Random inspiration
The book had no cover. While sleeker volumes
cowered inside their jackets, this one lifted its
ragged spine to the sun, a winter sun of thin
beams and a few hours. A sun that sank
red disc of hosannas.
red disc of hosannas.
The above is from page four of my paperback copy of Jeanette Winterson's Art & Lies, one of the contenders for my favorite books of all time (other runners: Catch-22, Early from the Dance; I expect the latter to wane with age, though it was very influential to me during high school and college, but Catch-22 and Art & Lies are intense books for the ages).
Anyway, after reading a few of the opening pages, I prepared to return to work. I paused, glanced at the cover, Winterson's words still swirling in my head, and thought about the process of making a slipcover for my copy of the book. What images and words would I use? What would the purpose be? The thought turned over in my mind.
While handling the book, turning it over and considering that process, a slip of paper fell out:
Anyway, after reading a few of the opening pages, I prepared to return to work. I paused, glanced at the cover, Winterson's words still swirling in my head, and thought about the process of making a slipcover for my copy of the book. What images and words would I use? What would the purpose be? The thought turned over in my mind.
While handling the book, turning it over and considering that process, a slip of paper fell out:
Fall for me,
as an apple falls,
as rain falls,
because you must.
Use gravity to anchor your desire.
as an apple falls,
as rain falls,
because you must.
Use gravity to anchor your desire.
These words, from page 75 of the same book, were scribbled on the back of a receipt for $19.98 worth of prescriptions picked up from a CVS Pharmacy in Baltimore. There are several similar scraps of paper throughout the book, from my different readings of it. I didn't want to underline passages that spoke to me in case I ever loaned the book out; I didn't want my reading of the book to influence others. Despite raving about Winterson's writing and this book in specific since 1996, I have never convinced another person to read it.
I thought about the process of writing out Winterson's words, how it made me slow down and take them in differently when I was transcribing them versus just reading. The work of interpreting/translating figures heavily into Paul Auster's Book of Illusions, which I finished earlier this week prior to picking up Art & Lies, and likely influenced this line of thought.
What if I transcribed the entire book? What if I made my own unique copy of Art & Lies, not just a slipcover but the entire book?
What the purpose would be? How long would such a thing even take? How would I handle the nine pages of Der Rosenkavalier printed at the book's end? I've no idea if this will every be actively pursued, but it's been percolating in my mind all morning while I should be making graphs and charts for a work report.
I thought about the process of writing out Winterson's words, how it made me slow down and take them in differently when I was transcribing them versus just reading. The work of interpreting/translating figures heavily into Paul Auster's Book of Illusions, which I finished earlier this week prior to picking up Art & Lies, and likely influenced this line of thought.
What if I transcribed the entire book? What if I made my own unique copy of Art & Lies, not just a slipcover but the entire book?
What the purpose would be? How long would such a thing even take? How would I handle the nine pages of Der Rosenkavalier printed at the book's end? I've no idea if this will every be actively pursued, but it's been percolating in my mind all morning while I should be making graphs and charts for a work report.
