then a meaning is formed for you.  Each reader of my blog approaches it from a different set of experiences and therefore each reader is likely to understand my words differently.

Cool, huh?

Makes more sense after the second beer.

But here is my problem as a writer – I don’t want you forming your own meanings to my words.  I want you to see what I am trying to say.

Let’s take a simple example.  Let’s say I use the word, ‘tree.’  What picture does that bring to your mind.  Think about it for a minute.  I’ll wait……

Okay, now let’s finish the game.  I was thinking of a tall redwood tree – specifically a sequoia semperviren (or coastal redwood) that inhabit the California hills near where I live.

Chances are the tree you thought of and the tree I thought of were very different.  Once I tried this exercise with a group of software engineers and when I went around the room, each engineer described a tree from where the grew up.  However, one engineer had a puzzled look and said, “I thought you were talking about a file directory tree.”

I am consistently amazed that we humans have any level of mutual understanding.  It’s no surprise that people misunderstand each other.  After all the only way I have to understand you is to relate the language of you to language that is me – a language stored in the dictionary of my experiences and knowledge.

The only way for you to get the same exact meaning out of this blog post that I intended, is for you to have had all the same experiences as me – that is to be me.  But you aren’t me so you’ll discover a different meaning (or none at all).

Makes one want to give up writing altogether – what with readers having their own minds and all.

But despite the challenge we writers persist – either looking for common ground or throwing words to the wind, hoping that someone will find something worthy in our words – whatever it might mean.

Or we could just get a beer and watch a movie.

Till next week,
Andrew