From: kerry miller
Subject: For Jacques (was: Silence (and re: A poem!
What is missing is the _gesture_ of silence here, where we disdain to have rollcall, use ellipses with abandon, and have auto-bots that only respond when called on ('Im out of the office right now'). But wait! Is this not amenable to the gentle touch of technology? In the not-so-very distance, I can see intelligent mailers that will note the frequency with which we address a site, and (on a decaying interval) issue sorry-im-away-right-now messages for us. Indeed, since the inverse would also be possible (subscribing on our behalf -"This list is about to be joined by Bas Bousa, w/ ATD (anticipated traffic density, in msg/msgs) = .05" - and fetching home specimen posts for the ramp-up), it suggests that net- silence is only as traumatic as, and perhaps due to, the abrupt ingression of presence.
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Beyond the Orality/Literacy Dichotomy:
James Joyce and the Pre-History of Cyberspace
For Enok, btw, he goes on to mention
Marcel Jousse's groundbreaking books on gesture as the
origin of language, _La Manducation de la Parole_ ("The
Mastication of the Word").
/blockquote>
by Donald F. Theall
Postmodern Culture v.2 n.3 (May, 1992)
Acutely sensitive to the inseparable involvement of
speech, script, and print with the visual, the auditory, the
kinesthetic and other modes of expression, Joyce roots all
communication in gesture: "In the beginning was the gest he
jousstly says" (468.5-6). Here the originary nature of
gesture (gest, F. %geste% = gesture) is linked with the
mechanics of humor (i.e., jest) and to telling a tale
(gest as a feat and a tale or romance). Gestures, like
signals and flashing lights that provide elementary
mechanical systems for communications, are "words of silent
power" (345.19). A traffic crossing sign, "Belisha beacon,
beckon bright" (267.12), exemplifies such situations "Where
flash becomes word and silents selfloud."
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