James Meador
Articles by James Meador:
Dank Lexeme Stash: Tungusic Ideophones
in Issue 77 | Black and Blue (Jul 2017)most languages in the family are already extinct or moribund - Tungusic languages are rich in ideophones - chimcharam, growing fainter with distance - cofok-cofok, deer buck hoof step - chige-lebele, urinating - shuwar, sword drawn from scabbard; snake moving rapidly; arrow in flight - khaonk, losing consciousness - whether you write a word with spray paint on a wall, say it out loud, or read it on a screen - I don't see a principled way to link the remaining sound images and ideational/sensory content
In Imitation of the Chinese
in Issue 74 | Correspondences (Apr 2017)from Russia to China and finally Brazil - erstwhile erastes to a series of younger men - each Russian word is monosyllabic, as are characters in Chinese - a philosophy of translation that appeared in the Western emigration - Leagues' dire arc - Arms' sick twitch / Souls' mute shriek
1874: Two Takes
in Issue 66 | Empiricism (Jul 2016)the students' faith in peasant radicalism - Nietzsche's dedication to understanding the ancient Mediterranean in its own terms - such a pursuit of inner polyphony fundamentally warps any human - a standardized 14-position Table of Ranks - the difference between liberalism and leftism - false-consciousness arguments cede an enormous amount of what was human agency - the American left's cradle and grave - making the Russian revolutionary movement perhaps one of the most impressive achievements of fan-fiction in European history
Observe This Service
in Issue 56 | Service (Sep 2015)without compunction - word all you youngsters - wrap up a tin can - yell out the order - yet partly vanished - you lied upon it