“What seems important to emphasize is that this process of escape is actually a kind of radical engagement, as the artist Paul Chan has pointed out. To disappear into something, to become obsessed with something, to unfold an endless curiosity, to let go of our selves and allow this to happen is a necessary step toward understanding, toward the kind of learning that changes you, the way events change you, alter you (falling in love), or even the way powerful ideas can punch dents in the back of our naturally unhistorical brains.”
