The list is the origin of culture
And we make lists so we don't die
“The list is the origin of culture,” the author Umberto Eco said in an interview.
Since
started, I’ve used lists, and list-making, as a way to excavate deep truths about the human experience — namely, the fact that lists tell us more about their maker than the items themselves. Umberto Eco, who wrote a book called The Infinity of Lists: An Illustrated Essay, chose to study “lists” while completing a residency at the Louvre. Through his research, lists became elevated to much more than a discarded scrap of paper — they become “poetics of catalogues.”His full quote is below:
The list is the origin of culture. It’s part of the history of art and literature. What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible. It also wants to create order — not always, but often. And how, as a human being, does one face infinity? How does one attempt to grasp the incomprehensible? Through lists, through catalogs, through collections in museums and through encyclopedias and dictionaries.
There is an allure to enumerating how many women Don Giovanni slept with: It was 2,063, at least according to Mozart’s librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte. We also have completely practical lists — the shopping list, the will, the menu — that are also cultural achievements in their own right.”
Lists have continued to fascinate us, capture our attention, and organize our desires. It’s cool to know that something that we do in this day and age has had the same (if not more) cache thousands of years ago. As Eco says, “the list is certainly prevalent in the postmodern age. It has an irresistible magic.”
This Week’s Pleasurable Encounters
The opening line of the book “In the Cut” by Susanna Moore, discovered through So Textual’s interview with Emma Paterson. I ordered it promptly after and have been gripped by its pages:
I experienced a similar certainty when I started Nella Larsen’s Passing and Susanna Moore’s In the Cut. Some books convince you from the first page, even the first paragraph, and usually that power comes from a precision and force in the language, which are qualities beyond and above just beautiful sentences. In the Cut opens with such skill: ‘I don’t usually go to a bar with one of my students. It is almost always a mistake.’ Two very spare sentences but in them there is voice, tone, past and consequence. Immediately you feel the writer’s control.
Rachel Cusk’s book, “Outline” — a book that makes you feel like you’re eavesdropping on vacation in Greece.
This quote from
: “Remember what it was like to travel without Google Maps or working wifi. Look at the list but ignore most of it. Know that if I don’t go to the restaurant or museum exhibit flooding my feed, the place I go instead might just be as good (maybe even better). Or it might be bad! And that’s okay too. It’s all just information. Much like dating, you need to know what you don’t like to fully appreciate what you do, further cultivating your own sense of taste and identity.”Highlights from the Pleasure Lists Instagram you may have missed:
In Case You Missed It
Last week, I wrote about a Pleasure List that came in the form of Jenny Holzer’s Inflammatory Essays, which you can read about here:
Why submit a list?
Pleasure Lists are a summary of what you need, want, or have, or see at a particular moment in time. They are a survey, an overview, a summary of the crucial facts of the state of one aspect of your life. It’s a kind of blueprint that can be a guide to the future.
Mull it over and if you’re moved to, send me a list.
Questions? Comments? Please send any recommendations or suggestions for what you’d like to see in these newsletters my way. I’d love to hear more about what you’re currently finding pleasure in.
Future posts may include Q&A's with pleasure-seekers, things that have brought me pleasure, and other deep-dives into pleasurable research.
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