You can probably unpack everything I'm doing by reading Dissemination, The Aesthetic of the Good Physician, and Philosophy Through the Looking Glass. But the most underdeveloped element in terms of raw explanation, is PTLG.
One of the authors Lecercle discusses, Raymond Roussel, systematically uses puns to create stories. In one case, a story that begins with a billiard cue ends with detention based on a French pun. In other cases, he uses phonetic similarities to generate stories that seem impossible. For instance, in one case, a marksman shoots the yoke out of a soft-boiled egg. Why? Phonetic similarity between les gras du mollet (a French gun) and un ouf mollet (a soft-boiled egg). The author was consciously working with these phonetic packs and drawing stories out of them. Ultimately, no one could figure out what he was doing until he posthumously produced a "key" which described the "device" he used to produce these stories.
When people have a stroke they can potentially end up with something called aphasia. They'll produce gibberish, but the gibberish can often sound like something they want to say (phonetic paraphasia as opposed to semantic paraphasia). For example, my grandmother used the word "Texas" in place of "breakfast" after she had an aneurysm.
It would be nearly impossible to say anything if we had to look for each word we needed. Instead, the process is largely automatic and operates on principles closer to the example we see above. Hence why this author was popular among surrealists even though his work was largely incomprehensible to the public.
ChatGPT tries to write a pun fiction
I asked ChatGPT to write a fiction that began with a character "peeling" their own skin and ended with the sound of sirens peeling. Weirdly, the direction it took was fairly inspiring.
Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Emily who lived a quiet life in a small town. One day, she noticed a strange rash on her arm that wouldn't go away. She tried everything to get rid of it, but nothing worked. Desperate for relief, she began to peel her skin. She started with just a small area, but before she knew it, she was peeling large sections of skin all over her body. The pain was intense, but the relief she felt was even greater.
As the days went by, Emily became more and more isolated. She was afraid of what people would think if they saw her peeling skin. She stayed at home all day, hiding from the world. One day, she heard a strange noise coming from outside. It was a low, bass-like sound that seemed to be getting louder and louder. She looked out the window to see a group of people marching down the street, ringing bells and chanting.
Emily was afraid, but she couldn't help but be drawn to the sound. She put on a long-sleeved shirt to cover her peeling skin and stepped outside. She followed the crowd to a large park, where they were holding a rally. The leader of the rally was a charismatic man who was speaking out against the government. He was calling for change and asking people to stand up and fight for their rights.
Emily was captivated by the man's words. She felt like she had finally found a place where she belonged. She joined the rally and became an active member of the group. She marched with them every week, ringing her bell and chanting with the crowd.
One day, the government sent in the police to break up the rally. The police used force and pepper spray to disperse the crowd. Emily and the other protestors were arrested and taken to jail. That night, as Emily lay in her cell, she heard the sound of a siren peeling in the distance. She knew that the police were coming for her and the others, and she feared for their safety.
But despite her fear, Emily refused to give up. She continued to fight for what she believed in, even from behind bars. And in the end, her efforts paid off. The government was forced to listen to the people and make changes. Emily was released from jail and hailed as a hero. And even though she was no longer peeling her skin, she was finally at peace, knowing that she had made a difference in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment