Christopher Dewdney

Acquainted With The Night is a truly fascinating book that chronicles the twelve hours of the night. Seemingly disparate topics such as science, art, history, philosophy, fireworks, astronomy, psychology, bed time stories, nocturnal animals and dreams are woven together to create a fascinating look at a time when most people are asleep. Not just for night owls, Acquainted With The Night is for anyone looking for a book that balances scientific facts with lyrically wrought prose. Dewdney is show more also a poet, and this book is a testament to that. show less

If the author hadn't categorized his own work as "poetry" I wd've been tempted to create a new "shelf" for him. Perhaps "fossil memory" wd do for this one. I was surprised to open this & find that he'd signed it for me: "inclusive pithdong". I imagine that latter word was meant as a pun off of "dipthong" (aka "gliding vowel"). Dunno, but I like the word combinations. I think he might've written it b/c he combined the "a" & "e", dipthong style, in his writing of the name of mine that the bk show more was signed to. It's been so long since I've seen anything by him that I just looked him up online & was happy to find that he's still alive & has plenty of new bks for me to read.

This one is published by Toronto's The Coach House Press who, as usual, do a beautiful job. It might be Dewdney's 1st bk. The cover is subtle & almost gives the appearance of an actual geological survey. Dewdney's collages are vaguely reminiscent of Max Ernst's. They combine fossil images & technical illustrations & the like - much in the same way the language does. What I like the most about this writing is the way it's like a manual for a poetic analysis of the history of the (meta)physical environment. Take this paragraph:

"Some things are not accounted for. The transitional nature of the memory jackets allow them to become imprinted with the dreams of isolated individuals even hundreds of miles away. The concretion responds to the charge induced in the memory jacket by the dream utilizing the electro-static properties of the red oil lens. The concretion moves slowly, aligning itself, and begins arbitrarily to transmit previously recorded dreams mutated over the years by stellar and meteoric interference. One dream thusly created attained an independent consciousness and began to feed from the sleeping minds of human beings. It could telepathically transmit hallucinations and was protected by a field of deja vue." show less

Wonderfully intriguing -- an invitation to take a journey through the 12 hours of darkness, with a trustworthy and wise guide. This book is like a curiosity cabinet -- full of delightful items you've probably never considered before, some of which go bump, and some of which entrance: sleep, murder, dreams, bats, goddesses, astronomy, a wide variety of nocturnal creatures, meditations on philosophy, science and literature -- all explored with a poet's sensibility. Dewdney's interests in show more things of the night is so far ranging that I suspect not every single thing in the book with interest every single reader, and but where else could you discover that we are most sensitive to dust at 11 p.m. or, discover that the Panzer divisions invading Poland were on methamphetamine, or hear a comet described thusly: "there is something fascinating yet unearthly and menacing about a comet, as if it were a cold, phosphorescent angel of calamity - it hangs in the sky like a beautiful jinx." Lovely. Now, grab your lantern and a pair of stout boots, it's time to a little nocturnal wandering... show less

Another bk for the "fossil memory" shelf.

"The (pointing) sound (lake) track (night) is (cathedral
nocturne) suddenly (amazon noon) conscious (giant clams)
of (vanguard clouding) itself (turning)."

The section entitled "Remote Control" begins:

"On Fossilization (Remember; the emotions you are feeling may
not be your own.)

"Of every seven years we are entirely re-composed. That from
which we are made, what we see out of, is completely trans-
formed in a transubstantiation of actuality. The show more replacement of
reality with fiction is the same process. The rug is pulled in front
of your eyes off a facsimile of itself. Remote control alien re-
placement of all that which you call tangible."

At the very end of the bk he begins "The Song of Remote Control" w/:

"Give yourselevs up to Remote Control.
There is no choice, either you come known
or not knowing. You come."

Some people read science journals & then write science fiction. Dewdney seems to read science journals & to then write semi-stream-of-consciousness mappings of the mind. show less