“We must listen to poets...”

..

The title is a quote from Gaston Bachelard. It is a good day for Bachelard, apparently. He is written about in Carolyn Steedman's "Dust" which I would like to write about and perhaps not. But perhaps, for the moment, another quotation:

“We comfort ourselves by reliving memories of protection. Something closed must retain our memories, while leaving them their original value as images. Memories of the outside world will never have the same tonality as those of home and, by recalling these memories, we add to our store of dreams; we are never real historians, but always near poets, and our emotion is perhaps nothing but an expression of a poetry that was lost.” 

- Gaston Bachelard, "The Poetics of Space"

I have been writing almost constantly for about a week now, with the occasional pint in between.  It is a process that takes a lot of involvement and time and most of that time is spent not quite understanding that thoughts are in full flow and if a pen were to stray into the hand which feverishly turns pages it would at first sputter and flash incoherent patterns of ink, and then a whole weave of words would emerge and a whole hidden sense ensue. Perhaps it was unwise to spend such a length of time reading because writing is now such an intensive process; nonetheless, it only makes sense after reading the quotation above, that to recall memories and retrieve lost time as I have made such a habit of, I find that poetry has been spun at haphazard throughout my daily life. In fact, this reminds me of yet another quotation:

"... but we, at haphazard

And unseasonably, are brought face to face

By ones, Clio, with your silence. After that

Nothing is easy."

-Auden, W.H., "Homage to Clio"

The silence is what creates this infatuation with creation, of unfolding hidden spaces within memory that, though they cannot be entirely revived, at least give a sense of position in the universe and an urge to make sense of the past. As a history student it becomes gradually more difficult to understand the past, as with the expansion of what is known, the unknown and the details that are kept in secret or never spoken of become the most compelling, and yet linger in a depth that cannot be fathomed. It is always a reaching out "towards what is there and yet hidden, towards what exists with the mute solidity of a thing, of a text closed in upon itself, or of a blank space in a visible text...” (Foucault, M., "The Order of Things" (Routledge, 2002) p408) So what eventually crystallizes is a pattern of understanding that slowly deviates from linear thinking, and even towards an inner self-psycho-analysis which is intended to explain the missing aspects that cannot be found in history. If it cannot be found anywhere written on paper, but perhaps in the hidden depth of the unconscious and an understanding thereof; of how reality really is, then that search must be worthwhile.

“We are all imprisoned by the dictionary. We choose out of that vast, paper-walled prison our convicts, the little black printed words, when in truth we need fresh sounds to utter, new enfranchised noises which would produce a new effect.” 

- Peake, M., "Titus Groan"

Peake's "Gormenghast" bears striking similarities with Bachelard's "Poetics of Space". The uncanny similarities between there rendition of spaces; the difference felt at varying levels of buildings and the wildness of a rudimentary life. It's very interesting to make a comparison. What a reader discovers through the books he leafs through is that they are all very similar in essence, and that there is usually a pattern shared between them. The most fascinating of all philosophy or literature is the kind that delve into the limitations of what can be expressed. These always intrigue me into looking further in my search and the search turns inwards, as I have already expressed through the words of Foucault. It always becomes a matter of imagining that the limitations already expressed through language and culture are only ever temporary institutions, suited to their time, but not entirely compatible with that more abstract and mutable external environment which is bound to change the community or society which resides within it because they are very much inextricable to one another.

“... psycho-analysis... wants to get back: it manifests a desire for origins, to find the place where things started, before the regime of repetition and representation was inaugurated.”

-Steedman, C., “Dust”

And, following most of my previous writing:

“The decisive question for man is: Is he related to something infinite or not? That is the telling question of his life. Only if we know that the thing which truly matters is the infinite can we avoid fixing our interests upon futilities, and upon all kinds of goals which are not of real importance. Thus we demand that the world grant us recognition for qualities which we regard as personal possessions: our talent or our beauty. The more a man lays stress on false possessions, and the less sensitivity he has for what is essential, the less satisfying is his life. He feels limited because he has limited aims, and the result is envy and jealousy. If we understand and feel that here in this life we already have a link with the infinite, desires and attitudes change.”  

- Jung, C., "Memories, Dreams, Reflections"

The purpose of this update was not in order to say very much in the way of anything new, but to synthesize several writers' points of view together and bring a certain confluence of meaning. I think by connecting these writers a patchwork of ideas is found and, like most patchworks, despite the different background of material, there is an unmistakable pattern and sense of unified identity within all of these quotations. I have certainly found the works of others and the impression I gather that they seem to fold upon each other quite effortlessly at times is a reassurance, rather than a disappointment. When all signs point towards a certain yet ambiguous direction it is simple to derive the next element of the pattern; for instance, a further journey into studying human cognition and patterns of thought within sciences and social sciences. The exploration of memory is not over yet, and probably never will be. The search for patterns must always be constant, and must occur in living form...