Woody Allen is often quoted as joking, “I am at two with nature.” Reportedly, it was his first joke… but I am not sure what that means (as a kid, as a writer, as a performer?). If anyone can point to a reference, it would be greatly appreciated.
Its a great play on words, and one wonders if it was originally expressed in written form, and if Woody intended it to be ‘two’ or was he trying to say ‘I am too with nature’, and the point was lost in transcription. To be ‘too with nature’, suggests the desire to be included. One with nature is a bit exclusive. If I am one with nature, is it possible for you to be too?
But, ‘two with nature’ affords a different reality than being one with it. It seems so very Strathernian (or Marriott, or Bateson depending on how far back we should trace the idea of partible personhood), suggesting the possiblity of alternate experiences of nature by different aspects of one’s own person. Sure, I don’t think Woody Allen thought much beyond the play with words, but it’s fun to think about the possibilities. It’s likely that the quote is biographical, connecting Allen’s Manhattan with the country home of his youth in Port Chester which he reportedly hated. Lax’s biography suggests as much (Woody Allen: A biography, Eric Lax, 1991). If so, then being ‘two’ was more about Allen’s ambiguous relation with nature. A Nature that is outside the self and in contrast to the Urban. Perhaps nature split his very person? But one really needs to know the context of the quote to say anything for certain. Any thoughts?
