Experiments in Style: I Remember
Experiments in Style: I Remember
Channeling Georges Perec
Greetings!
If youโre new here then you can find out all about this project of mine here:
But in a nutshell itโs this: Iโve been taking a short and very bland story and rewriting it in different styles. This time Iโve chosen to write it using the I Remember rubric.
Georges Perec, the Oulipian writer, published a book consisting of nearly 500 statements beginning with the words I Remember1. I thought Iโd try it out myself, on a smaller scale.
Some questions to consider:
How does the style affect the meaning?
How does the style affect the feel of the story?
A bang on the head (template)
In the middle of the night, I woke up (if you can call being semi-conscious being awake), walked purposefully towards the door to go to the bathroom โ and almost knocked myself out. The reason was that in the twin states of entire darkness and semi-somnambulance I was facing in a different direction from the one Iย thoughtย I was facing. As a result, instead of walking through the door, I tried to walk through the wall. The next few days brought nausea and headaches. After much prevarication I went to Accident and Emergency, where I waited petrified among people for whom โsocial distancingโ means not quite touching you, and who wore their masks as a chin-warmer. An hour and a half later I emerged into the twilight, secure in the knowledge that I had nothing more serious than mild concussion. I failed to do much writing, but I was pleased to have read a further 17% of my book.
I remember
I remember waking up in the middle of the night.
I remember needing to visit the bathroom.
I remember thinking I wouldnโt turn the light on.
I remember getting out of bed on the wrong side because I was disoriented.
I remember feeling disoriented because I was half asleep.
I remember walking in the wrong direction as a result of getting out of bed on the wrong side.
I remember walking into the wall instead of through the door as a result.
I remember banging my head on the wall.
I remember feeling nauseous and a bit headachey.
I remember that this went on for a couple of days.
I remember not being able to write very much because of that.
I remember that Elaine suggested I go to the hospital to get myself checked out.
I remember walking to the local Accident & Emergency.
I remember feeling disconcerted at the fact that people were wearing their masks as chin-warmers instead of covering their nose and mouth.
I remember feeling annoyed that people were not adhering to the social distancing rules.
I remember feeling very concerned about catching Covid because of that.
I remember waiting only for around an hour to be seen.
I remember being surprised at being seen so quickly, as the usual wait time was several hours.
I remember wondering if my wait time was short because Iโd presented with a head injury.
I remember being pulled about and tapped on the elbows and knees by a nurse.
I remember the nurse asking me to follow her finger with my eyes.
I remember the nurse telling me that I had mild concussion.
I remember her telling me to take it easy for a week or so.
I remember feeling glad it was nothing more serious.
I remember it was twilight when I left the hospital.
I remember the length of time from arrival to departure was an hour and a half.
I remember feeling peeved that I hadnโt done much writing for several days.
I remember feeling pleased that I had managed to read around 17% of my book.
I remember knowing that because I was reading it on a Kindle.
I remember thinking that the story would make a good basis for a series of experiments in style.
Over to you
Well, what do you think? Do leave a comment. Thanks for reading. Share this post if you enjoyed it. Actually, please share it even if you didnโt. ๐
See the index of these posts here: Experiments in Style Index. You can access older posts through apaid subscription. In addition, Iโve started a new section called Experiments in Style Extra. This is an occasional for paid subscribers which features posts explaining how I went about doing some of these styles.
Surprisingly I quite enjoyed this. Each โI rememberโ actually slowed me down and slowly built the story. There were a few things approached from a slightly different angle. I remember feeling more fully in the moment! Interesting... Thanks Terry. Enjoy your week.
I like to write from 2nd person POV (e.g., you), especially when I'm talking about myself experiencing an absurd situation. This "I remember" format achieves something similar, as if you're telling yourself a story you can't quite believe.
If you haven't seen it, I used 2nd person to great effect in my knee surgery piece: https://agowani.substack.com/p/how-to-survive-the-us-healthcare