I remember / je me souviens

I remember / je me souviens

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For those limbic bursts of nostalgia, invented by Proust, miniaturized by Nicholson Baker, and freeze-dried by Joe Brainard in his I remember and by Georges Perec in his Je me souviens.

But there are no fractions, the world is an integer
Like us, and like us it can neither stand wholly apart nor disappear.
When one is young it seems like a very strange and safe place,
But now that I have changed it feels merely odd, cold
And full of interest.
--John Ashbery, "A Wave"

Sometimes I sense that to put real confidence in my memory I have to get to the end of all rememberings. That seems to say that I forego remembering. And now that strikes me as an accurate description of what it is to have confidence in one's memory.
--Stanley Cavell, The Claim of Reason

Tuesday, February 19, 2002

I remember window-washers. Do they still exist, post-Mies? There were hooks built into the walls outside the windows, and they had thick supple leather belts which they would attach to the hooks. They'd lean back comfortably and wash the windows, hanging over the drop without a care in the world. You can see them in old comedies, but can you see them in reality?

posted by william 7:41 AM
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