sunday morning.
Sunday morning, I was walking through Williamsburg when I saw a book lying in one of those patches of dirt that pass for a bit of urban greenery. From a distance, it looked like a bible or a copy of the DSM-IV, maybe because it was thick and hardcover, but when I got closer, I saw that it was a copy of The Second Sex, by Simone de Beauvoir.
I walked by, and after a few steps I decided to turn back and snap a photo. I’m not sure why – maybe it was just the weirdness of seeing a classic text lying in a patch of dirt outside of an appliance shop. After I took the photo, I bent down to see if the last owner took any notes in the margins (they did), and before I knew it, I was engrossed, squatting in the dirt-square (or urine-patch), sipping coffee and holding the book open with my fingertips.
Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy has influenced me the way it’s influenced most women, whether they realize it or not, but I also admire Beauvoir as a brilliant woman who chose to live a very unconventional life. She followed a path of difficult choices, and some of those choices worked, and some of them left her conflicted, including her open marriage with Sartre. I respect her fearlessness.
(The American edition is famously fucked, so much so that a group of scholars pled with Knopf to get its act together and release a new translation. Since Knopf owns the distribution rights in the US, we’ve been stuck with what we’ve got, a clumsy fifty-year-old translation by a zoologist who misunderstood key philosophical concepts (because he was a zoologist), and translated accordingly. Plus, a large chunk of the original text was cut out completely. More here.)
While I was reading in the street, my phone vibrated with an incoming text message. It was from Gabriel; Colin Powell had just endorsed Obama on Meet the Press. It made me eager to get home so I could read about the endorsement (here), and since the book had no suspicious stains (liquor, urine, blood), I decided to take it with me so I could read it on the subway.
While I was standing on the platform, the woman beside me asked if I’d just come from church. I looked around to see if she were talking to someone else, and then said, “Me?”
She smiled and pointed to the book under my arm. “I saw your Bible,” she said.
*
I think I’m making progress on this social site of some sort. There are a few options, and I’m leaning toward the options that would be simplest and easiest to execute, though I’d like a little more than a forum (if possible). I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, I’m reading and re-reading your comments and emails.
Some of the best philosophical concepts I’ve hear have come from farmers.
Then again they usually had their fill of PBR at the time.
Even drunk I’m sure their words would beat those of a zoologists, any day.
Oh and a coworker told me today that the endorsement was due to Obama being black and no other reason. I shot back that, using his logic, he’s only voting for McCain because he’s white.
That is one of my all time favorite books! I’ve also read her autobiographies. Fascinating person. I’ve always wanted to read the Mandarins but can never find a copy. Reminds me I should try ordering it online…
I love your finder’s story. Hooray for taking notes in margins, and someone’s assumption about your “Bible.” ;)
“I saw your Bible.” I love that….
Funny thing is you were carrying a bible. We all have our own “religious” text’s. For many of us it sure isn’t the bible in the traditional sense.
well from your description isn’t it in fact your bible? or at least one of them?
for the record i’m perfectly happy to be set up by you but i’m not sure how many of your readers are from anywhere near me (toronto)… and i’m not rich so i can’t go to them :)
Oooo what a lovely find!
I’m a new reader and I’d like to extend my appreciation for your wonderful writing. I’d like also to encourage you in your efforts at a forum/networking/whatever addition to your site. Something well-moderated would be a welcome alternative to the quagmire that other “social networking” sites have become.
My comment is more of a thank you note then anything else and I am commenting for the first time. I just wanted to say Thank You to You Debauchette and all those who make comments on this amazing blog. I am grateful that with your posts and notes and your experiences you open a new world for me. There are so many things I am learning as I read through the post’s. You have opened my eyes to other bloggers, world of Art and literature and music. Having lived a very sheltered life because of my cultural origins- I feel I miss out on so much that’s out there that I may never experience, but i guess I can live vicariously through you and your writings :-)
if your new networking site plays even a small part in my getting more sex more often, you will be my hero!
Is that a surgical mask off in the corner of the picture? Sorry, totally out there. Don’t know why my eye went there.
I think that’s a very cool discovery to make out in public like that. Ages ago, walking the dog, I found an amazing erotic Polaroid out in a decent upscale residential neighborhood. I wish I had kept it. I don’t know now what I did with it.
While I was standing on the platform, the woman beside me asked if I’d just come from church. I looked around to see if she were talking to someone else, and then said, “Me?”
The visual is great! *smiles* I can see all of us standing there looking around completely confused.
“It was from Gabriel; Colin Powell had just endorsed Obama”
Don’t you love having the same views as your lover and/or a great friend? I heard about Powell that morning on NPR and one of my roommates called from his bedroom, “is that about Powell?” I called back across the house “yeah, he’s endorsing Obama.” It’s an exciting time to be connected to good friends whom are as passionate about our nation. God willing, of course.
I’m curious about the notes in the margins – anything interesting? You left that out of the story, probably intentionally, but in the context of finding a book, don’t clues to the book’s previous owner become part of the story?
I too am curious about the notes. Did you agree with the comments or was the former owner missing the point?
“She smiled and pointed to the book under my arm. ‘I saw your Bible,’ she said.”
I’m trying to picture the disappointment on the woman’s face as you explain to her that there are other books worth reading besides the bible… then I realize she would probably just respond with a self-righteous shrug, feeling pity for you because you’re not reading the bible… and I’m getting angry at the thought. But finally it occurs to me that maybe – in an alternate universe – maybe she was just a lesbian trying to start a conversation with a hottie…
do you maybe feel you were ‘meant’ to find that book ?
i dunno if you believe in that stuff, but i do…