4 - Tropes of Subversion

Summary

Jegliches umfangreichere KunstWerk? – liefere, deutlich, die AbBildung des psy= Apparates seines Schöpfers.

(ZT 1185)

Schmidt's play with non-phonetic signs and the etym theory illustrate his fragmentary style of writing and highlights his rejection of traditional logical chains of reasoning. Instead of presenting any dogmatic truths about language, Schmidt sought to animate the reader to create his or her language through self-conscious figuration. Although the etym language might suggest a rather confining way of reading and reflecting upon language and reality, the fact is that even Schmidt, as the self-proclaimed creator of such a mode of inquiry into oral and written language, remains inscribed in his own speaking and writing. It is the reader, who, after having been taught to be distrustful of any final conclusions and traditional beliefs, retains the role of the critic, the innovator, who creates new points of view. As the previous chapter argued, Schmidt's concept of language is essentially metaphorical, and, as such, gains its value as a rhetorical device. Expanding on Schmidt's use of tropes, I now seek to delineate the role of tropes, such as metaphor, allegory, metonymy, and wit, as the principle means of representing the absence of presence.

Following the Socratic method of dialogic conflict between views about language, Schmidt presents the metaphoric character in the context of a debate between Wilma and Dan. The object of inquiry is the “flower” as a metaphor in literary texts. True to the dialogical principle, Dan engages Wilma in a discussion about Poe’s abundant use of “Blum’mphylle” typical of his texts (ZT 381).