In Response to Triston Head on "Language"

I would like (what a terrible word) to start by saying how inciteful of a blog you have. I haven't read 1984 since I was seventeen and all I truly remember is the horrific seen in which it ends, but enough of myself. You bring up an excellent point about the "death and decay" of language. We see it everyday when "my balls" or "ass" replace precise words with vulgar abstractions and phrases that ironically are tell-tale signs of communication going down the shitter.

I would merely like to point out that Ovid is about as original as Shakespeare. He draws from well circulated myths of the time and revisions them into his own particularity of genius. In another book of Bates which I am reading he remarks upon how a genius is made, not from his originality, but from how much indebtedness they have.

Keep in mind what Sexson said last year: "The only thing original to a writer is style."

I hope that my small remarks come across as inciting and in no way demeaning or, shall we call it ungood?

Best of luck with your fruitful exploration into Ovid and Shakespeare and I'll see the left side of you soon enough. (And, of course, if you have any disagreement with the originality of Ovid I would love to hear it.)

James the Rat.