City as Dictionary,
City as Memory
Parramatta: A Dictionary of Place and Memory - C
The breeze, as I write, alternates warm and cool.
Although it is Christmas and no cafés are open, I sit nonetheless in the park to write.
This bench has a roof. I am alone for the most part but a woman approaches and she takes a seat on the other side.
From this spot, I hear the sirens of the ambulance as it goes around the bend, and the mind begins to unwind its memories.
When I write about a place, I wish to be in the place I’m writing about. There are two exceptions and they are Sydney (specifically Parramatta) and the north of Lebanon. No matter where I am in the world, it takes no effort to conjure these two places.
In thinking about the dictionary, I ask what is the dictionary to be. It is me and my memories. The dictionary is Parramatta itself as the place that is the backdrop to my memories.
There is a debate I have with my publisher, a debate that is ongoing, and it is if my books are novels or not. The categorisation is not important to me but for the sake of debate, it depends on where you make the cut.
If a novel can have a community and a place as its centre, then I write novels.
The House of Youssef, Australiana, The Lovers, and Politica are about a community in a particular place.
If the centre has to be a single character, then I don’t write novels.
Perhaps my attachment to place in story is due to my attachment to place in reality.
I once thought to move from place to place, but now I wish for a centre, a base.
I once thought it didn’t matter where I was in the world, but I have realised this year that I need my friends and family. Every person has a centre to their thoughts, a place that is their formative reference point.
I thought to stand outside my dictionary – Here is a list of places and names without any additional context – but I take this opportunity to make this my dictionary, and as we trace our lives, what we’re really tracing is memory.