The Sense of Place
As we get old, we review in our minds the places we have called home, and the question arises: how exactly do we relate to them? This conversation was triggered by PEN’s celebration of Cavafi’s 150th birthday, on Nov 18, 2013. It was noted by more than one of the illustrious performers that Cavafi’s poetry is intimately related to Alexandria, his feelings that the place he grew up in could never be regained. We in the audience, especially those advanced in age, felt a resonance, but with Alexandria replaced by our own hometown, or by a city we lived in for a long time, or even short time but marked by intensity of experience.
And this brings me to the meaning of the sense of place: a city as such is just a human edifice from the past. It only gains its meaning to us through our personal experiences at particular locales, with people whose lives have touched us deeply at one point or another. Or, in a few cases, the city is an inspiration because of its illustrious past, and the artists, musicians, writers who created its cultural fabric, who have a message to us which we can still understand. Or, in the case of New York City, as few places I know of, the spontaneous everyday celebration of the human spirit.
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