"“Huck” is a great illustrator of “Vlad” (I didn’t actually know him)
Nabokov’s admonition that there is no such thing as reading. Only
rereading. Try it with a book you read and think you know. It’s as if
the thing’s been rewritten and filled with gems that you missed the
first time. Try it, even with a few pages you’ve just read. We’d all
have been better off to have read half as many books. Twice."
(Dick Cavett, interviewed in the NYT Sunday Book Review) http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/books/review/dick-cavett-by-the-book.html?emc=edit_bk_20141219&nl=books&nlid=20885389
He's right. I've only done this once so far, with Smilla's Sense of Snow, and I couldn't believe how much of the story I'd forgotten. Also, the whole time I was reading it I was waiting to rediscover a sort of philosophical musing about the importance of Smilla's clothing to her sense of self-possession and confidence. This had really impressed me, but it turns out that IT DOESN'T EXIST. No such passage in the book. So I'm even more impressed with the thought now because it appears that I made it up myself.
Anyway, go get one of your favorite books and read it again.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Women in Clothes
All quotes in this post are from Women in Clothes, by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits, Leanne Shapton and 639 Others
"I hate when people say they don't care about clothes, because it's a lie. It's like when writers say they don't care about plot. Lie. We are always asking for something when we get dressed. Asking to be loved, to be fucked, to be admired, to be left alone, to make people laugh, to scare people, to look wealthy, to say I'm poor, I love myself. It's the quiet poem in the waiting room, on the subway, in the movie of our lives. It's a big fucking deal." (Leopoldine Core, writer, Manhattan)
"I feel ashamed of myself when I feel right in New York, because there's something wrong with this place. I'm always stunned when I walk into a party and I find all these women are really wearing little high heels, and girls are dressed in tiny clothes that look really horrible in fact, and they're so miserable in the cold of winter, wearing tiny little high heels in the snow. These women have no pride." (Kiran Desai, novelist)
"You'll never look like you've fallen apart completely if you're wearing a good pair of shoes." (Sasha Gora, curator and writer)
"Wear whatever makes you less sad and feels right when it's on. Don't wear too many things that serve no function. Wear what you can wear on a bicycle. Wear what you can run in or survive in if necessary. If something feels right, wear it all the time. Don't look too cool. Keep some things in!" (Margaux Williamson, painter, Toronto)
"So many psychological problems fell away when I started tailoring my clothes to my body instead of the other way around." (Karima Cammell, author, painter and book publisher, Berkeley)
"Clothes have always been very important to me. Since I was a small child, I was aware of clothes and had very strong feelings about them. My mother and father both have excellent taste and care about clothes, too. Though we didn't indulge in any nonessentials, my parents would buy clothes -- especially for us children. People often think fashion is frivolous, but it isn't -- at least for some of us. Clothes give you confidence and power to do things you might not be able to do otherwise. It puts you into a role...People perceive you differently and treat you differently. How I dress has literally changed my life. At the same time, I dress for myself, not others." (Young Kim, many interests, New York and Paris)
"It's wonderful to be a woman if you are young, thin, and pleasing to men. Otherwise there's not so much that's wonderful about it. We were told to be sexy, that without children we wouldn't be fulfilled as women, but raising them in decent conditions is practically impossible. It seems essential to capitalism that women be made to feel that they are failing all the time. Every choice is the wrong choice. I wanted to break free of convention." (Christen Clifford, writer, performance artist, and a few other things, Queens, NY)
"Try not to eat cake every day." (Friederike Girst, designer, professor, Munich)
"The smartest thing I ever did was hang twenty-four hooks along my wall. That's where my most-worn clothes live. Sure, it looks like a hallway at a primary school, but it keeps my stuff off the floor, where it used to live." (Trish Kaliciak, marketing professional, Toronto)
"I like things to be casual but special. Like if I have a dinner party, I want the best food, but the most relaxing way of eating it." (Christine Muhlke, executive editor of Bon Appetit)
"I hate when people say they don't care about clothes, because it's a lie. It's like when writers say they don't care about plot. Lie. We are always asking for something when we get dressed. Asking to be loved, to be fucked, to be admired, to be left alone, to make people laugh, to scare people, to look wealthy, to say I'm poor, I love myself. It's the quiet poem in the waiting room, on the subway, in the movie of our lives. It's a big fucking deal." (Leopoldine Core, writer, Manhattan)
"I feel ashamed of myself when I feel right in New York, because there's something wrong with this place. I'm always stunned when I walk into a party and I find all these women are really wearing little high heels, and girls are dressed in tiny clothes that look really horrible in fact, and they're so miserable in the cold of winter, wearing tiny little high heels in the snow. These women have no pride." (Kiran Desai, novelist)
"You'll never look like you've fallen apart completely if you're wearing a good pair of shoes." (Sasha Gora, curator and writer)
"Wear whatever makes you less sad and feels right when it's on. Don't wear too many things that serve no function. Wear what you can wear on a bicycle. Wear what you can run in or survive in if necessary. If something feels right, wear it all the time. Don't look too cool. Keep some things in!" (Margaux Williamson, painter, Toronto)
"So many psychological problems fell away when I started tailoring my clothes to my body instead of the other way around." (Karima Cammell, author, painter and book publisher, Berkeley)
"Clothes have always been very important to me. Since I was a small child, I was aware of clothes and had very strong feelings about them. My mother and father both have excellent taste and care about clothes, too. Though we didn't indulge in any nonessentials, my parents would buy clothes -- especially for us children. People often think fashion is frivolous, but it isn't -- at least for some of us. Clothes give you confidence and power to do things you might not be able to do otherwise. It puts you into a role...People perceive you differently and treat you differently. How I dress has literally changed my life. At the same time, I dress for myself, not others." (Young Kim, many interests, New York and Paris)
"It's wonderful to be a woman if you are young, thin, and pleasing to men. Otherwise there's not so much that's wonderful about it. We were told to be sexy, that without children we wouldn't be fulfilled as women, but raising them in decent conditions is practically impossible. It seems essential to capitalism that women be made to feel that they are failing all the time. Every choice is the wrong choice. I wanted to break free of convention." (Christen Clifford, writer, performance artist, and a few other things, Queens, NY)
"Try not to eat cake every day." (Friederike Girst, designer, professor, Munich)
"The smartest thing I ever did was hang twenty-four hooks along my wall. That's where my most-worn clothes live. Sure, it looks like a hallway at a primary school, but it keeps my stuff off the floor, where it used to live." (Trish Kaliciak, marketing professional, Toronto)
"I like things to be casual but special. Like if I have a dinner party, I want the best food, but the most relaxing way of eating it." (Christine Muhlke, executive editor of Bon Appetit)
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