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

Friday, June 02, 2006

I remember that we would sometimes practice with the two kids who were two-stripe green belts. (We were all thirteen or so). They talked mainly to each other, in low voices, clearly of things beyond my comprehension. Sometimes we'd be instructed by the brown-belt, who was a soldier, a marine I think, and big. He was really good and really nice. They listened to him carefully, too. I now realize the fact that I could tell he was really good is what distinguished him from our sensei, who was far more subtle. I remember vividly watching the sensei drill the green belts. They were just advancing and retreating, but one of them was weeping with the effort. I couldn't see why -- these were just the same drills we did, and were no effort at all -- which made it impress me all the more. Both the kids broke boards during some open house demonstration day at the dojo, and I think the other one of them broke a brick. That was more obviously impressive.

posted by william 7:35 AM
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