Index Cards: Selected Essays

Thanks to the wonderful Community Bookstore in Brooklyn for mailing me Index Cards--and for the great launch event featuring the author in conversation with Maggie Nelson (pub date May 26, 2020 from New Directions)--

Moyra Davey's Index Cards is a fantastic essay collection that contains works written over many years, yet the subject matter repeats and oscillates in fascinating ways--an anecdote about Walter Benjamin informs a conversation about the practice of psychoanalysis and different ideas on photography-making; the story of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughters influences varying thoughts on everything from sibling relationships and parenthood to letter writing. In this way, Davey proceeds through the minutiae of daily life, by linking the processes of reading and writing with everyday occurrences.

These pieces seem quiet on the surface, but they explode with meaning, particularly in the face of a world that seems to equate importance with loudness. Instead, Davey focuses on the small connections that others might miss, like the similarly pared down existences of Robert Walser and Jean Genet at the end of their lives. Or the way that a casual reference to a writer, made by a friend, seems to give us permission to pick up different books and enjoy a more spontaneous reading experience. Index Cards, like its title, hones in on so-called plans for future creativity (notes, jottings, random quotations, journal entries, descriptions of people on the subway), and shows how these musings can constitute art in their own right.

Highly recommend, especially for artists who are feeling a bit lost. Davey does a lot to ground the difficulty of creative practices--and to emphasize the importance of meandering and wandering/wondering. It's okay to not always know what you're doing; in reality, that's the good stuff.