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

Thursday, April 14, 2011

I remember the gluey, wood-shaved smell of Frameworks. I remember the little pieces of glue-paper in paper cups, and the spray bottles, and the low piles of paper towels on the cardboard-covered tables. (My father didn't like those paper towels; he only used newspaper to clean his glass.) I remember picking staples and tacks out of the carpet, though I was told repeatedly not to play with sharp things. I remember the colorful magnetic corners on the wall, and the amazing array of mats: so many colors, but my father never chose anything bright. He built somber (hindsight says tasteful) wooden frames, sometimes gold or silver, and I remember him measuring and remeasuring, and putting in his orders at the counter at the back of the store (which one? they're all conflated). He was an expert frame-builder--he never had to ask for help. He was friends with the people who worked there, especially with Barbara, who had a horse and a house she shared with her sister. I remember how bleak and grey Mass Ave always seemed, and the sticker (stationery?) store that was only a few doors down from--the second location? When we were bigger, we were allowed to go there on our own and buy stickers with our own money.

posted by Rosasharn 1:02 PM
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