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, July 22, 2003

I remember dry cell batteries. I didn't know what a wet cell could be. (Then a 9 colt battery leaked in my cupboard, staining it with acid). They were big and ungainly, but good for electrical experimentation. For some reason we used picture wire -- I think because it was easier to manipulate than the insulated kind. I remember the smell of a short-circuit, and how hot the wire got. I'd wondered what would happen if you connected the wire straight across. Some adult (my mother?) rebuked me for doing it.

posted by william 5:52 PM
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