x 365

Recently, I bumped into The x 365 project. People write about memories of persons they've met at some point of their life. Sounds dull? Being a dedicated Proustian, but also as a fan of Raymond Carver, I take a particular liking in that kind of thing. The texts are based on a set number of words. I suppose it is partly the shortness that contributes to the poetic tone of the descriptions.


Reading the text evokes memories of people I have met long ago, but whom I have not thought about for ages. One of the pleasant things about reading Proust is his representations of hazy buzz of people-talk. He mentions thousands of names. He brings up small episodes, connections, stories, rumours, fantasies. In that respect, his book has some resemblancies with what it is like to read the Bible from the Old Testament onwards - it is hard to remember all the people mentioned. Interestingly, forgetting some of the things he mentions in passing seems to form a part of the story itself, at least it is a vital part of the relation between the book and it's reader. When a character he has mentioned in some earlier part of the book suddenly reappears, this time all-important, it is a peculiarity of Proust's style that a change of this type is described from the point of view of memory, of forgetting and trying to remember.

My parents, and the rest of the older generation in the village, are Proustians, too. A conversation sets off by somebody delivering a nice piece of gossip concerning a particular person. If the others are not immediately familiar with the person in question, they initiate a pursuit of serious and in depth social- and genealogical research. It's like this:

"I met L on the ferry. She told me about her cousin R who has got sick recently."
"Sick? Wha' about him?"
"Well, M didn't know for sure, but he said it was cancer. I bumped into him yesterday, and he knew about what is going on with him."
"M talks a lot, you know, it's hard to know about him."
"Who is L? Is she married to G? I met G the other day at the supermarket (I had to pick up some bread, that's why I went there, otherwise I would....) and, where was I...., yes! G and I went to school together...."
"Did you??? I thought she was older. She certainly looks old. By the way, I heard she is ill, too. I think it was N who told..."
"Oh yes, but don't you know R, L:s cousin?"
"The one who is ill?"
"Yes, I'm sure you have met him. He used to work at [Company X] but then he switched jobs and now he works at Viking Line. Got himself a permanent job an' all!"
"Is that so? Yes, I heard that [Company X] is having problems right now."
(M, who hasn't said anything yet, interjects with a considerable amount of self-importance:)
"In fact I know the boss of [Company X]. It's not as bad as it seems. Or at least that is what he says. He has plans about moving some of the business - to Russia."
"Russia? Oh-oh."
"Well, my goodness."
"Yes, yes, but R, he used to live next to the B:s, and you know them, don't you?"
"I did, not so much anymore. Not so much anymore, no."
"Ha, ha!" (There is clearly some things one should know about the B:s - dark secrets...)
"L talks a lot of nonsense, too."
"But I suppose she must've known about R's being ill?"
"I don't remember if you said it already, but how is he ill?"