The Infinite Library (85 page)

May 26, 2010

Committee Members -

The first week of administered dosage is now complete and I have collected the written samples from the subjects. Of the four subjects, and after a survey of the questionnaires (see Appendix), I found no appreciable differences in their physiology. None but two subjects on the experienced any discomfort. The two that did reported slight insomnia, with one specific instance of bowel irritation which can most likely be attributed to an adjustment to the standard meals provided here that are rich in fibre. All subjects reported a feeling of mental energy and slight elation, limberness of thought, and a desire for expressive creation. I am quite surprised with these findings given that the drugs were reported to operate by gradual accumulation in the system. It is on these grounds that it would be likely to attribute all changes to an overall change in environment and dietary regimen.

I append here the written samples for this week's trial, sectioned according to dosage regimen. For the reading convenience of the Committee, I have selected the more pertinent examples of the writings in terms of desired and non-desired effects of the drug intake. subjects L and M are part of the non-writers control group.

Selected examples of subject writing samples:

subject G: The Silk Road has many mountains. I have thusly witnessed the jeremiads and endless partisan blather of those who wish to pay the pontage only after the bridge has been immolated. It is the common welter that speaks only of pneumatics and cobweb sciences, taking allegedly sagacious quips as par examples of profound apercus. [subject G is the literary fiction writer - my note].

subject L: I feel the tension in my jawline for what must be the first time in a few weeks. I wonder what these drugs are supposed to do. I know Dr Fergusson [sic] told us it would make our word power stronger, but he keeps mum about everything else. A word came into my head the other day, but I am unsure if it is a real word. The word was "etiolation". There are no books here, no dictionaries. I asked the doctor what the word meant, and he said he wasn't allowed to tell me. There is nothing to read here and I'm incredibly bored.

subject A: The (ex)hortatory leftovers, or whatever the old basshound left on the rug before it crawled under the stairs and died. Johnny knew that the good people were dull and forgettable. But Johnny was on a quest to find Bernard Mandeville, even if he couldn't find his lucky loafers. It was her admiration of bilge that polarized them. [subject A is the children's literature writer - my note].

subject M: Dear diary...Today I am feeling a little sunken and pale. It is as if the road to getting good language winds like a snake, snaking its way, slithering, slithering...

June 2, 2010

Committee Members -

I have now concluded the second week of the drug trials with some mixed results. subject M refused to provide a writing sample until compelled; afterward he fell into despondency. subject A was exceedingly prolific, submitting 56 pages of lurid and surreal narrative (although I lack the specific training in literature to evaluate the content in terms of its merit).

All subjects have reported minor insomniac effects which are somewhat normal. The subjects have demonstrated some visible effects of agitation, listlessness, and hand tremors. None of the subjects have reported these symptoms on their daily questionnaires. I have reminded them to record any perceptible changes in body as well as mind. I include here select examples of the writing samples.

At this point in the trials, I will be giving comment on the writing samples as it pertains to the desired effects of the drugs. Although the effects should not be noticeable until the four week threshold has been reached, I justify performing this textual analysis on the basis of a) to have a basis of comparison between the initial stages of the trial and as it proceeds, and b) to detect if the drug effects are taking hold earlier than anticipated. Please find my comments in the square brackets following the samples.

subject G: Why is it that our language will not permit the invention of a fully loaded Instructionary? An instruction for the use and abuse of language, equally given. There the rubescent fixtures make for blood a-roil, and then-some the poet goes with infernal vision printed upon the inside of his eyelids...[subject G's curious increase in vocabulary is somewhat suspicious given that Grammax is not designed to increase lexical performance. What I suspect to be occurring is either an error in the administration of the appropriate drug to the designated subject, or that the subjects have traded drugs. In the event of the latter, I reminded each of the subjects to only take what was administered to them individually. I also casually reminded them of the importance of these trials and the remuneration for cooperation].

subject L: Infolection (g)nows neverstanding swillage! Gratuition payability unto/ward hidalgone, mannervous dysjunctivitis. [The level of neologistic invention is very intriguing. Lexium is designed to improve lexical learning and retention only, and so word invention may be a side effect I will have to monitor as the trials move forward. Word breaks and portmanteaus also feature in the subject's sample, demonstrating a willingness and confidence in wordplay].

subject A: And all the children gathered in the graveyard, each of them racked by the same vision of horses eating one another. The elf scraped his sharp bone posterior forward upon the headstone, first reversing his entire body to become that of an oaf, and then sucking into himself until he was but a mote of dust whisked off by a chill zephyr. [subject A reported a mild hypomanic state of mind, and was visibly withdrawn at times. This may explain the somewhat "darker" turn his writing has taken. I will have to monitor this with some diligence so that it does not result in a full blown depression].

subject M: Dear diary, diary as rudimentary hill as is to the sweeping scythe as is to the undulations of sound as is to the cosmic jetty of material from a stretched nebula as is to this very diary itself...Circular as it is to the world as it is in placement in the solar system as it is like an electron filling the shell to yield the perfect molecule in complete, harmonious, and circuitous perfection. [subject M appears to be experimenting with metaphor. However, despite the drug's intended effect to compel the creation of new metaphors, the subject cannot seem to "close the circle" on a single metaphor, nor do they possess any discernible sense].

...

June 9, 2010

Committee Members -

I am noting an overall groundswell of experimental rigour and innovation among the subjects. I am beginning to suspect, however, that the mixture of these medications are presenting contraindicative effects as I have spotted various grammatical and spelling errors in the written samples, as well as confusing or botched metaphoricity. subject L has shown, by far, the most zeal in the construction of neologisms well beyond the clinical expectations of Lexium. These neologisms may be outpacing rational sense. As well, the volume of written samples has increased dramatically over the past many weeks as my inserted table illustrates. All of the subjects have taken to prolific writing, spending a majority of their waking hours at the task.

Interpretation of quantitative data: Overall, there has been a steady increase in the volume of written samples in the three-week period. The one exception would be subject G whose output has fallen off from its peak in W2. subject L's output has increased by roughly 5 times, subject A by roughly 19 times, and subject M at an impressive 60 times. I would caution that these increases may be partially due to the drugs, and also due to an increased comfort level and stability, not to mention boredom.

Writing samples

subject G: The man was incorrect to say that he dished it out. The other man was incorrect to use impact as a verb. We are bound by duty never to end the sentence with a preposition on pain of internal punishment. The adverb modifies the verb with the -ly ending. Irregular words should be terminated from the language. We are condemned to sentence fragments. [The subject has been exhibiting some very peculiar behaviour. His writing, once somewhat fanciful and literary, has become stiff and schoolmarmish. There was also an incident of note: subject G caught a grammatical error in the Liability Waiver Update Form I distributed this week. He first responded with sudden onset acute abdominal cramping followed by vomiting. In a related event, the subject found another grammatical error in a piece of writing I had mislaid in the common area. He reacted violently by tearing my notes, tossing a chair, and nearly attacking me in a rage. This rather hostile reaction to an innocent grammatical error is a troublesome side effect at the higher level of dosage].

subject L: Trebisconded Yttriatic-convivialiquescene Hispandiculatingly Ad paretum non plustfully generatrix Umbraggadocio Umberyl Bittersnipe Excoriandrictaculata-cacomorphicon...[The effects of the Lexium appear to be inducing an aphasic reaction in the subject. In my attempts to communicate with him in person, he resorts solely to a fantastical lexicon composed of mashed up words. When I pressed him to define these inventions of his, the reply was as equally cryptic and impenetrable as the word he endeavoured to define].

subject A: The minute cachinnating, polyphonic, resonant yet irreverent counterpoint undulating and sussurating the tremulous vocal dissonance in the syllable she uttered with the slight vibration of the uvula as fine moisture pregnant with the ferrying of sound emerged with ruddy insouciance: “u”, which was then followed by the lilting yet rubicund notation of a syllable perfused with the softening and colourful scent of spring dandelion with its vividly diffuse yellow resolving to its very tips with the sound of “m”...[subject A's output has increased considerably mostly due to hyper-description, extreme vividness, and an almost obsessive compulsive attention to the minutest detail of the brief twitch of a fly's wing in another of his samples. In wending my way through his work (and I ought to say that the increase in textual production is making it more difficult for me to catch up on a weekly basis), I am detecting some crossmodal confusion reminiscent of synaesthesia in his writings. The subject is freely mixing descriptions of colour with sound, scent with taste, and so forth. This particular description from which this sample has been truncated ran no less than 71 pages and was still incomplete when the writing sample came due (much to the protest and disappointment of the subject). When I interviewed the subject the next day during our weekly "rereading session", he rejected the work as not being focused and detailed enough].

subject M: Glittering as the rock undertakes to stand as the sun rests on the cloudbed as the sackcloth slung as upon the hard shoulder of time insinuating itself by confiscating its own remainders as the auditor passes the dossier around that is thick-necked as Being metamorphosing into the blank lack-sparks generating the generations of generation... [Nesting metaphors within metaphors at several degrees. subject M cannot refrain from speaking entirely in indecipherable abstractions. He is visibly frustrated that I cannot understand his meaning or the excessively complex level of metaphor he employs].

...

June 16, 2010

Committee Members,

There is no doubt that the drugs have demonstrated strong indications of effect upon the subjects. What troubles me is that it took considerable efforts to stave off a potential mutiny of sorts.

An incident of note: Subject M experienced extreme panic and agitation when, in the midst of writing, his pen ran out of ink and I could not acquire another one from the supply cabinet. I lent him my own, but this event underscores the necessity for the supply cabinet at this testing facility to be fully stocked with writing implements at all times. As it stands, the four subjects have used up all six boxes of pens initially supplied. If the Controls Guide did not insist on handwritten samples for handwriting analysis purposes, it would be of some utility to allow the subjects to write via computer.