Lacunae

Yeah... so I forgot my password again.

Actually, I did not forget my password. I actually forgot my username. Now that I know this I should not forget it again.

A propos of memory...

A few weeks back I began Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist, which for lack of better terminology is a fantasy novel. Unlike most fantasy novels, rather than being set in a Tolkein-knockoff idealized medieval world, it takes place in historical Ancient Greece-- after the battle of Marathon. The narrator is a Roman mercenary who fought on the Persian side and received a head wound that basically destroyed his short term memory. He forgets anything that happened more than 12 hours previously. He keeps a journal of sorts, as the only way to remember who it is.

So it's, as I noticed myself and everybody keeps pointing out, a lot like Memento. But it wouldn't work as a movie (for some reason I can never read a book without imagining how it would translate to film... I consider this a personal failing for one reason or another) because it's so much about the act of writing-- the reasons for it. The reasons for writing anything, even a half-assed 'blog.

In any case, I bought Soldier of the Mist because I had already bought Soldier of Arete without realizing it was the second book in a series. I had assumed the series to be just the two books, but decided to check online to be sure...

It turns out that, although the first book came out in 1986 and the second in 1989, the third book in the series will be coming out in a week and a half. Quite an impressive gap. Quite an impressive act of blind good timing on my part. Sadly, I can't seem to read slowly enough that the current volume will keep me occupied that long; this weekend alone alone I plowed through 200 pages, leaving a mere 100 more to go.

This is what I do when I don't have a job, see: I read obsessively. It's not a bad pastime, but somewhere along the last several years I've realized that I often (comma-all-too) read to avoid having to think about where I am in my life. It distracts me from overwhelming things like looking for a job, or tracking down old professors and employers for letters of recommendation for grad school, or even calling/writing to catch up with friends (or shopping for groceries or playing guitar or or or...).

It's a retreat into literacy.

(...or or or updating my silly 'blog or...)

Mind the gaps.
- posted by Bob @ 12:29 AM