| ©2002-05 jon b |
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| "Let us ask not what the sentence can do for us .. rather, what we can do for the sentence." SentenceGallery represents a few ideas centered on one particular literary construction: hereby declared, which has generally gone unacknowledged & unappreciated as such, viz: the sentence. Seen more often as a mere beast of burden, always in service to, and bound up with, larger rhetorical/aesthetic purposes, the sentence can also be understood as an artistic structure unto itself, with its own unique - and textually independent - aesthetic identity and ends. They are often little novels\poems in themselves, these things - complete with beginnings, most extraordinary developments, and resolutions. Yes, much has been asked of these sinewy and saucy little creatures. (They're small but they're wiry). And much has been given! What marvels of conceptual & aesthetic architecture - seemingly simple, yet infinitely complex ("..in form and moving how express and admirable"). What fun we have had with them .. and they with us! What feats of strength they have shown. What histories written .. and altered. What lives & and souls lost .. and saved. Nations built .. and destroyed. Philosophies made .. and dismissed. Innumerable gods created .. then vanquished. Yet what thought or regard have we really given them (sentences), really? This very basic site, then, is my homage, or shrine, to our little friend. A place to have fun with sentences, gather and share some favorites, and maybe try a few experiments. As a last thought, I'll mention one historic example of the joy of sentence, which is Noam Chomsky's famous offering, generated to demonstrate that sentences don't have to 'make sense' to be grammatical: * Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. Shakespeare meets Dr. Seuss. A good poem is where you find it. OK, I hereby declare this site to be the home of the "First International Noam Chomsky Open Sentence Competition." Here's my entry for fixed form: * Turkeyless toy pianos grin mercilessly. And for "Open form: any style, any length" day * I am packed soundly into bags of predatory compulsory mouths- the ones that precociously subscribe, annotate, mince, fillet, and sequester into a preponderance of shelves, my day. or maybe: * Pass the knockwurst, would you? If you would like to enter the competition just email your submission. First entry wins a "Chomsky for President" bumper sticker. Second place wins a set of Jacque Derrida steak knives. Muchos Merci. Yours in Language, jb |
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