Collections of Nothing
I came across the new book Collections of Nothing by William Davies King on Amazon’s book blog Omnivoracious. As a teaser to the book, Omnivoracious posts its first few paragraphs:
On a hot summer day in 1998, I pulled up at the house I still owned with the woman who was soon to become my ex-wife to find that she had delivered every item connected with me to the garage. My surprise was not that she had divvied up our goods, though I would rather have done the work myself, but the spectacle of what an immense and unattractive volume of me there was, much of it retained only because I collect, as a collector collects, compulsively. And then some.
There I was, forty-three, wearing shorts and an old T-shirt already heavy with sweat, in the dusty glare of desert suburbia, Ryder truck still hissing and ticking at my back as the great panel door swung open with a shriek. The door shuddered, and I shuddered too. There were the usual black plastic bags of shoes and canted piles of shirts on hangers, portable radios and razors and power tools, but also the singular multiplicity of diverse collections of nothing, a junkstore dumpstore’s highlights, stuff of no clear value to anyone but someone like me.
I am a collector, something a lot of people can understand. My being a collector of nothing will require explanation. I am on the small side. A neighbor told my parents I was the only child he’d ever seen who could walk upright under a table. Eventually I grew to a normal height, but I sometimes think of myself as an overgrown runt. My weight has always hovered just above normal, which is typical, I think, among people who grew up fighting for a larger portion. I have two younger brothers who could easily be cheated, though I chose not to, and an older sister who always wanted it all and could not be cheated because she was disadvantaged, disabled, disastrous, and later insane. Because of her, I tend to measure my fair and healthy share, then sneak a bit more. My eating disorder is in my collecting. I eat nothing, in excess.
I’ve read accounts of people who one day give away everything, purging themselves of material association. They report feeling liberated, disburdened, and alive for the first time. The moment of my divorce might have been a good moment for me to cleanse myself that way. I did not like what I saw under the bare bulb in that shadowy garage. There, mixed in with my necessaries, shone forth what had doomed me to a life of collecting–that super-superfluity of sub-substance. During twenty years of living with my wife, decades of relentless acquisition, I had found ways of weaving my collections into the lattice of our life. Now, brought out from concealment, arranged in heaps, not carelessly but also not artfully, these things looked like signs of hoarding, which is a diagnosis, not a hobby.
So I transported the cumbersummation of me into the Ryder and into my new, unmarried life, in the hope that I might locate myself somewhere in the midst of it.
It is an unfortunate way for the author to find himself looking at all of his possessions, but it allowed him to take stock of his life and the belongings in it. Whether it is a junk drawer, closet, or a garage, you may not realize how much you have until it is laid out in front of you. Only then can you really evaluate what it is you are keeping.
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Posted by Matt on Jul 7, 2008 |
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13 comments posted
Posted by Pam - 07/07/2008
What a poignant and lovely piece of writing. Now I’m going to have to buy it (thereby adding to my book collection) since I checked and my library doesn’t have it. Thanks so much for bringing this to our attention.
Posted by Erin Doland - 07/07/2008
@Pam — The book has just been released, so you may want to go back and check with your library.
Posted by Suzyn - 07/07/2008
I didn’t realize how much stuff we had crammed into every corner of our NYC apartment until we moved to a suburban house with three times the square footage – I could finally spread it all out, and SEE it all. And I’ve been (trying to) purge ever since. Wish I could move back to that apartment (if only it could magically sprout another room for our kids!)
Posted by Marie - 07/07/2008
This reminds me of accounts I read in college from people who lost their homes in a fire. They were simultaneously completely disoriented and entirely liberated. Such interesting food for thought.
Posted by Erin Doland - 07/07/2008
@Marie — Stay tuned … this week we run the first entry in a series about fire.
Posted by Kate - 07/07/2008
My husband and I have been going through the process of cleaning out closets in order for construction to be done. We’ve been trying to keep eachother in check and remind ourselves that if we haven’t used something in so long, we don’t need to keep it. Lots of stuff in trash, recycle and donate piles. But the sentimental stuff is the hardest… I still have boxes of old birthday cards, letters, etc. I’ve read all the Unclutterer advice, but just can’t bear to part with it!
Posted by Ida - 07/07/2008
I stopped collecting ‘little things’ quite awhile ago. I now only have about 2 large plastic containers of home decor items that I circulate in-out of my house, this forces me to continually re-evaluate what I have and appreciate the ‘new’ items when I exchange them for the ‘old’.
Next project is to scan my son’s school important papers, drawings etc. onto a disc.
Posted by Alice - 07/07/2008
What’s lost is nothing to what’s found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.
-Frederick Buechner, From Godric
Posted by Ann - One Bag Nation - 07/07/2008
That is beautiful, touching writing and speaks to me about much more than the stuff itself.
Posted by Anne - 07/08/2008
very sad way to finally see your stuff and life
Posted by Vic - 07/08/2008
I just saw this today and it looks like it might be of interest to your readers:
http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/002926.php
Posted by Dean - 07/08/2008
William Davies King certainly knows all one would care to know about organizing clutter into a collection. An excerpt from his book Collections of Nothing is available on the University of Chicago Press website. Also an essay titled “Nothing to Speak About.”
Posted by Marc - 07/08/2008
I recently relocated and used it as an opprotunity to take stock of my posessions. We went from an 2100 sq ft to 1500 sq ft with room to spare.
It was great to see all of our item fit into a small room and packed into a box truck. Nothing we sold or gave away has been missed in the past seven months since the move.
It was even more amazing to me that my family could easily live out of one suite case per person for about a month (two for me) during the relocation process.
This really give perspective on what is important in life.
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