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'This essay is concerned with how rhetorical claims concerning 'the real' or a 'return to the real' almost invariably find themselves caught up in specious repetitions of one kind or another. Having offered a series of examples thereof and arguments there against, the essay turns to an examination of an ancient writerly algorithm, the palindrome. Several crucial features of the palindrome are identified and described, and the claim that the palindrome paradoxically offers a real 'real through line' is justified: in fact, the palindrome is shown to be 'a fragment of the real.' (Publication abstract)
Notes
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Epigraph: ==
In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
— anonymous Mediaeval Latin palindrome, détourned by Guy
Debord for the title of his 1978 film
The dream which occupies the tortuous mind of every palindromist is that somewhere within the confines of the language lurks the Great Palindrome, a nutshell which not only fulfils the intricate demands of the art, flowing sweetly in both directions, but which also contains the Final Truth of Things.
— Alistair Reid
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Last amended 15 Feb 2016 13:10:15
http://www.axonjournal.com/issue-7/return-palindrome-real
Return to the Palindrome of the Real
Axon : Creative Explorations
Axon : Creative Explorations
