Blog:Robin Blaser’s lecture

11/6/08

Based on the title of Robin Blaser’s lecture, I assumed he would be dealing with the ideas of life and death. Blaser opened his lecture by talking about a mother and her womb, which represents the beginning stages of life. He then continues by commenting on how speech is born in a household and from what I interpreted, Blaser connects language to life and how the cycle of life and language are both created. They both arise from a specific origin and they slowly evolve based on their surroundings and those involved. Blaser then states, “language is a fundamental … and poetic experience” and such is true with life. One cannot truly grasp and understand life until he has experienced the trials and tribulations life has to offer.

Although Blaser makes a connection between life and language, I continued to rethink the question and answer Blaser posed at the beginning of his lecture, which was something to the effect of: What is life? The expectation of death. I feel that Blaser may have been alluding to many ideas, one of which includes the idea that once life begins, the prospect of death is even closer. However, I don’t feel as if Blaser was hinting toward the thought of anticipating death every day of someone’s life, but since one knows that death is approaching after life, one should experience all of life’s possibilities. Referring back to the idea of life and language being connected, and if Blaser feels that death is an expectation of life, before any language dies out, it runs a course of usually being known and spoken by a good number of people. I think this reinforces the idea of just living life and having numerous people experience the joys one can offer without the constant worry of dying out. But just like every language and life that dies out, another one is reborn soon thereafter.