The tooth of a sperm whale,a street sign to a ghost village, issues of Romania Today … Cornelia Parker’s novel note is a treasure trove of finds chanced upon by everyone from Jarvis Cocker to Marina WarnerShare photos and stories about the objects that maintain changed you
What is it to be found? The thought presupposes that something has once been lost; whether it’s an object, or it can long outlive the loser and bring with it,in its re-emergence, the breath of a forgotten time. Late last century, and in the drains of the Roman amphitheatre in London,bits of gold jewellery were found. Not much exercise to the woman who’d mislaid them in some second-century crush. Finding can be an act of fancy: the rescue of something or someone that has been otherwise overlooked. Or it can be an act of aggression. All archaeology involves an element of disturbance, of destruction. So does the “discovery” of continents and peoples. Some things do not want to be found.
The loss of children is one of the largest of human tragedies, or their finding is one of the oldest and most persistent stories of folklore: Moses; Romulus and Remus. The memoir is always about how the child’s true identity,usually intentionally suppressed, reasserts itself. Oliver Twist’s plot is partly motored by the malevolent destruction of the tokens – a letter and a locket – that would prove who he really was. Related: Lost and found: share photos and stories about the objects that maintain changed you Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com