"Cyanea Spinel Arsenikon Radiolarion, Maidenhair Horsetail Cirrhus Bum Lung Oroubouros Crimsonwisp Cramoisie Nightshade Lamplight Tendril Goosefeather Plume Penna Argus Cuttle Spindrift Bloodrift Rust Amalekite Rahab Rapunzel Hemlock Goosegob Florian Hesper Jasper Whisper Pomegranate Pard Rip Portwine Gyr Tyr Fang Gentian Millipede Fumato Argile Nieve Schneewittchen Popocatapetl Spitfire Uvula Metatarsal Omoplat Cocky Nepenthe Kekule Claw Jormungandr Amphisbaena Moly Gloop" (Byatt 161).
Reading "The Idea of Order At Key West", I was convinced, as I believe Stevens wished me to be, that our world is primarily a word of imagination. Given that I believe the physical proceeds from and is subject to the spiritual, Stevens had little trouble convincing me of validity of his beliefs. It was with Steven's mindset that I first picked up The Biographer's Tale. Comparatively, the world of "facts" that Phineas Nanson sought to create sounded unreal and even a little ludicrous. Facts, solid absolutes that hold solid from every angle are difficult to come by outside of a laboratory setting. Facts about a person's life, in my opinion, simply do not exist. One can state a fact about someone, and it may be true, but in another sense it can never be true because it can never be complete. For example, if one truly wants to capture the life of another, as did our dear biographer Phineas, one can catalogue the actions and perhaps through old writings ect. one may even learn some of the thoughts of their subject. However, to say that Elmer Bole "haunted potteries in Iznik and in Staffordshire, discussing glazes with the Wedgwoods" (Byatt 17) may be true, but it can never be a scientific fact because it can never be reproduced.
There is a modern adaptation of the words of Heraclitus of Ephesus that states: No man ever steps in to the same river twice. The second time, it is not the same river and he is not the same man. In my freshman chemistry lab I one copper plated a small plastic toy. That the toy is now covered in a copper glaze is more of a fact than that I was the one who caused it. I could go back to the lab and reproduce this same experiment exactly. Each step of the experiment is written down and the chemicals listed, sometimes down to the quarter of a drop. Copper plating is reproduceable and therefore a fact. You can perform it over and over as many times as you like, always with the same result. My having performed the copper plating can never be reproduced exactly. I had a lab partner. I recall his name. I do not recall what I said to him that day, what kind of mood either of us were in, what we were wearing, what we were thinking, et cetera. My experiences, and the experiences of all people are not catalogued to the extreme as lab experiments are. This, to me is what makes our lives separate from the world of facts.
Reflecting on this idea, I began to realize the exciting significance of the otherwise dull catalogues and lists found within Byatt's novel. Biz theorized in her blog that "lists are bridges, synapses in our brain, to not only make us aware of all the “things” that exist or did exist, but also how we can make sense of it all in an order." Lists are, as Biz states, windows into the Steven's world of imagination. Taking this idea a step further, they are also the cementation of imagination. Without lists, without concrete proof of an instance we cannot make it a fact. Copper plating is a fact, and although fundamentally what makes it a fact are the reliable chemical reactions taking place, what makes it fact for mankind are the written lists that follow its story from beginning to end in full and exact detail. Thus, I am now convinced that Byatt and Stevens are both followers of a world of imagination. Byatt, like Stevens is reiterating that words are what call reality (or facts) into being.
