“Wordplay hides a key to reality that the dictionary tries in vain to lock inside every free word.”
"Wordplay hides a key to reality that the dictionary tries in vain to lock inside every free word."
In this quote, Julio Cortazar suggests that wordplay holds a deeper understanding of reality that cannot be fully captured by a dictionary. The use of language that goes beyond the literal meanings of words allows for a more nuanced and insightful exploration of concepts and experiences. By playing with words and their meanings, one can unlock new perspectives and revelations that may not be easily discernible through conventional definitions. Cortazar's words reveal the richness and complexity of language as a tool for understanding and interpreting the world around us.
The quote by Julio Cortazar highlights the power of wordplay in uncovering deeper truths about reality. In a world where language is constantly evolving, the nuances and creativity of wordplay offer a unique perspective that cannot be simply defined by a standard dictionary. By playing with words and their meanings, we are able to unlock hidden layers of reality that may otherwise remain unnoticed.
The quote by Julio Cortazar suggests that wordplay can reveal deeper truths that dictionaries fail to capture. Reflect on the following questions to explore the power of language and meaning:
“Why couldn't I accept what was happening without trying to explain it, without bringing up ideas of order and disorder, of freedom, as one sets out geranium pots in a courtyard on the Calle Cochabamba? Maybe on had to fall into the depths of stupidity in order to make the key fit the lock to the latrine or to the Garden of Olives.”
“But what is memory if not the language of feeling, a dictionary of faces and days and smells which repeat themselves like the verbs and adjectives in a speech, sneaking in behind the thing itself,into the pure present, making us sad or teaching us vicariously...”
“Anyone who finds himself incapable of grasping the complexities of a work hides his withdrawal behind the most superficial pretext because he has not gotten past the surface.”
“Thirsty for being, the poet ceaselessly reaches out to reality, seeking with the indefatigable harpoon of the poem a reality that is always better hidden, more re(g)al. The poem’s power is as an instrument of possession but at the same time, ineffably, it expresses the desire for possession, like a net that fishes by itself, a hook that is also the desire of the fish. To be a poet is to desire and, at the same time, to obtain, in the exact shape of the desire.”
“All established order forms a line of resistance against the threat of rupture and places its meager forces at the service of continuity. That everything should continue as usual is the bourgeois standard of a reality that is indeed bourgeois precisely because it is a standard.”
“Skill alone cannot teach or produce a great short story, which condenses the obsession of the creature; it is a hallucinatory presence manifest from the first sentence to fascinate the reader, to make him lose contact with the dull reality that surrounds him, submerging him in another that is more intense and compelling.”