traces remain

ˈpæl ɪmpˌsɛst / noun:  a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain ;  something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form

[absinthemind3d]

started a blog over here >>>> https://fateandluminary.com/

come join the weird self love club! 

[tracesremain]

reblogging from main, come join me on my blog - I will be talking about dark academia, academia in general, and whatever other esoteric shit strikes my fancy

[buckybeebarnes-deactivated20260]

Henry smiled. “Why, looking for new ferns.”

Donna Tartt, The Secret History

[localbookshop]

french.meadows

[ohk4te]

may your coffee be hot and your bookshelf a divine mess and your outfit good

[tracesremain]

love it when I see my friend's work go viral <3

[tracesremain]

🎀𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 (n.): "The philosophy of the beautiful or of art; a system of principles for the appreciation of the beautiful, etc." This word has been floating around so often recently & it's got me thinking about the history of this word & what it means. According to the OED, "aesthetics" was first used in English in 1770 to mean the above, & at one point I think it got quite pedantic (what is aesthetic & what is not?). This policing of taste is not unlike what we see today on social media, especially the ways in which siloed, vacuums, and/or echo chambers form around certain "aesthetics." I've always found this word by turns a wonderful idea, but also an insidious one: appreciating what one finds beautiful is great, but creating a hierarchy of Beauty & Art & looking down on people who don't share your aesthetic vision isn't a cute look. It also gets tied up in ideas of perfectionism (not to mention sameness!) by which I mean there is some sort of perfect peak to reach, some sort of aesthetic endgame that, once you reach it, you will be judged/accepted/idolized. It's an interesting idea, how much social media has centred on this peak of perfection. I've seen lots of folks talk about how damaging that is & how we are only seeing "10% of everyone's story," and I don't need to reiterate that here. I'll also add though: when someone makes art, writes a poem, writes an autobiography: how close are we to that person's life by seeing or reading their art? Folks used to think texts could get somehow reveal the Author & the Author's whole life story, which has now largely been turned away from or at the very least, questioned. So why do we take social media as evidence of humanistic perfection? I don't have answers, I've just always been curious about this. Another parallel I've been thinking about is the Victorian idea of the "aesthete." This was someone who lived their life in full embodiment of "aesthetics" & was probably quite hedonistic. No one uses that term now, but all these "-core" identities are really very similar iterations of this idea.

I'm not fully sick of this forward facing perfection, as I personally like to look at nice things, but I am sick of the idea that perfection must be the goal in this space. I don't take the nicest photos in the world & I don't like everything in my life to be the same colour. I also have a lot of hobbies that "don't go" together. I don't enjoy the tension between things looking good & things being uniform; I think there's a way to do one without lurching into the other. Wanting same same same is really interesting to me too, as a form of "aesthetic:" look to tik tok, where creators make the same form of content over and over because their audience loves it. Apparently once you have a formula, you're beholden to it? My life, & I suspect that of many others, is not formulaic & I'm getting tired of seeing formulaic content. Anyway! I have no answers, only musings.

[tracesremain]

Breaking from my string of chronological academic memories to post something recent. This glittery sweater + sweatpants combo perfectly sums up how I'm feeling this Pisces season: soft, cozy, fancy, indulgent, relaxed. 🌊🐚💕 But for real, I came here to just write what is currently in my head about social media & the way we share & process thoughts & words - I saw someone the other day ask whether folks preferred short or long captions on IG posts & lots of people answered that they loved long captions, which surprised me. Not least because I am very verbose & would love to share long captions, but have held myself back (a) because I thought people didn't like it & (b) because the little text box in the IG app is so very, frighteningly temporal & whenever I write long-form in such boxes I feel as though it will disappear in an instant if I'm not careful. Maybe that's a good thing, in a way - maybe knowing this long missive might not make it to its intended destination (a post, not necessarily "to" anyone) is precisely the type of precarity this digital age is lacking. Maybe the messenger does need to get lost more often. Anyway, I have many things to say but am so used to formal essay writing that I've held myself back for years writing anything - especially with my thumbs (everything required a keyboard or a pen!). But I am fortunately very capable of using my thumbs & am curious about shifting my relationship to how I engage with this form of writing. Also, why does no one talk about their process here on IG? Why is making & writing content so mysterious? These thoughts have plagued me for a while. Treating this as a journal is very cathartic, & I'll be doing this more often - as well as sharing my journey as I take a few courses on magic, astrology, & tarot (to name but a few things I'm learning; I graduated university last April and am only now ready to read & engage again without feeling fear of burnout etc.). Maybe no one will follow along, & I've finally made peace with that. I'm here for myself, & that's enough.

[sapphocottagecore]

[paleohistoria]

This is Seahenge, also known as Holme I, an early bronze age momument located in Norfolk, England. It consists of a timber circle with an upturned oak trunk in the centre. 

[honeysucklememoriess]

my life is not a novel; rather, it is a collection of poems. 

[minyardy]

[suspend]

[kcyang688-deactivated20240327]

[greeksblog]

[Beige]

[tracesremain]

a soft image from when I was first studying Jane Austen’s last, unfinished manuscript Sanditon. This is my personal copy of the second impression of the first published edition, 1925. I went on after this to complete a master’s digital edition of the 1925 edition (which is sadly offline right now, though I am happy to share more about it!).

In the meantime, this website has an excellent digital edition of the Sanditon manuscript, began in early 1817 and left off by Austen three months before her death in the same year. The manuscript contains 12 chapters, and leaves off right before Sidney Parker arrives in Sanditon (the projected love interest). But y’all already know that from the recent PBS adaptation.

[tracesremain]

In 2015, I had a delightful time volunteering on the Aldus@SFU project, a digital edition of 21 publications of Aldus Manutius. Manutius, a sixteenth century Italian publisher, is known for publishing “portable” books - small size editions that could be easily carried. The bindings here are all quite new; I think they’re all Victorian.

I’m highlighting a page of one of his Greek publications here (forget which title, forgive me, it was six years ago) because of the interesting triangulation of the words. I was really taken with this type of printing when I first saw it!

[behind-scopes]

Summer solstice

[tracesremain]

I wonder that too.

I made these notes on Friedrich Engels in 2014, and still feel he was right on the money when it comes to capitalism, individualism, and structural issues that arise from both.