Wiki Response 1

Wiki 1

1. Why does Perec feel the objects that are on his worktable are so important to who he is?
2. Why is it that “contemporary writing has lost the art of enumeration”?
3. Why is it that since Perec set up his work-table he feels he can only work at his worktable and do nothing else but work there?

“Contemporary writing has lost that art of enumeration”, because we have gained so many more unnecessary possessions as well as the attention span to list all of our possessions. The items we do possess explain who we are and what is important to us, but we have begun to acquire so many that even we forget some of the things we own. Perec says, “Nothing seems easier than to draw up a list, in actual fact it’s far more complicated that it appears; you always forget something”, because we always feel we are forgetting something we feel the need to write etc. but this would defeat the purpose of a full list because then it would not be complete. Lists like the one Perec wrote about the items on his work-table are far more complicated then it used to be to write up such a list and has become tedious work that most would not want to put forth the effort to do. The things we keep on our work-tables show what we need on a daily basis and what we deem important enough to look at everyday. It tells a lot about who we are but without the person there to explain the things on the work-table a lot of the meaning is lost, which is why Perec wrote about his work-table. He is telling us what is important to him and why he chose to put certain things on his desk and others in the drawers by his desk. His work-table tells us he is an “organized chaos” kind of person, meaning he has all of his things in places he needs them to be but to an onlooker it would look disorganized. His enumeration explains all of this and gives light to his work habits. Enumeration is a lost art due to its growing complexity, (because of our growing need to buy more and more), but it is not lost to all and the importance has not lost its value. Our space and what we keep in it is very important to who we are and should be explored thoroughly.

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