By Lin Wei-Chun
There is a new book translated from German, named “Buchinderbuch” (it means “book in a book”). In Chinese, this book is called “The Exit o f the Soul” (靈魂的出口). It is a cute book with many beautiful and meaningful pictures painted by Quint Bucholz. In this book, each picture is a story. And all of them contain one or more elements of a book, like paper, a typewriter, a pen, even books. How did Buchinderbuch come about? When the publisher got 46 pictures from the painter, he sent one picture to 46 famous writers around the world, such as Milan Kundera and Susan Sontag. Each of them wrote a story or a poem for the picture and re-interpreted it. All the stories are full of imagination. You will be surprised that the pictures and the stories go together so well, even though they can be sometimes hard to understand. For example, Milan Kundera’s story describes a man who couldn’t endure people around him, so he decides to leave his house far behind. He brings some books and an umbrella, and then walks for 33 hours to find a spacious and unpeopled place. He read books, drinks coffee, does nothing. But a painter finds him, and draws him from behind. Next to this story is a painting of a man sitting in a heap of books, with an umbrella and a coffee cup. When reading what Kundera wrote, I cannot understand why he described so many details of what the man does, how much time he spends, what he brings, and so on. But looking at Bucholz’s painting, I see the man sitting quietly on a heap of books. Is he waiting for someone or something or enjoying himself? Ha! Maybe I could write a story about this picture, too, and maybe it would be better than Kundera’s! When you read this book, look carefully at every picture beside the story, think how you will interpret it, and then read the story. You’ll find a different way to read a book, to understand a book, or a new way to describe a story. Do you want to write a story by yourself? You could buy or borrow this book, think about those pictures in it, and write your story. You could also send your story to us. If it is good and interesting, we’ll put it in our next issue. E-mail us at: [email protected]. a
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May 2024
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