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Quote by Michael D. Gordin

“Modern nationalism swept Europe alongside the flourishing of industrialisation. Across the continent, poets and intellectuals cultivated and often heavily modified vernacular languages to be bearers of 19th century modernity. These guardians of language faced significant challenges in adapting the spoken tongues of the peasantry to the demands of high literature and natural science. The story for the arts is widely known: modern Hungarian, Czech, Italian, Hebrew, Polish and other literatures blossomed in the second half of the century. However, the high valuation for efficiency in the sciences somewhat tamed this incipient Babel ["Absolute English," Aeon, February 4, 2015].”

Quote by Michael D. Gordin

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Michael D. Gordin

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“What happened in Scotland in the 1960s and the 1970s and what laid the foundation for the enormous creative achievements of the 1980s was the liberation of the voice. The Scottish voice declared its independence. The liberation of the voice was at first the acceptance of and an assertion of the vernacular. But the real liberation of the voice came not from the assertion of the rights of the vernacular itself, but from the assertion of the right to move without boundaries between the vernacular and standard English, between the demotic and the literary.”

ScotlandLiteraryVernacular1970s1980sScottish CultureStandard EnglishDemoticScottish Voice
Book:Out of History: Narrative Paradigms in Scottish and British Culture
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“If I Returned From The Land of Death by Stewart Stafford If I returned from the land of Death, Could I recall its vast domain? To regale with tales of my last breath, Or bury all such earthly pain? Do infinite spirits teem astral skies, Whispering, "Infant, be not afraid!"? Ocean glare that blinds not the eyes, Heartfelt welcomes can but persuade. To see those I lost once more, As smiles and greetings abound? Why would I wade a waning shore, To reject formless bliss so sound? © 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”

PhilosophyDeathSpiritualityGriefImmortalityAfterlifeExistentialMetaphysicalTranscendenceEmily Dickinson
Author:Stewart Stafford
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“In it, I was sitting across from my wife, who was nude but wrapped in a gauzy fabric. She had a clipboard in her hand, and was moving a pencil down it as if ticking off entries on a list. "Where are you?" she asked. "Devil's Throat," I said. "What are you doing?" "Carrying a basket through the forest." "What's in the basket?" I looked down, and there they were: four beautiful spheres. "Two eggs," I counted. "Two figs." "Are you sure?" I did not look down again, afraid that the answer would change. "Yes." "And what is through the forest?" "I do not know." "And what is through the forest?" "I am not certain." "And what is through the forest?" "I cannot tell." "And what is through the forest?" "I don't remember." "And what is through the forest?" I woke up before I could answer.”

Her Body And Other Parties
Book:Her Body and Other Parties: Stories
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