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mallorys_cameraOne of my favorite poems is W.H. Auden's Musée des Beaux Arts.
That's the one that begins: About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters... And goes on to use the image of the torturer's horse as a metaphor for the Universe's benign indifference.
It's another way of saying "What it boils down to is putting one’s feelings on a special plane; most unwise, if you come to think of it. Because the bitter but true fact is that the only person who cares about one’s own feelings is ONE," which is one of my favorite quotations and comes from Jessica Mitford.
Auden's poem is a refutation of narrative exceptionalism. I've found it very comforting as the U.S. continues to disintegrate along a track with obvious parallels to Nazi Germany: Yes, this is happening here, but there are other places where it is not happening.
In fact, it wouldn't even be happening in my own personal here if I just stopped paying attention to the news cycle.
That's very tempting!
It's not as though I can actually do anything about what's going on. And what's going on is really, really upsetting.
Although I suppose that's the same thing that the Germans thought in the last flickering days of the Weimar Republic.
Bearing witness is important. But so, so, so, so draining.
###
In other news:
Finished Chapter 4. It's dark. I'm actually kinda proud of myself for seguing from frothy opening chapters into something that dark. It also contains a fair amount of dialogue that makes little sense, but has the conversational rhythm I could hear echoing in my head. First draft, first draft, first draft! I can instill sense when I do the second draft.
At this point, I'm thinking the finished novel will have 17 chapters. It has been taking me around a month to write each single chapter, which means I can anticipate completion in January 2027—assuming I live that long.
To celebrate, I went off to the gym & increased both the number and the weight of my strength-maintaining reps. So, this morning I'm a little sore. But in a good way.
That's the one that begins: About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters... And goes on to use the image of the torturer's horse as a metaphor for the Universe's benign indifference.
It's another way of saying "What it boils down to is putting one’s feelings on a special plane; most unwise, if you come to think of it. Because the bitter but true fact is that the only person who cares about one’s own feelings is ONE," which is one of my favorite quotations and comes from Jessica Mitford.
Auden's poem is a refutation of narrative exceptionalism. I've found it very comforting as the U.S. continues to disintegrate along a track with obvious parallels to Nazi Germany: Yes, this is happening here, but there are other places where it is not happening.
In fact, it wouldn't even be happening in my own personal here if I just stopped paying attention to the news cycle.
That's very tempting!
It's not as though I can actually do anything about what's going on. And what's going on is really, really upsetting.
Although I suppose that's the same thing that the Germans thought in the last flickering days of the Weimar Republic.
Bearing witness is important. But so, so, so, so draining.
###
In other news:
Finished Chapter 4. It's dark. I'm actually kinda proud of myself for seguing from frothy opening chapters into something that dark. It also contains a fair amount of dialogue that makes little sense, but has the conversational rhythm I could hear echoing in my head. First draft, first draft, first draft! I can instill sense when I do the second draft.
At this point, I'm thinking the finished novel will have 17 chapters. It has been taking me around a month to write each single chapter, which means I can anticipate completion in January 2027—assuming I live that long.
To celebrate, I went off to the gym & increased both the number and the weight of my strength-maintaining reps. So, this morning I'm a little sore. But in a good way.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-14 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-14 06:45 pm (UTC)Bearing witness is important. I witness your witness.