luka

Well-known member
psychic vertigo is a good term for the specific Borgesian brand of intoxication.
(and essentially what linebaugh was saying I think)
Why did he suddenly start talking like a robot? It was like when Cameron starting talking about his imaginary pasty.

 

IdleRich

IdleRich
More succinctly, the recognition that "I" don't exist is both the most terrifying and liberating recognition of all.
In the film The Passenger by Antonioni it's absolutely startling in the same way when he just swaps his identity with a man who has died in his hotel. A completely liberating and frightening realisation that one can just leave one's life like that and become a Passenger in someone else's. An amazing film.
A similar story is in the book by Pirandello (whom I happened to think of the other day cos he was in that list of authors that Nabakov liked the other day) - later on there are more consequences, but again I remember that moment of freedom, exhilaration and fear.... could I just? Why can't I?

 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
On that topic, every day I get stressed out about work and I can't help but wonder why that is given that intellectually I know that there is no me and besides which even if there was I'll be dead in a matter of decades and my workplace disappeared beneath the waves.

It's happening right now!

How do I explain to my boss that neither I nor they really exists and it's time we stopped participating in this ludicrous delusion?
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
What was that comic or whatever with Inspector Descartes? You sound just like him, it was all like: Inspector Descartes couldn't understand why the Prime Minister was getting so worked up about the fate of a country the existence of which had not even been proven.
 

version

Well-known member
In the film The Passenger by Antonioni it's absolutely startling in the same way when he just swaps his identity with a man who has died in his hotel. A completely liberating and frightening realisation that one can just leave one's life like that and become a Passenger in someone else's. An amazing film.
I read a horrible story the other day about the Met stealing the identities of dead children for undercover officers infiltrating political groups.
 

jenks

thread death
In the film The Passenger by Antonioni it's absolutely startling in the same way when he just swaps his identity with a man who has died in his hotel. A completely liberating and frightening realisation that one can just leave one's life like that and become a Passenger in someone else's. An amazing film.
A similar story is in the book by Pirandello (whom I happened to think of the other day cos he was in that list of authors that Nabakov liked the other day) - later on there are more consequences, but again I remember that moment of freedom, exhilaration and fear.... could I just? Why can't I?

I think this also happens in Mao II by DeLillo but it’s been awhile since I read it.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
That's one I haven't read. I suppose I'm not talking about the act of doing that so much as the way it's done, how in The Passenger it's so shocking, he just swaps his life for another entirely on a whim. It's shocking as you grasp that possibility.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I read a horrible story the other day about the Met stealing the identities of dead children for undercover officers infiltrating political groups.
Definitely in stories they (criminals, secret agents, police or whatever) often use the IDs of people who died young. I suppose it's easier than creating one from scratch. Maybe. I dunno.
 

version

Well-known member
Definitely in stories they (criminals, secret agents, police or whatever) often use the IDs of people who died young. I suppose it's easier than creating one from scratch. Maybe. I dunno.
Yeah, apparently they've been doing it for decades. They're now being taken to court by the families.
Before the start of their deployments, the officers spent hours trawling through birth and death certificates in official archives to select suitable candidates. They were then issued with fabricated identity records, such as driving licences and passports, in the name of the dead child.

To make their fake identities more credible, the officers visited the neighbourhoods where the children had lived and even visited their graves. To familiarise themselves with the identity they were adopting, the spies also researched the children’s family members, including parents and siblings.
 

luka

Well-known member
There's a kind of will to darkness in that, something below and beyond the need to fabricate a cover identity. Some more primal unholy drive. But version you're supposed to read circular ruins and think of something to say that's cleverer than the thing corpsey said. You're changing the subject and shirking the direct challenge corpsey laid down to you,
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
So... why is it easier than just making one up? The way I see it, you have the advantage of a birth date and records that will match when you use that... but the disadvantage that if anyone checks properly they will also find a death date. Is it simply cos people don't check, that you can register for a driving licence or whatever using the fact you were born and the death date just won't ping up anywhere? I guess that's it. I'm just thinking out loud here. Ignore me.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
So... why is it easier than just making one up? The way I see it, you have the advantage of a birth date and records that will match when you use that... but the disadvantage that if anyone checks properly they will also find a death date. Is it simply cos people don't check, that you can register for a driving licence or whatever using the fact you were born and the death date just won't ping up anywhere? I guess that's it. I'm just thinking out loud here. Ignore me.
Ignore who?
 

luka

Well-known member
I will circle and then ruin him.

I want you in his face every minute of the game. I want him to have nightmares about you when he falls asleep. Don't give him a moments rest. Never let him forget you. Make sure he always knows you're there.
 

luka

Well-known member
You should try reading these stories @jenks maybe a bit fantastical for you but they're only short. I like them anyway.
 

luka

Well-known member
We will integrate you into the reading club. Get you saying clever things that befit your sage's beard
 
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