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


Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Your Prell post reminded me, so I remember "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful"--the Pantene commercial from when I was in 6th grade. I had very long hair then, and the girl who sat behind me would tease me, in a faux British accent, that my hair belonged in that commercial, or that I thought it did. She wanted me to make sure it didn't drape down behind me and get on her desk. I didn't think I was beautiful at all, and I didn't want to offend, but I found it hard to be sure my hair stayed under control.


posted by Rosasharn 10:10 PM
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