The Burning Word
I like what Judith Kunst, author of The Burning Word, has to say about sculpting hope through words...
In discussing the book of Lamentations, she notes,
"Each line begins with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This structure becomes a kind of container for pain that the heart and mind cannot by themselves hold. By focusing on language...the writer of Lamentations taps into an inventive energy that helps him survive despair." (p.54)
Maybe this explains why my sister closed her door to write fat books as child.
And maybe, in some way, it explains why I have just written a plump little book of my own... even though "the rains are over and gone."
media moment on my plump little book
In discussing the book of Lamentations, she notes,
"Each line begins with a succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This structure becomes a kind of container for pain that the heart and mind cannot by themselves hold. By focusing on language...the writer of Lamentations taps into an inventive energy that helps him survive despair." (p.54)
Maybe this explains why my sister closed her door to write fat books as child.
And maybe, in some way, it explains why I have just written a plump little book of my own... even though "the rains are over and gone."
posted by L.L. Barkat at 11:38 AM
3 Comments:
That's a very interesting take on the book of Lamentations. Do you think that this was a subconcious, systematic cataloging of pain, or do you think it was merely an attempt to hold onto something that the writer thought would be constant when everything else seemed to fall away? This just in, or perhaps could it have been merely the writer's attempt to hold on to something from the country, and the culture that was torn from him?
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Of course we can only speculate, as does, ultimately, Kunst. But, I like your second and your "just in" thoughts.
They remind me of how people, in times of loss and pain, revert to familiar prayers and songs like "Our Father, who art in heaven..." or "Great is Thy Faithfulness." The forms are a spiritual reaching out, yes, but they also serve as a constant and a cultural artifact.
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