As One Speaks to stone, as you.*

Albrecht Durer-Self-Portrait (German 1500)

*Ed.: That was Paul Celan, translated (John Felstiner). Untranslated, this is Nabokov, speaking freely on a cherished subject: what Vivian Darkbloom saw first:

I know, however, of a young chronophobiac who experienced something like panic when looking for the first time at homemade movies that had been taken a few weeks before his birth. He saw a world that was practically unchanged--the same house, the same people--and then realized that he did not exist there at all and that nobody mourned his absence.

Oh, you:

Oct. 1, 1955: Mitch Miller-The Yellow Rose of Texas

Oct. 1, 1965: Hang On Sloopy-The McCoys

Feb. 1, 1975: Neil Sedaka-Laughter in the Rain

Oct. 1, 1975: David Bowie-Fame

Oct. 1, 1980: Queen-Another One Bites the Dust

Oct. 1, 1985: Dire Straits-Money For Nothing

Oct. 1, 1990: Maxi Priest-Close To You

Oct. 1, 1995: Mariah Carey-Fantasy

Oct. 1, 1999 (my 2000 was odious, I kicked the ground, loved Mahler, and was Raskolnikov): TLC-Unpretty

Oct. 1, 2005: Destroyer: The Music Lovers

Oct. 1, 2007: Richard Hawley-Serious


Chart your lineage with Josh.