Is it a memory or did you read it in a book?

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This might not make sense. But has anyone else had the experience of not knowing if a memory you've had is truly yours or part of a book? Of course now I'm having a blank b/c I have tons of them. I remember once I reminded my mother how grandma hated to sew and she looked at me like I was nuts....I think I got it from Little House on the Prairie. Hmm... well if you get it lemme know.

― PeanutDuck (PeanutDuck), Sunday, 23 May 2004 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Sounds like a form of Bovarism, after Flaubert's Madame Bovary, who viewed her life through the conceit of romantic novels. It also sounds a little like the Quixotic syndrome. Don Quixote was reportedly corrupted by chivalrous romances, leading to all sorts of delusionary behaviour.

In either case, it's dangerous -- Madame Bovary commited suicide by arsenic, and Don Quixote was incarcerated for a time because of his delusions.

Best to stop it before it gets too serious.

― SRH (Skrik), Sunday, 23 May 2004 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I have a not-quite-related problem, which is "What show was that on?" I'll remember a scene and then describe it to my friend--in great detail--only to realize at the end that it was a book, not something on TV.

― SJ Lefty, Monday, 24 May 2004 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Can't happen often enough, and has to be a great compliment to the author.

― bnw (bnw), Monday, 24 May 2004 03:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I can emphasise with this. Perhaps not on a scale with the Don, but certainly when books reference other books. I naturally assume that if the author has read the book, then so have I.

PeanutDuck, there is an introduce yourself thread lurking in the depths of ILB. Tell us about yourself. Measurements and all.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Monday, 24 May 2004 07:57 (twenty-one years ago)

This may be related to "did that happen or did I dream that"? syndrome, which has always been a bit of a problem for me. A little with the books, but more so the dreams. Will I swallow poison too? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!

― Ann Sterzinger (Ann Sterzinger), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 18:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Oooh I have that did I dream it thing too. Once that almost got me in trouble b/c I dreamt about this guy I had a crush on and the next day I thought we were going out (5th grade stuff).

Hmm...as for measurements, I haven't counted my books lately so I'll get back to you on that.

;)

bye. thanks for dropping in.

― PeanutDuck (PeanutDuck), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

On the dream tip, I frequently stop reading, turn off the lamp, and go to sleep only to dream about continuing to read from where I left off. Sometimes I'll read entire chapters before waking up and thinking that I dropped the book somewhere on the bed after dozing off. The pages in my dream seem to make sense in the context of the book, so I have yet to get over that weird feeling when I realize that the book is marked on my bedside table and the light is off.

― Alex Pittman (Alex Pittman), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 01:08 (twenty-one years ago)

sometimes i can't seem to differentiate between something i read about and what i watch. Like there'll be this scene in my mind that i'm not sure comes from a movie/TV show or from something i visualize while reading. And all this dramatization and making films out of books doesn't help either because i get confused between the actual movie scenes and my personal images from the book... Argh.. it does bother me somewhat. and the plotlines of books and movies become mix up in my mind.. blurring into each other. sigh

― unfazed, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 03:02 (twenty-one years ago)

"A line of poetry runs through my head. Fearing to lose it if I do not write it down, I try desperately to find a pencil and paper. I finally find two stubs, and neither of them has a point. At last, a ballpoint pen! It is dry. I make do with an orange crayon on the back of a gas bill, writing 'A darkness in the weather of the eye'"
A nice line. Is it mine, or somebody else's. I hope it is mine. Who knows?"

A little excerpt from a book of mine that was published in 1980. A few years after, I read the line in a poem of Dylan Thomas's. Now I know.

― pepektheassassin (pepektheassassin), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

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