|
The Letterseeker is a fantasy novel in progress, about 70% complete.
That 70% represents the result of nearly two decades of research
and personal experience, while delving ever more deeply into the
vast linguistic well I have termed the phenomenon of Eidophonetics,
or the relation between meaning and sound. Over the years there have
been many interruptions of this creative process, and quite frankly I am
uncertain whether I shall ever complete this story. But there is enough,
certainly, to convey the message I wish to convey. Before reading
The Letterseeker, or at least concomitantly with it, I recommend reading
both of the essays "The Philology of the Idea"
and "The Philosophical Etymology of Hobbit".
The reader should also be assured that every expression found in the streams
of words that come as auditory visions in the story are actual words in the
Indo-European languages, including of course English but ranging back to
Sanskrit and beyond. A final word: should I manage ever to get it on to
these pages, the text of the book-length A Basket of Mushrooms will further explain
the linguistic basis of this perhaps strange, and hopefully
compelling, story.
Stan McDaniel
November 2001
|