Vietnam, America, 1962 http://www.alansondheim.org/early.jpg http://www.alansondheim.org/vietnam.mp3 http://www.alansondheim.org/vietnamsc.mp3
From Vietnamese Phrase Book, Headquarters, Department of the
Army, July, 1962 - when there were still 'advisors' - just before the enormous escalation - the book consists of English phrases and words, translated into both Vietnamese, and a translation guide. The topics don't include battles, dying, injuries, etc. - but Initial Encounter with Locals, Security, Orientation, Accidental Encounter with Deserters, Basic Information on the Potential of Locals for Organization of Guerilla Units, Enemy Lines of Communication, Drop Zones, Food-Sanitation-Weather, Social, Measures, Weights, Conversions, Numerals, and Dictionary. As if the war that was, wasn't. It's unutterably sad in a way, early on, mostly (I believe) before napalm and almost total destruction. It reads like an odd poem predating Homer. It reads wrong, of hidden death and misery, of a descent into darkness from which no one has yet recovered. In the two excerpts below I read from the text, 'occupying' the language which I cannot pronounce, as if that didn't matter; I would like to see the whole book produced as an early warning system for the future. The second sample uses supercollider as well; the words begin to occupy a space which somewhat destroys them. _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
