|k| clippings: 2014-12-08 — up is down

I must have read today’s WORD many times but never noticed it. I was gratified to discover that a well-read member of the Clamor felt similarly. My investigation shows it is often confused with “immersion,” which—in one of those linguistic oddities that makes language so fun—is quite the opposite.

WORK

“All the Way”

Dance a little,
don’t worry.

There’s all the way
till tomorrow

from today
and yesterday

Simple directions, direction,
to follow.

—Robert Creeley
—from Mirrors

WORD(S)

emersion. noun. Appearing above the water/surface. The opposite of submerging. More generally, coming out of concealment, often related to the occult. In astronomy, the reappearance of the sun or moon from an eclipse. From Latin emergere (to rise out or up).

“Her emersion from the mercantile mud.” (Samuel Foote)

“The warmth of the fire was pleasant after our emersion from the cold water and our exposure to the chill of the forest night.” (Edgar Rice Burroughs)

“…some years before or after the birth or death of other persons: the attendant phenomena of eclipses, solar and lunar, from immersion to emersion, abatement of wind, transit of shadow, taciturnity of winged creatures, emergence of nocturnal or crepuscular animals, persistence of infernal light, obscurity of terrestrial waters, pallor of human beings.” (James Joyce)

“The sea wants to take shape. The wave promises some great birth, a monster’s emersion, but it’s only a flowing, only a flowing among many, and completely dies away.” (Denis Johnson)

WEB

1. I often link to work from the Public Domain Review here. I’m pleased to see they have a new print book out: The Public Domain Review: Selected Essays, 2011–2013. And while you’re there, a few more interesting pieces to peruse: "The Serious and the Smirk: The Smile in Portraiture and “The Implacability of Things”, which explores stories told from the point of view of objects.

2. Typeset in the Future explores the typography of Alien. Previously: their exploration of type in 2001: A Space Odyssey

3. All the Minutes is like Christian Marclay’s The Clock (previously) except using Tweets that mention the time. A product of NaNoGenMo (National Novel Generation Month) (see the full list of computer-generated novels). Liza Daley has thoughtfully linked to some other selected examples, including her own based on the Voynich manuscript.

4. The Most Popular Books of All Time, an infographic. Hat-tip: Reader C.

5. Today is Bodhi Day (also known as Rohatsu), commemorating the traditional Buddha, Siddhartha Gautauma’s, enlightenment. Accounts vary, but most agree: after several years of strict asceticism and self-mortification, Gautauma decided to simply meditate under a fig tree—now known as the Bodhi tree—in Bodh Gaya, India, and was (relatively) quickly enlightened, becoming Buddha (the awakened one). Buddhists may observe Bodhi day by meditating, chanting sutras, studying the Dharma, stringing lights, and performing acts of kindness.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader S. wonders if: “Claudia Emerson thought of the play of letters in her last name and the unusual, in my experience, word ‘emersion’ she used in her poem?”

• Reader N. writes: “Thank you for introducing me to the works of Claudia Emerson. I had never read anything by her before. I also very much appreciate your mention of Conrad. I think that The Secret Agent has been undervalued. I have always thought of Heart of Darkness as the most perfect work to introduce the division between much of 19th century thought and 20th century thought about race and conquest and ”the other“ and the question of just what constitutes terrible violence. I have taught it to students but I gave up for a few years because the students always wanted to make the text pure and simply about use of the ”n“ word. They cannot accept it in historical context. They cannot see beyond it. ¶ Inspired by katexic I started reading Victory last night.”

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