The shattered language of dreams in Lyn Hejinian’s The Book of a Thousand Eyes.

Abstract

Lyn Hejinian, a prominent figure in Language poetry, is strongly committed to the task of dismantling poetic conventions by envisaging a new language that resists the constraints of linearity and referentiality. In The Book of a Thousand Eyes (2012), she explores the dream world in order to delve into the mechanics of the writing process, while playing with language and experience at various stages of consciousness and perception. This paper examines Hejinian’s philosophical and epistemological quest for meaning and knowledge, focusing on her scrutiny of language as a medium for expressing and shaping the poet’s experiences. A further aim is to analyze her poetics of indeterminacy and her use of the framing structure of dreams to distort reality, emphasize the role of art as a radical construct, and foster a dynamic space where the poetic language is shifty and elusive.