BEN MARCUS: to understand something is to compromise it
The true Jewish teaching is not for wide consumption; is not for groups; is not to be polluted by even a single gesture of communication. Spreading messages dilutes them. Even understanding them is a compromise. Language kills itself, spires inside its host. Language acts as an acid over its message. If you no longer care about an idea or feeling, then put it into language; that will certainly be the last of it, a fitting end. Language is another word for coffin.
Ben Marcus, from The Flame Alphabet
[ Resources ]
- Watch Marcus explain the book’s premise
- Watch a short film based on TFA
- Read an excerpt
- Read the reviews: NYT | LA Times | SF Chronicle | SF Weekly | The Millions | Kirkus | Publisher’s Weekly | New York Books | Philly Inquirer | NY Journal of Books | Largehearted Boy