lexicography/pher as a literary/philosophical motif

[Frank Y Gladney]

Dear Toma,

Samuil Marshak has a short poem titled "Slovar'".  It begins, Userdnei s kazhdym dnem gliazhu v slovar' and ends Net, ne slovar' lezhit peredo mnoi, a drevniaia rassypannaia povest'.

Sorry I can't come up with the whole poem.

Frank

---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:40:08 +0200
>From: Toma Tasovac <ttasovac at PRINCETON.EDU>  
>Subject: [SEELANGS] lexicography/pher as a literary/philosophical motif  
>To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
>
>Dear colleagues,
>
>I'm interested in the literary and philosophical treatment of  
>lexicography and the figure of the lexicographer on his/her elusive  
>quest for meaning, identity and satisfaction in and against language,  
>which runs the gamut from mediocrity (Flauber't ridicule of Charles  
>Bovary's extensive and systematic use of the French-Latin dictionary,  
>for instance) to madness (Roget's obsessive-compulsive compilation of  
>lists of all sorts, or the celebrated case of the committed -- in  
>both senses of the word -- OED contributor William Chester Minor).
>
>I'd like to dip into the collective brain of this list and solicit  
>examples -- Slavic or non-Slavic -- of poetry (e.g. Neruda's Odo al  
>Diccionario), fiction (such as Bruno Frank's Der Reisepaß, Pavic'  
>Хазарски речник), essays written by non-lexicogrphers  
>(e.g. Sartre writing about the fascinating pictures in Nouveau  
>Larousse illustré, or Borges' preface to Diccionario enciclopédico  
>Grijalbo), dictionaries written by non-lexicographers (Voltaire's   
>Dictionnaire philosophique, Flaubert's Dictionnaire des idées  
>reçues, Solzhenitsin's Русский словарь  
>языкового расширения) or any other literary/ 
>philosophical texts in which the theory and practice of collecting  
>and defining words plays a thematic, metaphoric or structural role.
>
>Any tips or references, no matter how small, would be appreciated.  
>Many thanks in advance.
>
>All best,
>Toma
>
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