04-02-2025

“Infantile memories are precious because they ‘[unite] us with the world-outside-us,’ she writes, ‘bridging the gap which otherwise seems to separate us as individuals from everything around us,’” Kaja Silverman quoting Lou Andreas-Salomé in Silverman’s Flesh of My Flesh (45).

“Whoever reaches into a rosebush may seize a handful of flowers; but no matter how many one holds, it’s only a small portion of the whole. nevertheless, a handful is enough to experience the nature of the flowers. Only if we refuse to reach into the bush, because we can’t possibly seize all the flowers at once, or if we spread out our hands as if it were the whole of the bush itself—only then does it bloom apart from us, unknown to us, and we are left alone,” Lou Andreas-Salomé, Looking back (20).