Quote by C.S. Lewis
Another grave limitation of language is that it cannot, like music or gesture, do more than one thing at once. However the words in a great poet's phrase interinanimate one another and strike the mind as a quasi-instantaneous chord, yet, strictly speaking, each word must be read or heard before the next. That way, language is as unilinear as time. Hence, in narrative, the great difficulty of presenting a very complicated change which happens suddenly. If we do justice to the complexity, the time the reader must take over the passage will destroy the feeling of suddenness. If we get the suddenness we shall not be able to get in the complexity. I am not saying that genius will not find its own way of palliating this defect in the instrument; only that the instrument is in this way defective.
Summary
This quote explains a limitation of language - its inability to do more than one thing at once. Unlike music or gesture, language is unilinear, meaning that each word must be read or heard before the next. This presents a challenge when trying to present a complicated change that happens suddenly in a narrative. If the complexity is properly depicted, the time it takes for the reader to process the passage will undermine the feeling of suddenness. On the other hand, if the suddenness is emphasized, the complexity may be lost. While genius may find ways to mitigate this limitation, it is still a inherent flaw in the instrument of language.
By C.S. Lewis
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