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August 26, 2009
Of Substance and Standing
“Writers sometimes like to draw glib parallels between building and writing, but it seemed to me nothing could be farther from the truth. Did a writer inhabit a world where “true” and “right” were things you could ascertain, where abstractions stood or fell of their own weight, where the existence of something didn’t depend on a consensus? At the end of his day the builder alone could say – and yet didn’t need to say, because there it was – he had added something to the stock of incontestable reality, created a new fact.”
Michael Pollen - A Place of My Own 1997
I like the idea of adding something to the stock of incontestable reality. That’s the joy for me, to be able to see the result of my day’s labour in tangible and palpable form, rather then just knowing it's a series of on/off codes, stored on a fancy metal disc.
Writing is conjuring up an abstraction out of nothing. Building is the re-ordering of existing materials into something that retains it’s shape. It’s hard to tell how the writing’s going. Building has more immediate feedback – if the wall falls over, it ain’t going well.
the fuck-off sink
Posted by john at August 26, 2009 06:04 AM
Comments
......Is that were Katrins going to grub your smalls Lol or just rinse the salad ? ;-)
Posted by: paula at August 28, 2009 12:21 PM