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DOCTOR'S JOURNAL - THE FORGETTER
The forgetter is in many ways the most unusual of the personalities that have presented themselves to me. At first when I began receiving his e-mails, I was intrigued, that perhaps, finally, I might have discovered some small part of his origins. At the time, I was not concerned about the existence or nonexistence of the objects that his stories centered around. The physical evidence of Norwood's discoveries has always been less than reliable.
The objects that the forgetter was writing about did exist. They were kept in a small metal container that the hospital frequently allows patients to carry their medications in. It became clear, rather quickly, that these objects were, in fact, residue from the previous day's or evening's events. My initial response was to determine that I had stumbled across another fictional development from the world of Norwood Funk.
There was something different about these stories, however. I decided to pay closer attention to the details of the narrative. There was a definite personal tone to the letters that rang of truth, and specifically a bleak and depressed truth. While I am still uncertain as to the truth of Norwood's origin's, I have chosen to treat these stories as a version of the truth, rather than an attempt at distraction. Regardless of the historical truth of the matter, these stories provide a confirmation that Norwood has some memory of a sad childhood that surely will provide an insight into the psyche that created them. The fact that the items he references are residues of his own current history may or may not provide clues to the purpose and origins of these stories. I am hesitant to assume that the forgetter is aware of the events that have created the residues that he encounters, but I am also hesitant to believe that the forgetter is so completely dissociated from his environment that he cannot discern the approximate origins of the items that he has been discovering in his room.
With the availability of these transcripts from my journals, and the additional excerpts from the e-mail that was sent to me by the forgetter, readers may judge for themselves the significance of this chapter of Norwood's therapy. Some of the objects described in the stories can be seen as documented in LeE' "Stories of the Forgetter" installation. Links to documented objects can be found in the context of each story.
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