Monday, April 21, 2014

Beast Language and English Language in Ghost Tantras


Throughout Ghost Tantras, one of McClure's objectives is to blur the line between the "beast" language and the English language (and all language). I think his ultimate goal is to make it so that the beast language becomes so natural and familiar to the reader that it relates to and flows forth from the reader organically and authentically. He does this by integrating the beast language and the English language seamlessly throughout each tantra. For example, tantra number 68, copied below:

((ROGREEOSH, FOR I HAVE DREAMED
of thee forever. Reeehosh it is
AN INSTANT!
Forget, forget, for the Universe is in a state
of triumph. We have arisen with it!
We climb with twining figures
to multitudinous heavens that are all here
where we're singing. It does not matter,
it does not matter, joyous glorious garhoosh
grayhayarhoooosh nargr-owm thayolesh
tathor myobeth where we throw
the spot light of our souls . . .
Thy eyed feet and thy scented ribbon's passage
among the bloomings!))
                                                         (McClure). 

McClure plays with the conventions of the English language even during the "English" portions of this  tantra (and many others). He uses the double parenthesis, an expanded ellipses, random capitalization and outdated diction, like "thy." Obviously, he blatantly defies the conventions of the English language and human language in general during the beast-language sections of the poem, as well, by simply making up sounds--of course, language wouldn't really work if everyone communicated just by uttering whatever grunts and noises popped into their head (or would it)?
I think that by making the English portions of his tantras sound kind of odd--in that that they don't really "make sense" in terms of following a clear narrative--McClure seeks to bring English, a language readers are largely familiar with,  a little bit closer to the beast language in the reader's mind. He wants to merge these two languages because he wants to make a statement about language and explore what language is constituted of and what the essence of language is--and he makes this statement by attempting to converge these two conflicting languages so that the reader, essentially, cannot tell the difference any longer. He integrates the beast language portions into the English language portions of his poems seamlessly by couching English in beast language and vice versa: for example, in the above tantra, take the lines "it does not matter, joyous glorious garhoosh/grayhayarhoooosh nargr-owm thayolesh[...]" Here the beast language and the English language are equal parts in the same sentence, with barely any signal of transition between the two.   McClure's aim is for the reader to be reading the poem and not even notice that a transition has been made to beast language--he tries to tap into the most vulnerable part of us in order to elicit an authentic and natural experience from the reader.

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