Scratches"For me his work is not only a document that enriches our knowledge of man, but also a personal testament that touches me deeply."--Francis BaconScratches is the first volume in Michel Leiris's monumental four-volume autobiography, Rules of the Game. In this volume, the celebrated French writer examines his inventory of memories, explores the language of his childhood, weaves anecdotes from his private life with his old and recent ideas. In the end, he so mercilessly scrutinizes what was familiar that its familiarity drops away and it blossoms into something exotic. As Leiris recollects his childhood, his father's recording machine becomes a miraculous object and the letters of the alphabet--from A (or the double ladder of a house painter) to I (a soldier standing at attention) to X (the cross one makes on something whose secret one will never penetrate)--come magically to life. Also here are evocations of Paris under the occupation, his journey to Africa, and meditations on his fear of death, which he tried to exorcise through his autobiographical writings. |
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alphabet ancient André Masson anfractuosity animal appear associated Auteuil Baccalauréats Barèges basse-taille become belonging bifurs Billancourt Blaise brother called cardboard character child childhood close clothes color creature cylinder dance death diaeresis dream dressed everything expression eyes face fact father feel felt friends give gnomes hand happened idea imagine kind knew language Lannion least Leiris less letters living longer look Max Jacob meaning memory metal Michel Leiris mother moving Musée de l'Homme nature never object once one's oneself paper paranroizeuses pencil lead perhaps Persephone person phonograph piece play pleasure precisely pure Saint-Pierre-lès-Nemours seemed signs simply smell soldier someone sometimes sort sound box story strange substance Sunday syllables taste things thought tion verglas Viroflay wanted Wassy wood words writing