The reader, the thinker, the flaneur, are types of illuminati just as much as the opium eater, the dreamer, the ecstatic. … Not to mention that most terrible drug - ourselves - which we take in solitude. — Walter Benjamin
2 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Do we ever take our selves in solitude? That might leave a far less brutal hangover than taking our 'selves' in the same swallow as 'others'. Something to burp on: the constant audience, vs. the relatively kind peace of true, unverifiable, introspection. *brap. What's a flaneur?
Flaneur, a new favorite word along with "mamihlapinatapais":
The term flâneur (or jetter) comes from the French verb flâner, which means "to stroll". A flâneur is thus a person who walks the city in order to experience it. Because of the term's usage and theorization by Charles Baudelaire and numerous thinkers in economic, cultural, literary and historical fields, the idea of the flâneur has accumulated significant meaning as a referent for understanding urban phenomena and modernity.
I think the constant audience could cause one to live too much outside of one's self. To languish or drown in how others may think of us.
Introspection can drive one mad or burst one's bubbles but it can sustain one when the world is caught up with itself.
(photo of Fellini)
2 comments:
Do we ever take our selves in solitude? That might leave a far less brutal hangover than taking our 'selves' in the same swallow as 'others'. Something to burp on: the constant audience, vs. the relatively kind peace of true, unverifiable, introspection. *brap. What's a flaneur?
Flaneur, a new favorite word along with "mamihlapinatapais":
The term flâneur (or jetter) comes from the French verb flâner, which means "to stroll". A flâneur is thus a person who walks the city in order to experience it. Because of the term's usage and theorization by Charles Baudelaire and numerous thinkers in economic, cultural, literary and historical fields, the idea of the flâneur has accumulated significant meaning as a referent for understanding urban phenomena and modernity.
I think the constant audience could cause one to live too much outside of one's self. To languish or drown in how others may think of us.
Introspection can drive one mad or burst one's bubbles but it can sustain one when the world is caught up with itself.
Brap indeed!
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