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1、CHAPTER6LanguageinOperationThenthebirdsaid"Nevermore."EdgarAllanFoeRecently,aboardatrain,Ioverheardascrapofconversation.Amansaidtoayounglady,"Theywereplaying'TheRaven'ontheradio.AnoldrecordofaLondonactordeadforyears.IwishyouhadheardhisNevermore.''^AlthoughIwasnottheaddresseeofthes
2、tran•ger'soralmessage,Ireceiveditneverthelessandlatertransposedthisutterancefirstintohandwrittenandthenintoprintedsymbols;nowithasbecomeapartofanewframework—mymessagetotheprospec•tivereaderofthesepages.Thestrangerhadresortedtoaliteraryquotation,whichapparentlyalludedtoanemotionale
3、xperiencesharedwithhisfemaleinterlocutor.Hereferredtoaperformanceallegedlytransmittedbybroadcast.AdeadBritishactorwastheoriginalsenderofamessageaddressed"towhomitmayconcern."He,inturn,hadmerelyreproducedEdgarAllanPoe'sliterarymessageof1845.Furthermore,theAmericanpoethimselfwasoste
4、nsiblyonlytransmittingtheconfessionofa"loverla•mentinghisdeceasedmistress"^—perhapsthepoethimself,perhapssomeotherman,realorimaginary.Withinthismonologue,thewordnevermoreisattributedtoatalkingbird,withthefurtherimplication50LanguageinOperationthatthatonewordutteredbytheRavenhadbee
5、ncaughtfromsomeunhappymaster,asthemelancholyburdenofhiscustomarylaments.Thusthesamesinglewordwassuccessivelysetinmotionbythehpothetical"master,"theRaven,thelover,thepoet,theactor,theradiostation,thestrangeronthetrain,andfinallybythepresentauthor.The"master"repeatedlyexteriorizedth
6、eellipticone-wordsentenceofhisinnerspeech,nevermore;thebirdmimickeditssoundsequence;theloverretaineditinhismemoryandreportedtheRaven'spartwithreferencetoitsprobableprovenience;thepoetwroteandpublishedthelover'sstory,actuallyinventingthelover's,Raven's,andmaster'sroles;theactorread
7、andrecitedforarecordingthepieceassignedbythepoettotheloverwithitsnevermoreattributedbythelovertotheRaven;theradiostationselectedtherecordandputitontheair;thestrangerlistened,remembered,andquotedthismessagewithreferencetoitssources,andthelinguistnotedhisquotation,reconstitutingthew
8、holesequenceoftransmittersandperh
