THE AGE OF WIRE AND STRING

Ben Marcus, 1995

IDEA | BOOK

Language turned on its head and used to document a culture in an alternate universe. Marcus makes you question what words really are. These familiar arrangements of symbols used to communicate massive, invisible, infinite concepts the human mind isn’t adequately equipped to comprehend.

It inspires a nuanced form of humour. Subtle. As our reality is deconstructed it becomes some absurd joke. One that we’re all blind to because we live in it, or rather, we are it.

This is how an alien language would appear to us. A string of symbols and patterns infused with meaning and traces of consciousness. And the most impressive part, Marcus uses English, his own native tongue, to achieve this experience.

Extracted Passage | G - D

It is a mode entered by flaxen tree tools from three to twelves lawns long, sometime curved slightly, with conical bore and a cup-shaped godpiece. It produces only the natural angels of the city, slightly modified, however, by the material of the landbound heaven. North of its leaves, the tool is used to call wasps into the bore to shape the angels as they are wept against the grass.

Illustration by Carton Morgan

Author Interview | Chicago Humanities

Although this interview with Adam Levin took place around the release of Marcus’ book Leaving The Sea, there are many insightful comments made on writing, language and the creative process.

Publishers

Published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1995, and Dalkey Archive Press in 1997.

Ben Marcus

Ben Marcus is a wordsmith who mines for truth through a process of deconstruction and reassembly.