Saturday, August 01, 2009

opportunities to be jarred


"One of the things I like to do when I have a space of time is sit with a stack of books, a notebook and a computer and see what happens. I'll read for a bit in one book, stop and reflect. Maybe make a note, maybe not, then continue through the stack.

"The current stack includes William T. Vollmann's Riding Toward Everywhere, On Touching--Jean-Luc Nancy by Jacques Derrida, Listening by Jean-Luc Nancy, and James Davidson's The Greeks and Greek Love.

"It's a method that sometimes makes for interesting connections that might not be made otherwise. I often read for vocabulary as much as anything else (as a poet I mean). I'm not looking to steal. I'm looking for opportunities to be jarred into consciousness of something I didn't know I was looking for.
"

- Tom Beckett, from a recent post on Slim Windows

9 comments:

  1. You want to watch out for that Derrida fellow.

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  2. Is he Darth Vader in disguise?

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  3. Stu, I think I understand what you say in your last paragraph, it is great, I think it is related to losen yourself a little bit more so you have more amplitude to write, and sencure does not limit you so much. It is obvious to me that you are not trying to steal anything from anybody, but people might have a hard problem understanding it. I do understand that because I know you are a real artist and are trying to find your way through this world by making your art anyway you can.

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  4. Hi Mariana,

    Thanks for being such an avid reader of my blog. I enjoy reading your thoughts and feedback.

    You do realise that this post is a quote from Tom Beckett?

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  5. I understood that the quote was not yours, but since it is in your post, I take it as something you want to say for yourself. I do not often do this, but this time it turned out like that.
    I love how you write stu, and how you think, that is why I am such an avid reader of your posts, because I enjoy them a lot, and I also consider you a pretty wise boy

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  6. Yes, in this case you're absolutely right about the post saying something that I wanted to say, or advocate. That's not true of every quote I post here, but probably the majority. :)

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  7. This is EXACTLY the way I read. I thought I was the only weirdo who read and took notes in this restless, cursory way!

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  8. You're not the only one, believe me!

    Thanks for dropping by, David. Just checked out your blog. Very enjoyable...

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  9. Thanks for paying me a visit, Stu. I'll be back to read more of your good "thoughs." (I hope you don't mind my American habit of tucking the period inside the quotation marks.)

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