Zero and Literature: Introduction

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Acknowledgements

The editor of this special issue of the Journal for Cultural Research would like to express grateful thanks to Professor Hugh Silverman for initiating a Roundtable at the International Association for Philosophy and Literature, Leeds, 2003, and especially to Professor Derek Attridge for organizing the project and making the key arrangements.

Notes

Claudia Egerer (personal communication) notes that even the books of accountants, especially the books of accountants, would seem to depend on and reinforce the power of poetry through the power of symbols: “911” is a date, the number to dial in an emergency (which proved to be just that, a number, unequal to the emergency at hand), and symbol of one of the most potent, and elusive, zeroes of our times; “911” does not contain a zero but stands for “ground zero” and is itself made up of the last and first numbers, encircled by invisible zeroes. “911” proliferates into ever more numbers, seemingly unconnected yet bound by a symbolism it is hard to escape; the Madrid bombing may be read as a European replay of “911” staged 911 days after “911” on March 11 or “311”, or so the story goes.

Wittgenstein shows how definition can never really get off the ground except by jumping into the air, so to speak. This is because the act of pointing and saying “I call that a ‘basket’ can only be understood by someone who is already inside the ostensive language game and knows what pointing and saying “Basket!” means. Wittgenstein's point is that you must leap in, or already be in. No one can explain your way in for you. This is another reason why Stephen's proof fails as a proof.