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Spaces of Work

The Iowa ReviewPublished 1 April 1981Open access
Padma Perera
Citations23
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Abstract

This book has to be written in the spaces between the words, the spaces between incidents, so that even if I do deal with factual detail, even if I do delve into physical and mental landscapes, my concern is to try and speak without speaking. I want to get to the beginnings of definition. What is holy ... ? What is mad ... ? What is healing ... ? What is thief ... ? Eliminate all notions o? prowess with words. Do away with that spurious, retrospective headiness of being articulate. Get down to the sources instead. Wrest them out of that silence/cry from which you experience is born, put into words that moment before you CAN put it into words. And of course that's an impossibility. can I presume to try? But there's the monkey on my back, saying: How dare you not risk it?