Edward St. Aubyn (b. 1960)

A Clue to the Exit

London

Chatto & Windus

2000

"But she was still observing herself, and thereby observing herself observe herself, in the infinite regress of the witness box."

She was arguing, but who was she arguing with? Who were these people in white coats and black overcoats? As she recognised what she was doing, the argument began to fade. The thoughts were all hers. They settled back at their source. Her shoulders sank. She breathed out more slowly. She had retracted her attention from the contents of her thoughts - in this case a make-believe argument with a make-believe audience - and returned it to the subject, the thinker. But she was still observing herself, and thereby observing herself observe herself, in the infinite regress of the witness box. When the fixation on the object of thought had gone, there was still the witness observing its absence. Then there was no observer, just an experiencer. Then there was no experiencer, just experience. At last.
(p. 138)

Government::Court::Witness Box

Reading

Edward St. Aubyn, A Clue to the Exit (London: Chatto & Windus, 2000).

09/19/2015