the man who collected the 1st of september 1973

[bruno]

has anyone read this? i'm intrigued:

The story deals with just that -- an obsessive accountant who, in order to get some kind of grip on reality, assembles an archive of worldwide newspapers from a single date in history. The project overwhelms him: he learns several new languages in order to translate the thousands of articles, turns his flat into a "museum" for their storage, and becomes a social misfit unable to relate to anything other than September 1st, 1973. His task is absurd, yet initially well-intentioned; the accountant comes to believe that by understanding a single day in world history he will master important facts about "reality." His personality, his biography, is lost in a swirl of newspaper clippings, and he becomes a victim of his unrelenting work.

i was told a similar story about someone who collected newspapers in their flat, stacking them up high until there was no space left and he/she had to sleep on the doorstep. having to arrive late to avoid rousing suspicion, etc. and that eventually the roof of the flat below it caved in under the weight. i have no idea if this is true or not but i wouldn't be surpirised if it were, the world is a strange place.

 

[foret]

is there any political intent in choosing that day rather than the 11th of the same month?

 

[bruno]

well, the story was published in 1973, and september 11 was infamous for the coup in chile. it's a busy date, in general. but why would anyone avoid the reference? my guess is it has nothing to do with politics.

 

[mr_bottom]

that sounds cool, the infinity of a moment and where an individual stands with regards to their view of the wood and the trees.

who was that guy who decided to only go on holiday to different parts of his bedsit?

 

[IdleRich]

I dunno but there's a book by Tibor Fischer that sounds similar about a girl who organises fake holidays for herself in the room below her flat. She pays people from the relevant place to come in and cook and speak the language at her.

 

[jenks]

who was that guy who decided to only go on holiday to different parts of his bedsit?

That sounds like Huysmann in A Rebord (usually translated as Against Nature). Also very like Proust where the imagined object/destination takes on a greater significance than the actual, to such an extent that the journey never takes place.

This guy sounds like a character out of Perec's Life: A User's Manual

 

[John Doe]

Also in Flann O'Brien's Third Policeman, doesn't the philospher De Selby experiment with a method of travelling without moving by sitting in a darkened room and intermittently studying postcards of places en route to his 'destination'? (It's so long since I've read it, the exact details escape me.) He then claims to get out of his room, take a walk around his destination, then return by studying the postcards again in the opposite order.


I thought in Against Nature that des Esseintes, reluctantly, decides to journey to London. He takes a train to Paris but discovers his train to Calais is delayed so he finds an English pub where he sits, drinks ale, eats roast beef, listens to the English conversations around him etc. He then decideds that he has 'experienced' London enough and, instead of getting his connection, returns home....

 

[John Doe]

that sounds cool, the infinity of a moment and where an individual stands with regards to their view of the wood and the trees.

who was that guy who decided to only go on holiday to different parts of his bedsit?

Ah wait, the book you're thinking of is discussed in Alain De Botton's not very good On Travel. Isn't it by a 18th Century work by a French writer? - but the title and the writer's name now escapes me. But yes, the character does indeed stay in his room and takes excursions for a day to the sofa etc...