In a discussion about my novel Verland: The Transformation with scholar/writer/etc. Thierry Jandrock, he made the kind of observation that takes one’s breath away with the gut-punch of truth:
"Some say vampires have welcomed death and made it
their friend. That is a mistake, for vampires are terrified by death's brother,
Oblivion. So they fight and fight to be remembered, to leave some trace of
their passage in this world. Who would not dream to leave something to be
remembered? Re-membered, remade whole after death has disintegrated our body
and soul."
Indeed, this interwoven terror of and fascination with
Oblivion, the only-imagined/unimaginable abyss which we tightrope across and
toward our entire lives is for me the most compelling and enduring aspect of
the vampire myth. Ah, the lure of an immortality that we at once understand to
be our soul’s most impossible, inadmissible desire. And yet to be
remembered—re-membered, remade whole--and thus rescued from the free fall of this existence,
born unaware and returned unaware to the star dust from which we came. Take my
hand now, let’s continue to make our way across the tightrope until, until…!
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| Francesca Woodman; Untitled; Boulder, Colorado, 1972-1975 |
