Let me explain my theory. I've noticed for a long time that there are certain phrases or lines in songs or poems that "resonate" for me. They seem to convey a lot more meaning than their relative length would suggest. They have a power of their own as they stand alone, powerful little moments of clarity rising above the mists of text. I have dubbed this idea of mine contextless resonance." I obviously need a better term. But the point is that they seem to be able to stand alone (hence they are "alive alone") even outside of context, and they mean more to me this way than they do in their natural environment.
Derrida states that despite the problems of polysemy and context, literature and writing can have meaning. As long as he says meaning is possible, he and I can get along fine. Context is indeed important, but I believe that there does not have to be a defined context to make things meaningful. If one leaves the context of a phrase to the imagination, it can be just as meaningful, if not moreso. This is an aesthetic, artistic, writerly idea.
Happily enough, I found something similar to this in the course of our reading of Calvino.
