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The Workings of Envy
Brillat-Savarin is brilliant in this tortured yet elegant following of how constant complainers think. I shall remark, in this connection, that those men who are never satisfied with anything are almost always ignorant people who criticize sharply in the hope … Continue reading
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Less is More
I have perused the calendar for the University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies which for the 2007-2008 year is designed around the theme “Learn More.” There is a full page photo of David Gilmour, the novelist and instructor. He … Continue reading
Tribe Dream & Theory
Kathy Acker Empire of the Senseless, two passages juxtaposed. First about skin inscriptions: Among the early Christians, tattoos, stigmata indicating exile, which at first had been forced on their flesh, finally actually served to enforce their group solidarity. The Christians … Continue reading
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An old view of multi-tasking
A brief glimpse of another way of life from Bruce G. Trigger The Huron: Farmers of the North Although fish and game were caught along the way, the Huron traveler carried a supply of cornmeal with him, as well as … Continue reading
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Proving Patient
Patricia Meyer Spacks in Boredom references Adam Phillips, discussing boredom as a possible “developmental achievement” for children, observes that “it is one of the most oppressive demands of adults that the child should be interested. … Boredom is integral to … Continue reading
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Ways of Observing
Julia Kristeva in the novel The Samurai has a character, Olga, describe in a commentary on the novel, Exodus, of another character, Sinteuil. I like how the simple tricolon is made to house an abundance. Sinteuil saw a letter as … Continue reading
Qualities
In the translation by M. K. Fisher, Brillat-Savarin gives this enumeration of the qualities of a great chef By a natural consequence, those who presided over the preparations for these great feasts became men of note, which was reasonable enough, … Continue reading
Learning languages and games of self-construction
Juxtaposing the passage about language [langue] minus speech [parole] from Roland Barthes as translated by Annette Lavers and Colin Smith in Elements of Semiology Moreover, this social product is autonomous, like a game with its own rules, for it can … Continue reading
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Order disorder
In the Brick issue from Winter 2004, comes this lovely and instructive anecdote by Simon McBurney. The context is the conclusion of a Japanese tea ceremony. When it is over and after an hour of kneeling on the matting, however, … Continue reading
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Mental and Manual
The key move in this sentence from Boris Rybak Anachroniques is the coinage of the term “psycho-manuel”. La recherche scientifique est une mobilisation psycho-manuelle constante du chercheur Scientific research is constant mobilization of the researcher’s mental and manual faculties “Psycho-motor” … Continue reading