There is something of the seventeenth century methodology present in
The Oyster
, as multiple disciplines (philosophy, literature, visual art, biology, architecture) converge within the experiences of thinking, eating, and diagramming. The center stage is given to a humble mollusk, which becomes an object, a subject, a sentient consciousness, and an alien will, progressively and then even simultaneously. In
we also find a pan-psychic attitude, something of a vital materialist disposition. This investigation reveals to the reader contingent details about the aesthetic origin of the universe by: a) ingesting the oyster's interior; and b) carefully traversing its sharp outer surface and polished interior space. Here reading, writing, creating, cooking, digesting become an act of filtering. The essential glorious trait of the oyster.