2. Desire
Bunn identifies 'desire' (or elsewhere 'want' and even sometimes just 'lust') as the second stage to be overcome. And he does so with the type of clue and game playing – combined with the very personal nature of what is being discussed – which is so marked a feature of his earlier and defining “Unfound” work.
Superficially, the need for desire may seem an almost obvious claim to make. But the key point, according to Bunn, is not the banal albeit accurate claim that we must desire or want in order to be able to achieve, but rather that we must not allow that wanting to be no more than that - a desire or want unfulfilled.
For Bunn, the emphasis is thus upon action: the point being that in art, as in life, too many people 'want' but then fear or refuse to act upon that want. Bunn notes that this is sufficient ground in itself for failure.
Given this analysis, and the emphasis on action, it is interesting to note that in the outline to his theoretical work (ie. in the Dix Semblaient Monts itself) the problem of desire and the need for action upon it, is illustrated with a personal reference which Bunn uses to demonstrate his own failure to act. Perhaps there is an element of ironic humor to this, perhaps not. But whatever the case, here we see Bunn that offers a link to a song by the French singer Francoise Hardy. Interpretations are varied. But it must be fair to assume that the song being from the past, and in French, it could be the case that, for the artist himself, the person in question also belongs to Bunn's own past and has a link to France. If that is so, one can only surmise as to their exact identity.