Street Names De-mystified (sort of)

[SoundMan]

Buring Man 2022's theme is Waking Dreams. As is the custom, street names (A to K) are selected to have some association with the theme. In my opinion, the BORG has gotten a little too cerebral this year. Here is a list of street names that I looked up in order to figure out why they were chosen:

Breton: Language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany. I could find no other meaning and I don't understand the relationship with the theme, other than Druids are cool!

Cocteau: Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the surrealist, avant-garde, and Dadaist movements. Pronounced Kock Too.

Fugue: In music it is a certain constructive form. In psychiatry, it is a state or period of loss of awareness of one's identity, often coupled with flight from one's usual environment, associated with certain forms of hysteria and epilepsy. I think that later meaning is more relevant to this year's theme of Waking Dreams.

Hypnagogia: relating to the state immediately before falling asleep

Jarry: (Biography) Alfred (alfrɛd). 1873–1907, French dramatist and poet, who anticipated the theatre of the absurd with his play Ubu Roi (1896)

So, now you (sort of) know.

[DoctorIknow]

Over the years, I've rarely heard people speak the street names.....it's just "There's free coffee at E and 8:45." I don't know when the A-B-C-D etc started, as before, the names were not A-B-C etc. Of course the names had to go A-B-C etc for vendors to find where to bring their wares for the plug and play camps. (and it helped the LEO's and emergency medical teams....)

In 1999, the streets were named after the planets. I loved it as I remembered the order from school.

[SoundMan]

Of course, you (DoctorIknow) are right. It is just that I can't remember a year where so many of the names required research on my part.

[AntiM]

If they're using Jarry, why not Artaud for A? Or is that redundant? I spent some time in Project Artaud when I was 18~19, Torque Motel. Perhaps I'm just nostalgic.

[SoundMan]

Who can delve the mysterious workings of the BORG oracle/naming cabal? Not I. Perhaps Project Artaud is just TOO SF, as Burning Man struggles to be a worldwide force. Perhaps it is too contemporary? Either way, run, not walk, to find a way to see "Coming Soon" at Z Space (part of Project Artaud), even though it is sold out. I saw it last night and it was the bomb!

[AntiM]

Alas, I am not in SF. Too contemporary? Perhaps. All I know is when I finally went to Burning Man, it had the feel of Artaud, and "welcome home" actually resonated with a place of experience for me. A street named Artaud would be full circle.

[retropsycho]

Breton: Language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany. I could find no other meaning and I don't understand the relationship with the theme, other than Druids are cool!

So, now you (sort of) know.

Actually:
André Robert Breton (French: [ɑ̃dʁe ʁɔbɛʁ bʁətɔ̃]; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto (Manifeste du surréalisme) of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Breton

[SoundMan]

Retropsycho, thanks for the clarification about André Robert Breton. Now that street name makes sense, in a surrealistic sort of way.

[cocotfc]

Great research!

One small correction which may excuse you from unexpected surprises (welcome or otherwise) - Cocteau is pronounced kock-toe

kock too is perhaps more likely a twist on the Thai word kathoey ..

[Lowz]

"There's free coffee at E and 8:45."

free coffee ? when ?