archive fever

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I’ve narratively laughed at myself as collector of books. My desire in collecting news, my journaling (none online), my desire in a little 3x5 notebook I carry around when I’m out shopping or on the train, is a funny obsession about capturing ephemerality (maybe). I have the most incredible archive of material to draw on for creative work. But I would never use material from someone else without their permission.

Giving to a narrative figure an archive of letters and whatall is a storiational ploy to give myself freedom to claim whatever I want about the figure’s life, as if I’m pursuing biographical interest. The pretext of the character’s archive gives me license. Whatever I have in my actual life is irrelevant to what the character is “reported” to have.