Playing in Shadow - Anne Carson's Nox

I could focus on the obvious: the fact this this is an unexpected accordion text in a box. But I think that Charisson does a really thorough job of investigating the text, mentioning possibilities that I hadn’t thought of before. For example, when presented from the back, it is a blank book, adding an even deeper sense of loss and nothingness. I did attempt to unfold the entire book but only got halfway through before I ran out of floor. What I was able to unfold did provide a different viewing experience, highlighting the gaps of white space, text, and images.

I was struck and settled by her lines, “It is when you are asking about something that you realize you yourself have survived it, and so you must carry it, or fashion it into a thing that carries itself.”  I felt like I understood some aspect of what she was doing, and how I should approach the work. Burt alludes to this in his article, but I immediately thought of a reliquary, the original holding pieces of her brother, and mass-market version holding a representation of Michael. In reading the shadows of Michael, it seems that there was several deaths to mourn, specifically in regards to Michael. Her mother declares him dead long before his physical death, and Anne alludes to his absence as a form of death in the sense that he has a new name, identity. Again, the brother she knew died long before his physical death.

The closest Anne comes to capturing Michael for me is Section 8. 2 in which Carson references the picture of Michael under the tree house and recalls his desire to hang with the older boys. She describes Michael’s look at invisible as if, even at ten, he is shadow: “No one knew him. He was the one that was old.” In the tree house picture on the previous page, it is difficult to make out his face. They’re too far away from the camera, the stark contrast of light and the shadow blurs his features. The additional pictures that Carson includes enhances the themes of shadow and water.

Burt mentions the poem “Water Margins: An Essay on Swimming by my Brother,” which illuminated the images of water as well as Michael’s final wish to be cremated and given to the ocean. While Burt points out that the brother may not be a direct representation of Michael, placing the poem next Nox adds a new perspective.  The presentation of shadow and water here reminded me of Heavenly Questions and the concept of thresholds. Carson, through a very different approach, seems to make peace with the inadequacy of language to make sense of death, of the not knowing. However, for the living, it seems to be the only available avenue to comprehend the incomprehensible.