But the more I want it, the more I realize it's not for me. Nor for you either. . . which leaves us in this silly and often desperate place wanting the impossible so badly that while we believe it's out rightful destiny and so act as accomplices of the real, we also know in our heart of hearts that the way we picture and talk is bound to a dense set of representational gimmicks which, to coin a phrase, have but an arbitrary relation to the slippery referent easing its way out of graspable sight. (xvii)