Language as a lens

Abstract

This text was written first in Dutch in 2011. It is an adaptation of my BA thesis for the University of the Arts in Utrecht and I am still very excited that I wrote it in the way that I did, because it was written within an educational context of great creative freedom. This is to say that many of the things I state about language are based on experience working as a writer for stage productions, performance and poetry. I allow myself to play with language, and create my own terminology as I go along; a terminology of my own, based in my own practice – this is what still makes it a valuable text to me and hopefully to others, one I would never be able to produce again in the same way. I had a bigger ability to wonder, and less knowledge, for instance about Mieke Bal’s concept of focalization, to lean back on. I continued my studies after writing this, which means that a lot of the theory on language philosophy could have been backed up by a more specified theoretical framework. It is important to keep this in mind while reading this publication. If anything, it is an invitation to take a look anew at the material of a writer: language, vocabulary. I would like to invite you to consider this while reading. This text comes from a source of genuine wonder about words and what they might mean.