Augue

This lecture focused on memory. Augue uses the metaphor of traveling through the metro in Paris to explain his theories. He uses it to argue that different places can become saturated with our experiences. In relation to my subject it could go some way to explaining why we keep books. In many ways they hold our memory, their tactility evokes an image of our past selves. There is a value in the old, in nostalgia. It is apparent even in the names of some of modern business' those with a family name encourage more trust in them.

Something interesting that we discussed in the seminar was that even when an artists work is in essence very repetitive we often still find it interesting. There is something to be said for the comfort of familiarity and safety in the knowledge of what something is. We would all prefer to be one of Augue's travelers than a tourist. I believe this relates to books that are re-read. We know what is going to happen, so when we read them we can take comfort in the knowledge that it will all come good in the end. This may well be something that is more applicable to a physical book as they have more permanence. they are not as slippery as a digital resource that may be deleted or corrupt in  the blink of an eye.

The way in which we read a text is also very similar to the way in which Augue's tourist reads the map. The tourist continually checking which stop he is at reflects the concentration needed for a new text. The layout of a text keeps everything a connected, the information is linked within the page. The layout system of grids also reinforces this order.

Augue points out that to remember everything would be monstrous, he gives the example of a diary of all the food consumed in a year. When all of the is listed together it truly becomes horrible. When I expanded on this thought I realised that its application to life can become very broad. As anything in excess is bad for us. Augue highlights the importance in forgetting and that repression is not necessarily a destructive force. Augue has introduced the notion that familiarity does not necessarily breed contempt. That there is a value in becoming the traveler and so being a manipulator of space and time.