Much has been written about the paradoxically privileged position of the
outsider, the liminal person's ability to see & evaluate social architectures.
I would just like to point out how important, especially to American poetry
& literature, is the figure & mythology of the vagabond, the loner, the
wanderer - NOT as a privileged observer of civilized organisms, but
as someone who seeks & finds pure escape. This is kind of a romantic
notion, obviously. Crane puts hoboes at the center of The Bridge,
in the magnificent section called "The River". The theme is obvious
all through Whitman. The advantage of self-loss & vagabondage is not
so much that it turns the liminal character into a prophet bringing
judgement, as that vagabondage puts the hobo in unmediated contact with
free Nature. As Crane put it (paraphrasing?) "they touch something
like a key, perhaps". One could really look closely at this & begin
to find it in unexpected places. Like in Joyce's notion of epiphany
triggered by unlooked-for impressions of ordinary, vagrant, castaway
places & objects. I'm sure there's a freudian aspect to all this, too.
The ur-architecture is a feminine place, even if built by Master Builders.
It's home. Unless you are a nomad.
Henry
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