dting 32 CYVons a The Architecture of the Sentence Essay and Drawings William H, Gass and Mary Gass “tat i the aol ofthe we” side salary "Syuce” sid Pea, “for al shee coe sect Binge nate om mace atl aps do hey eo fox pace eater ane eet) ‘hn hse the ga Chandy Upaibt (ONE: INTRODUCTION Ler aco tying tote the point of his poet as ucinctiy speiie “Bro srs of space concem us hr. Fit, there re the spaces we lieand work en bald in the pace which the py die nd theopace wey tuoush to reaeh Sa Lake Cy or hic fa ‘euler al ch mc cna thn les {tbe ea oro oper where weap elaone ant ty wpe ‘an tc catopapbers protons te pistr Soopecine oo ‘€iy’shierarchies, the musician's scale and scote, the architect's plans, theelecticans dap, management ow cart bles el tes nd onpzation ery day ef information, statal or ther ‘eb a npn iting sel Herein suche we thnk erlan and we dipWiliam H. Gass | Mary Gass What is the relation between there wo soit of space! the el and the representei? between an engavers perspective and an actual, seca between the Soctl Reiter and a eazdboud howe Beneath inkige! Between a note ands le! Our vestigation merely begin bere snd the mot provisional way, wonders whether ts posse to tink or plan or design aa witon a epreserttional pace In hich to doi and without an adequate notation though whieh Such plano fas canbe expres snd whether there may ot be ‘commonality between these arenas, «essay between the {ction invelved which might mak pose the dcorey of what Aten to say of something at i "archtetral” Forbes ture, a we conceive ty maybe the genta method of contin relations in epreaentational pce inode tha hey tay be mate ‘ally conswucted in phenomenological pace—in spaces 2 ied i the consequence of harman culture x aseally that uounds san with many that ieeplces nate with enention that eles {otame she wldemesinervening in everyting them architecture isthe ar which wnderlies all such construction, andi ultimate aim is towusround many not mecely with more a, but wih the best the most humana what is oman of wo bodes canal our conscousnes ie the bus xis, bars. oe “SEW Dlling for whats ain spun Literatu, the other select ti enti ike masie Ie peal maticnatico ie ‘espe ofl dat conscious from within, to ene nse {he mind seangetents of sound, and struts of ene, which wll find thie bet SecOnNEion ta Che FUT pace, he elo ‘which wilin thei pune depths resemble hes. ADAULS is P Ealer Ding for Categorie Tropostions i © © vamesse CY) Ogos Qj) Famteyehacm William H, Gass / Mary Gass Two 1, Out fst stop at Aretol and the concep of "sme form.” Ato dscoverel tht ll roositons in Grek could he reduced tofour kinds All Sis, Some Sis F, No is P and Some Si not P ‘A methods of representation ae bared on a belie that formal felitons cen be reproduced in diferent medi witootsigafcant {Ekteatiny chat no nly ae appeal dierent sentences never: theless of the seme for for istance: "The ext ate the at" aod "The Professor seduced hs stent bt thn the mse “in the score the mse smarking on a CD, de msi iratina nthe ‘Sr tse seat sound ety all have the sae form." Ths Palladian symmety—tvo suates on either ideof cele exhibits the ame form 2 the sonata, namely ABA, of Home Departare Return, which ie the sume'as the course ofthe od and the Odyssey Adstole also discovered thst dhe validity of an argument de Jendel solely om for, but this could ot be ley eetod ml the concept which soe fr Sand Pin any ropoion were fst sptalloe, an egatded 3 representing clase, and secon: {he copa) was given whats called sn extensional interpreation. ‘ip ander extensional interpretation) means ele deny, clay inclusion or clase member. fe ter Venn aga alloved us to “ae” what made a valid sxgument vai. {The invention of pope musi! notation lo enabled music tobccome wat is Anew musi pace cement being nae of the higher and lower notes onthe scale, of sal Syma at slow ow slt instrumental placement, the ear and texture and fengnol tone ct And words nv msi ough common meanings {native on, The word of musa pce behind the lowed ‘jes inthe dark bllow of hehe. “then, in our ine, the sale became coma; whe propels snd ar ylinder ante were aed to the orchestra when ele: tronic enlarged therein of posse sound then composers bad to thoi the od notation or avent anew one for thir ne ned Erlyon, the Grecks who had a predominaely orl euler, and could not hay consult books, formalated elaborate methods foe ‘emenbering, These methods continved well through the Rena Senvr andthe) were amon iva architetural One of the ost famous i the memory theater of Giulio Camilla, Easy in life one 95William H. Gass / Mary Gass ‘began picturing to oneself an imagined building furnishing It over time with icons which stood for subjects and moods. In Camillo’ ‘theater the basic sages are taken from the planetary gods, expres. ing for example, the tranquility of Jupiter, the anger of Mars, che nielincholyof Saturn, the ardor of Venus and so on. Beneath these fimages were deaiers in which manuscripts of Cicero's speeches, ixpropriate tothe top symbolized, were kept Such theaters were sccually built. They anceipate the computers hyperspace -Grammacians began to ty to symbolize the form of the sen- tence with various Inds of diagrams, allof then spatial, mostly twechouse forms which show up very eatly and have genealogical uses, and naturally adap themselves tothe depiction of syntactical strutures, though some look more ike iver dels, er even mobiles, before returning to a soberer sore of tinkertoy geometry. These scholars recognized thatthe right motivation was not merely the lemest or leest complicated one, but actually eeated the ground for ‘understanding, £ Chomsky added deep structure to the grammarian’s surface struccure. The term "deep" is itself spatial. The term “dep” i also talismanic, Anything deep i veiled. Anything dep is deeply impor tant Thave reservations about deep sractare adits workability. I remains, nevertheless, basically a spatial notation project Willian H. Gass | Mary Gass 1, The most useful of these schemes is what I all the box da ‘ram, whose function is to show how each meaning is subsumed by foother until all the words of the sentence are in a sinele space ‘When we box diagram the syntax ofa sentence we are drawing the sentences floorplan For example: "They looked) the visitor, they touched, they vaguely pretended to conside, but with skepticism in the quality of their attention oa fara courtesy permite” We shall | encounter this sentence by Henry James again i. i eentenoes ate weilormed in more than lagical and syntac- tical ways, They ace alo formed with eahetie and shetorical inten tons, Rhetoric i ina sone, the study ofthe forms of the paraaph, ‘nd how phrases and clauses are arranged, not only in sentences, but inthe linkage of sentence to sentence. Prowedy atempts todo some thing withthe Hhythm of language. And many theorists have tied to deal with vowel music and other elements, including the atual ook of letters J. When oe writes, on is constructing not only ast of sentences, ‘but a complex st of spaces logical, grammatical, rhetorical referen I, musical ocial and go on} in which and through which the feel ing, ideas and energies ofthe sentences can express themselves. ‘Thisi the architecte ofthe sentence, And sometimes achitectane tgelf resembles sentence. Rerhape theve spaces can help us define "the architectral.” ‘THREE 1, There ig dletinetion to be drawn between sentences spatial Jy formed fom the outside, and those formed from ube inside, as well at spaces determined a least in pathy the varios mea Ings of the sentence, rather than by the structure of the sentence alone 1. The fist sot is nicely illustrated by what is called Yeonerete poetry.” External shaping dcears when the context ofthe poem of pategaph suggests an object in the world whose shape is ten used to format the poem or paragraph on the page. Apollonaire's CCalligrams usually assume the shape of their subject. George Her ‘eres well-known poem not only imitates the Faster wings it speaks cf but those wings symbolize the poem's spiital aspritions. More ‘innlicantly, Herbert planned an entre volume of wees so that each poem would combine to forme Temple. The most extame ease {is that of Morgansten's Fish, which is formes entisely from the orWilliam H. Gass | Mory Gass symbols for stongly and wealdy sessed syllables symbols that fovm very natural sales, by, Above ate to schematic pictures of the Frame Tale one ikea ima, the othe like an seenedian of nest of Boxes. The general form eoenbles that of indirect address, of Helen sid that ou told her that in the middle ofthe movie Melanie suddenly shouted: "Tve got to have a pum” Bocrac’s Decameron, Thousand and One Nights, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales nd Fis OBrien’ At Swit Two Bins ave str ames. This pa ita diogsampltures Jn Barth SMeneljd Helen of Tio, havin Been reseed rom the Trojans by her husband, {busy giving Bim exensen fr ber long stay in Paris's company ani ndenvr Ingo postpone wit is Heel to hapren toler tobe avnbed by he ong-dented Ht or ree ln fa fury, Go each exe intenrupced by Shor ke» ster, and continued 1 the momber seven ‘The conclusion of oxy oven permits x to conc and So on Ti meas that catia pms In the work some of the words wil be fccurting in tote than oe econ ata the, We can Itrally Took hough one taative to see pts of oer singin 2 preons ine Fein Path hs een very inventive ove way story called the "Pers 98 William H. Gass / Mary Gass isa retelling of the myth of Perseus as ifthe hero's exploits were faved on a tiumphal column like Hain’ pillar, 0 that some hrs ofthe piece have tobe read as if they were above and tothe left fofthe other. The sory inscaes a logavichme spiral. alo Calvino’ Invisible Citas similesiy unvvinds, taming through Dante® de 2 * ae ee ere a Cotte ae cere Sere ca Tie Wear nd (earn We nl ‘pern”” does, IC is said to be embedded. Klein worms are geometric [bed ferdebelepemet Negrete ete oe ecm ee ee eee ea an ec cece : SSeS te cee nh me Pore a aca ae epee Biren erg eerie a oat ek tec eet DNA Teg st ee cS es oe ee ee Ee eae | eae op baoend teen tere i So re %°Wiliam H. Gaze / Mary Gass ‘he guy people called “good old Henry” said short but fond ‘oodlye co 8 sour and sulle, pale faced Lany, his off and on fiend fof these ¢umultuous last twenty ox 0 yeas ‘Oe: Goodbye, Lary, Henry sid. Goode Bye by. Four 1, Sentences ani paragraphs first of all fonction of (izing andthe asic unit of thee onganiation ist the 4, Sentences and paragraphs secondly fonction{ musical) in ‘ems of ehythm and meter, and in tems of the ae an ual of oun 4 Ex STEN an fg opt, dy, a he EOE) level interns of pattems, fepesitons, bans, verons and 9 4, Sete ad pan onto, nation ERSTE in terms of how the mouth makes them: gutterally, dently, tipping. Ieee "The Fira te Fehln’™ ts wel-named. Often over Tooke, every mode of their manufacture is important William #. Gass / Mary Gass 5. Central to understanding the syntactical steucture of the sen tence i the box diagram, whose purpose isto depict the oder and ‘ture of meming modification in the sentence by means of aja Sngand inclusive spaces, ‘Si Thomas Malory ‘Aviso Sc Lancelot an the dame! departed. 4. The conjunction signifies that che sentence to follow will be connected to another structure; the “so” suggests thatthe sentence Ss consequence ofthat other stncture, Although the sya paces > Lanoelot and the damsel in equal postions, as agents ofthe acon, ‘tis clea that Lanelot estes a mach more superior space than thet ‘esgnated by “damsel” who is not even piven a name. Moreover, damsel are young, The socially supesir space in which “Sit” puts Lancelot, his prior place in che word onder, his having a name all Jndieate& dominant fanetion, "Lancelot” aa name, closes up ait © stress at both ends, Compare “Arthur and the damsel departed” ‘Even the sound of damsel echoes the o-si-cel which precedes i nd (he “am” we find there resembles the “an” of "Lancelot. 'b. The thythm of the sentence suagests a rearward movement fight after Lancelot closes stengly with its “ot,” since “and the Aamsel departed has oaly tivo stong suesses. The vetb “depart” is ike sidewall sway from the sentences two subordinate rooms. Sir Thomas Browne Gravestone el tu sate foty yeas, Gensation pss ‘whl sme es tnd and ol aia not hee “Taking a clue fron the content ofthe two sentences and fll: lng the evidence of the strong beatin the paired and stresed sy lables it Is eaty to see, {think that part ofthe success of these sentences depends upon the wall which they erect, almost asf they 101Wiis #, Cass | Mary Gass ‘were gravestones themselves. The frst sentence set the patern for the seomd whose to clatses follow its sound, its beat, and its meaning. Here we have more than parallel courses. We have pile ‘up structures, ‘rim stones. seteTENCe! THe FACADE ‘Sir Walter Raleigh © cloquent, just, and mighty death! Wm none coat ‘ie thu hast eteuded at nae ath dated, do ast roman hom al the ri ha tered. hn ony st {st tof the weld and despised. Th hast dew opt al the farstetched gence, all the pte erly sb ‘Sito ofan, and covered allover with hes fe ar ‘ave won, le fcr ‘We actualy enter the “0” (as one is expected to doa the beginning ofthis kindof apostrophe, and we passthrough several other Os, uheractal or implied, on our way tothe dreaded subject: death, (Oreloguent we begin, but mst remember that syntactieally the i William H. Gass / Mory Gass sentence rons: © eloquent, © just and O mighty Death! We have ‘limbed tothe threshold of thie mausoleum. Parallel and antithet- ‘a clauses are ranged on ether side of Death, whose name i repeat: ceily invoked throah "hou" and “whom,” As we did to form out ‘wal, we place the parallels one above the other being carefl to match word order, sens, beat and sound in each clause Te antitheses completed, the passage goes strxght up che cata logue of "greatness," “pride,” “erueley” and “ambition” to its Bleak ‘covering conclusion, ringing "all” and “none” like bells: this passes, all ges, Its more than metaphorical, o arrange Raelgh’s prose ths way. ‘Atte ame lee at which we can say that scare and recorded groove have the “same for” this dlageazn has much the same form as ts veal generator. And implies an appropiate facade 103Williny HE. ase / Mary Gass SPACE OP THE OBSERVER: the Shopman, Prince, Chaslote SPACE OF THE HAND: bye, nervously, tender foam mm Jn Jom fe fm |e Wiliam H. Cass | Mary Gass ‘As we enter the sentence we observe frst of all thatthe sounds of the words, normally rather asitary and secidental properties of ‘what we want to convey, are ch object ofthe greatest cae, and that pattems ged quite dilleren from the ones which syatae, Feu dhs ate Treats cure Te Teteers “and Pr gredominae, as they do inthe phrase “the golden bow.” The ay refer Jon foe | tone SPACE OF THB TABLE: thelist. SPACE OF SOCIAL MEANING. ‘en Tames Esly in the development of Henry James late novel, The Golden Bo, we accompany an impoverished and clawnishly named italian prince, Prince Atmergo, a « shopping expedition with the lovely CChariite Stant, a Halian born American who is infatuated with Im, The meeting is clandestine, and its purpose isthe purchase of a Sif for Maggie Verver, the woman whom the Prince plans to marry. Jielae they serve in the antique shop where chy willbe eventually thoy a enblet et fom a single cyst and covered sll in fl gilding which not only enbances the beauty ofthe bv, but Seo hides a flow in the quarts. However, frst the desler sets out 3 few smaller items in tia singlar sentence: 0 ecent oi gol od se, old onze, fod cha td [etd arity wee the objects ht screed {So en meri i the coe, ho Shopsrans sary ih ingen, with eat lly towed hem, stir eros eyo the oa ches layer reas Tew foc ver the toned, om a figure e TABS tay sve ster ayn: mal onl ancien: ‘Sel amaaptt pendants ets, osc, back, pre- ‘Sate a de eligi Hodes se, pen ether too ime orton see or ay ites wmted with tee nd coed dae boxes prseted oe ithe esate estoy ry ter stand a raincoat snd Groen that weal then elven pees he ben ped croton 108 aed “old is eterted, a cous tobe ina shop fll of aniques, fu the metals ae announce which have slays med the leg endary ages of man: “old god old silver, old onze.” "They take ws down these sounds these patterns, these metal, the pening pun onthe werd "decent," they take us dow steps into the sf efor bee how eae tention fea turned to “ol ani ie were aver. The hop, onthe oer hands eaied by the fiction itself, ot the shape ofthe sentence; the sn {ences interested inthe shop's acct, and inthe shoprosn biel. “The shops x playing = gstne wit the Prince at his comm anion, exactly a James is with us. He is making his moves, and ich object he displays is deceive in some sight wa. He shows ther "i lint, Hoods rubies” *diamonils that hal essed to desale” The exptessan “smal ld ancientees isl, and aptly, abit anclen, usados, The pauses, the besitatons in the passage, mimic the movement of the traeemen's and which touches the various brooches and pendants and pens “bly, ner ‘ously tenderly" The action of the language andthe action ofthe band lie on paalel al resembling planes. The shopkeeper lovingly cles Chanote and the Pine «counter ful of thing, ames lov. ingly aves ne it of word" ays taper stand” Ae eadere ‘weave laced inthe peition ofthe Prine He seca the We | eaters wort The one he other. The Pine’ inte eye | Rat amers inmate gent, wily remark the vg limita ths ofthe stack, a the ich ist cotindes, wrapped the elegant wert of sm sound the delgfal shimmer ot ony ‘Sor Stitiponmana oe ing a estas ely lt ania Nose temp dl ‘he ty eile chee te dec se SEA el a hl a ce SoitySopte dete cose ngpcolte hers Jonen SE pty ees fe scans Wey iS hevstd ye yo net 105Willian H, Case / Maxy Gass oie, but wth seepicism, far as courtesy permits in ‘he quality of dee eta In he ancient sallow satin of gome weaky.snapping lite box nthe ancient sallow satin of some weaby-saapping litle box Inthe ancient sallow satin of same weakly snapping litle bax In the ancient callow satin of some weakly: snapping litle box ‘Inthe ancient sallow satin of some weaty-snapping litle box ihe selene slow stn 6 acne waky-anapping tle box James eturns to is bilianty reflective form as one still hungry oes back to the bute, but nove the concen af the sentence i the ‘nature ofthe Prince's and Charlotte's tention “They looked the visio, thy touched hey vaguely we teed to coasey uth cepa, 9 a a couse Peni nthe ality ofthe tent Astyle could scarcely be mote a mixorof its own effects, The nes: vou nicely of word the salesman hesitant macipulations he silt ‘ot both ou attention a eaders and that of the characters sn finally the quality of their sensitivity and ours of ese, a we follow ant affzm i, not co omit che author's deeper discriminations as he com- poses the entize scene, ate combined to provide us with an almost ‘hunting example of what a eultre crystallized within style can do. ‘ow many spaces ate there heret There i the staitopace throgh ‘which we moved to reach the shop. There is the space ofthe ob fervers the Prince and Chaslotte, the salesman. There isthe space inade by the shopkeepers nervous, duplicitous hand, There i the table which beara Unese trophies, marked like ches board with its Dostivise grid. There isthe socil space each object suggests and belongs in, as well the socal level ofthe space te inhabe while sve think of what to buy. ‘Should the architect omit any ofthese spaces wien the total space hae o she i insisting om rises into the word of sense fom the pale lines ofthe drftng page Finally, le me try st once to work the other way. Here ia McKim, ‘Meade and White's plan forthe Brooklyn Museum, which as you ‘enow, as only partly realized. What sot of sentence might have is form? Since {have only partly coped with che spatial hierarchy here, ‘his too wil be only pat realized—however 106 Willian H. Case / Mary Gass 3) tot fermi : 4 ST mee af | oe Foetunate young bicker, ildeel, ded hy his loving ‘other, who had wealy dea Hn and coanecled by ht tedster, who had rise and font sivas, bought fee of junk astounding the wold and making tose and ove it howevey, mised by isha aun oad 4 ckel and costly consort sad by bi depraved wc id ace sorte pl ol hnal into ben Melt, virtual. 107Willi #, Gass f ary Case ‘Many sentences ofthis form might be imagined, but che important thing they would ave chi form, ‘At one end ofthe seale ef the management of relations, there stand the mathematician, who hs facilites ordinary people can scarcely imagine, hut the mathematician eannot rou les or even faite bones. On the other end the architec, wo works with rel ‘dons realized in some material in the connections of objects, inthe oneretions necesnty #0 sense, He should remember, hen he is pltcing stone by stone, that he is shaping a type of sentence, he ‘ould remember, when hes deaeing this that line, hat hes also ‘outlining a pattern of sounds forthe azchiteet isthe master of rep- resented space af every kind, and that means hei the master ofthe ‘making mind Retablos Poems and Photographs C.D. Wright and Deborah Luster “translations by Gabriel Bema! Granados FLOATING LADY RETABLO Remember remember ay my young bulls On thine alta ald and cold asthe truth Tas your ‘Pessonal all purpase all weather fuck machine before the finger ‘Of suspicion could fre one bad shot the door CCosed on us am the emancipated white man in the paddock (Gomman as drt Tseare the howsea_Tean lie ‘Atany speed Reouerdame_a=1 did you from the short stob (Of memory in my path Lave Leter #3 reeverda me Siempre go try your luck onthe mountain it pleases ye RETABLO DE LA MUJER FLOTANTE Recuerdo yo recuerdo. oftezco mis bueyes En vuesto altar” desnudoy fro como Ta verdad)_yo er it [Maquina de coger siempedispuesta ates que el ded Dela sospecha pudira era el dispose nor ceré Ia poerta soy el hombre blanco emancipado en la dehesa Comin como la mugre ahayento alos eaballos puedo mentir Acalguier velocidad Reeverdame as dig you Irom the shore sab Dela memoria en mi caming Carta de Amor #3 reenérdame Slemre ve a pobar muerte en la montana site place 109