I Remember | Joe Brainard

With a new introduction by Olivia Laing, alongside Paul Auster’s original.‘A masterpiece.
One by one, the so-called important books of our time will be forgotten, but Joe Brainard’s modest little gem will endure.’ Paul AusterAn enduring gem, Joe Brainard’s I Remember is a literary and artistic cult classic.
Brainard’s method was brilliantly simple: to set down specific memories as they rose to the surface of his consciousness, each beginning with the refrain ‘I remember’: ‘I remember that little jerk you give just before you fall asleep.
Like falling.’Recollections – jokes, confessions, daydreams and memories – were carefully, lovingly woven together.
They were of family and friends;
of movie stars;
of early heterosexual fumblings and later gay life.
Brainard's pared-back prose dodged both self-pity and judgement of others, and was written with an ear for musical cadence and an extraordinary painter’s eye.
The result is witty, incantatory, profound and wholly captivating.