This is awesome! So thorough! So generous! really compelling frames, and now I must read that Alain De Botton on Proust! Thank you for the recommendation!
Thank you :) Alain de Botton has so many good books, I loved his Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel and The Architecture of Happiness. Actually also A Therapeutic Journey.
You write with such ardor for this subject, you had me trying to identify the piece of yellow wall in the painting. I love that! To dwell on small discoveries, follow tangents into a google vortex, it seems like wasting time, but then why do I feel more alive right now?!
I think it's section B. A is not a wall. At least that's what the perspective suggests to me. C has many layers, but it's not adjacent to a sloping roof. So, it must be B. I wish I could see the original painting in real life to examine the brushwork :D
I wish I could see it too. Perhaps you are closer to Delft than I am? I can't make up my mind which bit of wall and I wonder if it's hypothetical, something in the mind. Proust musing, his thoughts wandering... :D
It’s possible. Although I tend to take things, if not literally, more seriously—as in he’s saying what he means. I don’t know enough about Proust to know if he often contradicts himself in writing. I read that he loved Japanese prints of that time, which have more stylised, flat style of representing the world. I think that perhaps he was pointing to this simple section of wall to say that just because this is an unassuming piece of wall, doesn’t mean that it had no thought put into it. What seems to be simple, is in fact not so simple, nor it is unimportant. But I don’t know really! I’m on the Belgian coast, by the way.
Well, your thoughts make a lot more sense than mine!
I dream of taking the Eurostar from London to Amsterdam and then to Delft. And then The Hague. I've been to the Netherlands twice but there are museums waiting to be visited still and obviously I must see this painting in real life at some point :)
Oh wow!! What a journey of ideas and concepts and music and visuals!! OUTSTANDING!! 👏👏👏👏👏 When I saw you published I had myself get ready first (it took a while) and then I could indulge in your writing! What an experience, what a treat! Thank you so much for doing this - you literally enhance my life! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Now I am hanging in suspense! Thank you for reading, even if you don't get a chance to re-write, although I hope you do because I value your feedback xx
ahhhhhh. The addition of music is so great, so calming. I listened to it twice - a total of 6 minutes and 48 seconds - and was surprised I still hadnt finished reading! I determined that the music slows us down, esp if we have been reading on a laptop all day, as i have!
Then there were the linked sites - who cares which piece of yellow wall, and that moving graphic on the 'madeline' site - boiling water, milk pouring into a cup of tea - now thats my kind of graphic!! 😀🫖☕️
And of course, the yellow wall reminds me of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and her Yellow Wallpaper.
Then there's the mathematicians - glory be - and the wonderful spiralling through time reemergence of Thomasina and her bold genius, and how the fractals of art multiply and resonate and refresh throughout time, as we read, reread and riff on the ancient greats.
and then there is the whole thing of travel and memory as life-affirming, which is very pertinent to me as i reread patiently, for the nth time ( im up to the ninth version) of my soon to be published book, searching for tiny errors ( i found 8). and that this sense of travel and memory of life affirming as a life well lived is very pertitent to me and the content of my (soon to be released) book.
Oh, and there's the pleasure of finding you have another substack - pardon me for a moment while I pop out and go visit over there..
thanks for this. I'm glad you rediscovered, reworked, and republished. ☺️
Wow this comment fills my hear with joy! I stopped short of The Yellow Wallpaper as I'm permanently on the edge of a rabbit hole precipice - BUT it's even better to have connections like this sparked in the mind of the reader! I also wanted to mention Kahlo and Keats but that would have been unfair on so many others across the globe. There's more space in a human heart than in the written word.
And yes, the proofing ... I edit something every time I re-read anything I write. There can never be enough fine tuning.
Finally, just between you, me, and the yellow wall, I think Stoppard beats Shakespeare 🙈🙃
Oh: and I have no idea where my sliver of yellow plaster even is now. Nor what wall it comes from, just a vague suspicion xxx
Hi, music has not been great for me these past few months, but starting to tolerate soft voices or softer played pieces. I even managed to listened to a bit of an audiobook the other day (again, soft voice). xx
This is awesome! So thorough! So generous! really compelling frames, and now I must read that Alain De Botton on Proust! Thank you for the recommendation!
Thank you :) Alain de Botton has so many good books, I loved his Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel and The Architecture of Happiness. Actually also A Therapeutic Journey.
You write with such ardor for this subject, you had me trying to identify the piece of yellow wall in the painting. I love that! To dwell on small discoveries, follow tangents into a google vortex, it seems like wasting time, but then why do I feel more alive right now?!
Which bit of wall did you settle on? I can't make up my mind!
I think it's section B. A is not a wall. At least that's what the perspective suggests to me. C has many layers, but it's not adjacent to a sloping roof. So, it must be B. I wish I could see the original painting in real life to examine the brushwork :D
I wish I could see it too. Perhaps you are closer to Delft than I am? I can't make up my mind which bit of wall and I wonder if it's hypothetical, something in the mind. Proust musing, his thoughts wandering... :D
It’s possible. Although I tend to take things, if not literally, more seriously—as in he’s saying what he means. I don’t know enough about Proust to know if he often contradicts himself in writing. I read that he loved Japanese prints of that time, which have more stylised, flat style of representing the world. I think that perhaps he was pointing to this simple section of wall to say that just because this is an unassuming piece of wall, doesn’t mean that it had no thought put into it. What seems to be simple, is in fact not so simple, nor it is unimportant. But I don’t know really! I’m on the Belgian coast, by the way.
Well, your thoughts make a lot more sense than mine!
I dream of taking the Eurostar from London to Amsterdam and then to Delft. And then The Hague. I've been to the Netherlands twice but there are museums waiting to be visited still and obviously I must see this painting in real life at some point :)
Oh wow!! What a journey of ideas and concepts and music and visuals!! OUTSTANDING!! 👏👏👏👏👏 When I saw you published I had myself get ready first (it took a while) and then I could indulge in your writing! What an experience, what a treat! Thank you so much for doing this - you literally enhance my life! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Oh no! I was halfway through a lengthy response and i accidentally close the window!!! ill have to start again!!!!!
Now I am hanging in suspense! Thank you for reading, even if you don't get a chance to re-write, although I hope you do because I value your feedback xx
oh no, i was busy rewriting when you posted this. the previous one may have been even longer :)
so i was saying...
ahhhhhh. The addition of music is so great, so calming. I listened to it twice - a total of 6 minutes and 48 seconds - and was surprised I still hadnt finished reading! I determined that the music slows us down, esp if we have been reading on a laptop all day, as i have!
Then there were the linked sites - who cares which piece of yellow wall, and that moving graphic on the 'madeline' site - boiling water, milk pouring into a cup of tea - now thats my kind of graphic!! 😀🫖☕️
And of course, the yellow wall reminds me of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and her Yellow Wallpaper.
Then there's the mathematicians - glory be - and the wonderful spiralling through time reemergence of Thomasina and her bold genius, and how the fractals of art multiply and resonate and refresh throughout time, as we read, reread and riff on the ancient greats.
and then there is the whole thing of travel and memory as life-affirming, which is very pertinent to me as i reread patiently, for the nth time ( im up to the ninth version) of my soon to be published book, searching for tiny errors ( i found 8). and that this sense of travel and memory of life affirming as a life well lived is very pertitent to me and the content of my (soon to be released) book.
Oh, and there's the pleasure of finding you have another substack - pardon me for a moment while I pop out and go visit over there..
thanks for this. I'm glad you rediscovered, reworked, and republished. ☺️
Wow this comment fills my hear with joy! I stopped short of The Yellow Wallpaper as I'm permanently on the edge of a rabbit hole precipice - BUT it's even better to have connections like this sparked in the mind of the reader! I also wanted to mention Kahlo and Keats but that would have been unfair on so many others across the globe. There's more space in a human heart than in the written word.
And yes, the proofing ... I edit something every time I re-read anything I write. There can never be enough fine tuning.
Finally, just between you, me, and the yellow wall, I think Stoppard beats Shakespeare 🙈🙃
Oh: and I have no idea where my sliver of yellow plaster even is now. Nor what wall it comes from, just a vague suspicion xxx
wherever it came from, it prompted you to write this lovely piece. Does the music help with your post-concussion symptoms? x
Hi, music has not been great for me these past few months, but starting to tolerate soft voices or softer played pieces. I even managed to listened to a bit of an audiobook the other day (again, soft voice). xx
I get that. you have to gently walk into what you can do. Brain injuries are so unknown - and so serious. Walk slowly. xx