Wandering research

READING

DAY 5

Wandering research

Reading day 5 took place on: 11-02-2021. We were in lockdown due to the Coronavirus and had a curfew. We read about walking.

Street Haunting by Virginia Woolf:

Virginia Woolf went on a walk in order to buy a led pencil. The led pencil was just an excuse to go on a walk. What she got out of the walk was inspiration.

Woolf states that the best condition for a walk is to go out on a winter’s evening. What do we lose when we can’t do just that?

‘Without being outside people are losing the chance to meet the unknown, to find themselves in uncomfortable situations, and to learn about each other thus openness, empathy and receptivity are fading in general’ (The outside, Balint)

We read two chapters of Wanderlust, A History of Walking, by Rebecca Solnit. ‘I sat down one spring day to write about walking and stood up again, because a desk is no place to think on the large scale’ (Solnit).

To think we need to walk.

‘I walk when there is sun. I walk when there is the moon and the stars. I walk, and I go far away with the breeze. I walk because walking is infinite.’ (Flâneur, Shardenia)

‘Language is like a road; it cannot be perceived all at once because it unfolds in time, whether heard or read. This narrative or temporal element has made writing and walking resemble each other in ways art and walking do not’ (Solnit).

We could not go on an evening walk. But we could write about walking.

Based on:

Virginia Woolf, “Street Haunting”

Rebecca Solnit, “Wanderlust”