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Among the various meanings of the French word objet, the Littre dictionary gives this: 'Anything which is the cause or subject of a passion. Figuratively and most typically: the loved object'.
from The System of Collecting, Jean Baudrillard
from The Cultures of Collecting, ed. John Elsner and Roger Cardinal, p.7
Even when one is no longer attached to things, it's still something to have been attached to them; because it was always for reasons which other people didn't grasp...
Proust, Remembrance of Things Past
from The Cultures of Collecting, ed. John Elsner and Roger Cardinal, p.224
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