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

Monday, July 24, 2006

I remember the white, foldable wooden ruler that we had. It was, I think, six feet long when fully extended, and a foot or even eight inches long when folded up. Its sections were held rigid by metal hangers or clasps that went around each one allowing the wood of the next to warp over it and then snap into place. When it was shut I liked snapping the top piece out and back. The ruler swayed a little when fully extended, and if you held it horizontally it would buckle -- it was a game to guess what section would go first: the torque was greatest on the section you were holding, but if you shook it right you could get it to collapse half way down instead. I liked the stepped effect it gave to measurements of length.

It snapped shut in the same way as it snapped open, and when it was fully folded up it was about an inch or so thick, considerably thicker than it was side. I liked the way the two dimensions became three when it folded up into a secure brick of wood.

posted by william 12:14 AM
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