This was the sound, this was the sound I saw
June 25, 2017 6:42 PM Subscribe
Nigerian American writer Teju Cole also takes vivid photographs which, in his latest book, Blind Spot, he matches with passages of allusive prose.
“I see it as a unified story,” he explains, “but one in which each fragment of prose is dense in the way that a poem is dense. There are thematic breadcrumbs scattered throughout the text, but, yes, it is oblique. It’s not meant to be obvious, but a more psychologically resonant series of fragments that detonate on some deeper level.”
“I see it as a unified story,” he explains, “but one in which each fragment of prose is dense in the way that a poem is dense. There are thematic breadcrumbs scattered throughout the text, but, yes, it is oblique. It’s not meant to be obvious, but a more psychologically resonant series of fragments that detonate on some deeper level.”
I was at a point where I didn't need any more convincing to read Cole's books, having read no few intriguing pieces (like this one) about them which have fully persuaded me they'll be just my cup of tea. But I did still need reminding to actually buy or borrow one of them and get started, which this post (thanks, standardasparagus) has finally prompted me to do.
posted by misteraitch at 4:08 AM on June 26, 2017
posted by misteraitch at 4:08 AM on June 26, 2017
I've been to Switzerland exactly once, but when I saw that picture, before I read the caption, the first thing that popped into my head was, "That's Lake Brienz."
posted by lagomorphius at 5:04 AM on June 26, 2017
posted by lagomorphius at 5:04 AM on June 26, 2017
His essays in the NYT Sunday Magazine's periodic "On Photography" column are well worth reading.
posted by msbrauer at 7:06 AM on June 26, 2017
posted by msbrauer at 7:06 AM on June 26, 2017
If you like Sebald, you would probably like Cole's Open City, it reminded me of The Emigrants.
Side note: Cole occasionally posts spotify playlists with thoughtful names/descriptions on his Facebook which provide random treats on some workdays. A few random examples:
[fb|spotify] - Sometimes the love song outlasts the love. But if the song lives on, then in a way the love does, too.
The first note of Naima is long. The next three notes are short, and the tune unfolds with a hymnlike simplicity. John Coltrane and Juanita Naima Grubbs were married in 1955, and he wrote and recorded "Naima" for her on his 1959 album "Giant Steps."
Some years later, Naima said: "I could feel it was going to happen sooner or later, so I wasn't really surprised when John moved out of the house in the summer...
[fb|spotify] - Greetings from the 45th parallel south. Everything feels like a dream these days. Good dreams and not-so-good dreams. I always have music in my ear, some of it acting as a soundtrack to the dreamscape, to the mode of displacement, and the elusiveness of time.
Here's a seventh installment in my "history of jetlag" playlist series. I'm back to Philip Glass, but also to a number of younger composers...
[fb|spotify] - This warm-you-up playlist is a personal exploration of what went into Nigeria’s great highlife music tradition. You can hear some of the best of that tradition in the three opening tracks of this playlist, “Eddie Quansa,” “Guitar Boy,” and “Omolanke.” The glowing horn sections and the sweet unfurling guitar lines are instantly comforting.
But what I wanted to have unfold over the two hours of this playlist was an unsystematic connecting of sounds and vibes that are historically linked to this highlife tradition. So I have tracks from...
posted by czytm at 8:04 AM on June 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
Side note: Cole occasionally posts spotify playlists with thoughtful names/descriptions on his Facebook which provide random treats on some workdays. A few random examples:
[fb|spotify] - Sometimes the love song outlasts the love. But if the song lives on, then in a way the love does, too.
The first note of Naima is long. The next three notes are short, and the tune unfolds with a hymnlike simplicity. John Coltrane and Juanita Naima Grubbs were married in 1955, and he wrote and recorded "Naima" for her on his 1959 album "Giant Steps."
Some years later, Naima said: "I could feel it was going to happen sooner or later, so I wasn't really surprised when John moved out of the house in the summer...
[fb|spotify] - Greetings from the 45th parallel south. Everything feels like a dream these days. Good dreams and not-so-good dreams. I always have music in my ear, some of it acting as a soundtrack to the dreamscape, to the mode of displacement, and the elusiveness of time.
Here's a seventh installment in my "history of jetlag" playlist series. I'm back to Philip Glass, but also to a number of younger composers...
[fb|spotify] - This warm-you-up playlist is a personal exploration of what went into Nigeria’s great highlife music tradition. You can hear some of the best of that tradition in the three opening tracks of this playlist, “Eddie Quansa,” “Guitar Boy,” and “Omolanke.” The glowing horn sections and the sweet unfurling guitar lines are instantly comforting.
But what I wanted to have unfold over the two hours of this playlist was an unsystematic connecting of sounds and vibes that are historically linked to this highlife tradition. So I have tracks from...
posted by czytm at 8:04 AM on June 26, 2017 [1 favorite]
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And, the first thing I thought while reading the link was W G Sebald, one of my favourite writers. It's fascinating to see where this influence is filtering into since his untimely death.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 12:06 AM on June 26, 2017