Preformulation

The word “preformulation” appears in Walker Percy’s “The Loss of Creature,” a made-up phrase that has yet to enter any of the world’s dictionaries. Percy uses “preformulations” to describe the thoughts and feelings a person formulates about a certain object, place, or individual that colors the viewer’s expectations before the actual visage is seen or experienced for oneself. It implies that the actual seeing of the thing will differ, sometimes drastically, from the images that have been created in the mind of the observer. “The Loss of Creature” chronicles the tale of explorer Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, the discoverer of the Grand Canyon. Percy explains that while Cardenas was able to witness something beautiful and wholly new, those who behold the Grand Canyon now are experiencing the “preformulations” or the shadows of that original meeting:

The thing is no longer the thing as it confronted the Spaniard; it is rather ‘that which has already been formulated-by the picture postcard, geography book, tourist folders, and the words Grand Can-yon. As a result of this preformulation, the source of the sightseer’s pleasure undergoes a shift. Where the wonder and delight of the Spaniard arose –from his penetration f the thing itself, from a progressive discovery of depths, patterns, colors, shadows, etc., now the sightseer measures his satisfaction by the degree to which the canyon conforms to the preformed complex” (Percy 2).

The “preformulation” is all that is left of the original beauty of the object, place, or person that was first beheld. “

Percy’s “preformulations” are similar to Walter Benjamin’s “auras,” in “A Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” — the energy and mystery that something displays before it is mechanically reproduced. The difference between the two, is that “preformulations” occur only when something has been recreated from a source, while “auras” come only from things without any known copies. It could be argued that “auras” become “preformulations” through the course of assembly line reproduction.

Works Cited

Percy, Walker.  “The Loss of the Creature.”  Web. 15 Dec. 2014.