Lexicon of the Mouth surveys the oral cavity as the central channel by which self and surrounding are brought into relation. Questions of embodiment and agency; attachment and loss; incorporation and hunger; locution and the non-sensical are critically examined. In doing so; LaBelle emphasizes the mouth as a vital conduit for negotiating "the foundational narrative of proper speech." Lexicon of the Mouth aims for a viscous; poetic and resonant discourse of subjectivity; detailed through the "micro-oralities" of laughing and whispering; stuttering and reciting; eating and kissing; among others. The oral cavity is posed as an impressionable arena; susceptible to all types of material input; contamination and intervention; while also enabling powerful forms of resistance; attachment and conversation; as well as radical imagination.Lexicon of the Mouth argues for the revolutionary promise of the laugh; the spirited mythologies of the whisper; the schizophonics of self-talk; and the primal noise of gibberish; suggesting that the significance of voicing is fundamentally bound to the exertions of the mouth. Subsequently; assumptions around voice and vocality are unsettled in favor of an epistemology of the oral; highlighting the acts of the tongue; the lips and the throat as primary mediations between interior and exterior; social structures and embodied expressions. LaBelle makes a significant contribution to currents in sound and voice studies by reminding that to hear the voice; and to consider a politics of speech; is first and foremost to assume the mouth.
#3523191 in eBooks 2014-05-09 2014-05-09File Name: B00K8AKPMU
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A Lyrical CacophonyBy Nicole CushingA fascinating take on madness; creation; disintegration; family; alienation; art; pseudo-art; sex; grief; motherhood; drunkenness; and loss. The novel is written in a way thats intentionally herky-jerky (all the better to demonstrate the title characters state of mind). Some readers may find it downright confusing. But if youre adventurous enough to just go for the ride; rewards await. Reminds me quite a bit of Caitlin R. Kiernans THE DROWNING GIRL; only this book has a transgressive fiction feel to it instead of a weird fiction feel to it. One drawback: several typos. (And not the kind that are likely intentional.) But in the end; I was able to overlook them because JUSTINE is a treat. Thoughtful and disturbing; a lyrical cacophony. Translated from the original Danish. Four stars out of five.
