‘Mixing memory and desire’: by way of introduction

Why a blog? My various computer hard drives have been littered with brief attempts to open up a subject in prose, expounding and beginning to explore a single idea. Over time, I fell into the habit of entitling these files ‘fragment on xxx’—hence, in part, the title of the blog. (That, and all the good titles were taken long ago…) Some of these fragments have grown into publications; some have been woven in as footnotes or asides here or there; but many others have remained as fragments, and so have remained unpublished. I believe, rightly or wrongly, that there have been one or two worthwhile ideas in those fragments, and so a place more public (and, based on last month’s unpleasant experience, more permanent…) that a computer hard drive seems appropriate.