Over boeken, literaire reflecties en het web van literatuur, door Niek de Greef. Werner Herzog, Paul Theroux, V.S. Naipaul en meer. Nederlandse en Engelstalige boeken.

Looking for Alaska – niet dat Alaska – door John Green

Looking for Alaska - book cover

Ik dacht op de een of andere manier dat Looking for Alaska zich ergens in de staat Alaska afspeelde. Dat is dus niet zo.

Miles is een verlegen, slungelige jongen die lijkt te weten wat hij kan en wat hij wil. Uit eigen beweging gaat hij naar een kostschool. Hij raakt bevriend met Chip, Takumi en het eigenaardige meisje Alaska, die ook kostschoolleerlingen zijn uit de armere lagen van de samenleving. Ze richten een club op om het op te nemen tegen de arrogante kinderen uit rijkere families.

Miles en zijn vrienden zijn een beetje buitenbeentjes op school. Ze roken en drinken en delen een liefde voor literatuur. Miles wordt verliefd op Alaska. Zij heeft een nogal gecompliceerde jeugd gehad nadat haar moeder op jonge leeftijd overleed.

Aan het einde van het schooljaar verongelukt Alaska midden in de nacht in haar auto op weg naar het graf van haar moeder. De vraag die de achtergebleven tieners bezighoudt, is of ze zelfmoord heeft gepleegd en, nog belangrijker, waarom ze dat zou hebben gedaan. In de tweede helft van het boek gaan Miles en zijn vrienden op zoek naar antwoorden op deze vragen, naast het pesten van Eagle, de decaan van de school. In het tweede deel mis ik de eigenaardigheden van het personage Alaska. Maar ze is dood.

John Green zegt in de epiloog van het boek dat dit verhaal niet zo succesvol was als zijn andere boeken, vooral omdat zijn vaste redacteur hem bij dit boek niet kon helpen. Ik denk dat Green een beetje zelfvertrouwen mist, want Looking for Alaska is gewoon een heel goed boek. In de stijl van Anthropocene Reviewed geef ik Looking for Alaska … 5 sterren.

Meer over John Green: The Anthropocene Reviewed, Turtles All The Way Down.

Douglas Coupland on Novelty and Craft; the analog world gets new attention

Schagen - fine art print by niek de greef
Schagen

I am reading Shopping in Jail by Douglas Coupland. In the essay, I find two interesting quotes:

…novelty that reflects the powerful but less prominent forces of any culture is interesting and worthy of exploration.

I recognize this in photography. Pictures of the parade are never as interesting as pictures of what is happening on its edges. The people watching the events are more interesting than the event itself.

In an ever-flattening world of downloaded non-physical experiences, the crafted object is in the ascendant and ultimately might prove to be the trunk of the tree that gives rise to the next dominant wave of modern art.

The essays are from some time ago, and we have since seen the rise and death of the NFT as an ultimate non-physical experience in art. Yet, the analog world gets new attention when digital artifacts emerge.

The experience in concerts and festivals emerged when music went digital and streamed. At the same time, streaming channels have the distribution of music accessible to anyone. They are no longer limited to large record companies. This allows more novelty and experiments on the edge. Now, analog music media such as vinyl and cassettes reappear, and “merch”—another name for analog artifacts sold directly by the musicians—has become the standard and is more profitable for many bands than their music.

In the literary world, a similar flattening change has taken place. The internet has reduced the volume of the book-reading audience. Still, at the same time, it has opened up a channel for sharing writing and ideas. While the mainstream e-book business seems dominated by Amazon, there is enough opportunity to access readers with some additional marketing efforts, and these efforts can make a significant difference.

Social media have turned into sales channels for photography and other arts—and we should treat them as such—but analog experiences such as books, zines, prints, and expositions are where art is enjoyed.

Recent photo prints

Life Ceremony, today’s absurdity and staying sane

I am reading Sayaka Murata’s collection of stories, Life Ceremony. The stories describe futuristic societies you can’t imagine could ever become reality. Furniture and clothing are made from the remains of deceased people. Artificial insemination is the norm. Raising children is paid out to specialized organizations. A girl keeps a man as a pet. After a death, the deceased is ceremoniously prepared and served to the bereaved, who proceed to insemination after the meal to fulfill life’s circle.

All this seems ridiculous. Like a democratic society as seemingly impossible as one in which a president has the power to acquit convicted criminals. In which billionaires conspire to ensure they get richer and can draw even more power to themselves. In which a self-proclaimed genius running a car company has no qualms about making a Hitler salute. A Brett Easton Ellis novel turned into reality.

Staying informed is important, but the constant barrage of horrific news from a government populated by narcissists can be overwhelming. Sometimes, it’s necessary to take a step back for the sake of our mental well-being.

Let’s instead focus on the beautiful things people make. Like books by Sayaka Murata’s.

In Color In Japan by Shin Noguchi

Photo from In color in Japan by Shin Noguchi Red ceiling

This is the new edition of Shin Noguchi’s book In Color In Japan, which appeared first in 2020. I saw this first edition from my friend Bouwe just after I had received my copy of the new edition. I did not compare the selection of the pictures with those in the latest edition. The print quality of the images in the new book, however, was obviously so much better than the print quality of the pictures in the first edition that I would safely state it is well worth buying the new edition even if you already have the old one.

In Colot in Japan by Shin Noguchi

Shin Noguchi is broadly known under the category of street photographer, and he is a member of the street photography collective Up.

Avoiding the definition-question of street photography and its slur of religious and esthetical fundamentalist discussions, I would say that Noguchi’s style and subject matter are much more in the realms of Luigi Ghirri and William Eggleston, with the humoristic twist of Martin Parr. Noguchi combines this with personal documentation of his family life, which is intimate and loving. In general, when Noguchi captures people, he does this with a lightness and compassionate feel. He never gets negative or vicious in his depictions.

Photo from In color in Japan by Shin Noguchi

You find strange objects in Noguchi’s images: a tram behind a fence, a car stuck on a staircase in a park, large balls in a garage box, one white, one red, a dog dressed up as a lion in the streets of Tokyo. What is going on in Noguchi’s world?

Photo from In color in Japan by Shin Noguchi

Noguchi observes the world around him and finds its oddities. He views his Japanese environment like a stranger. He could be a tourist in his own country. With a minimalist approach, he captures a KFC shop front and a fluorescent light bar in a red room (a clear reference to Eggleston), with the same curiosity as in typical Japanese situations, such as people dressed in manga suits in the streets of Tokyo and ladies in kimonos. He finds pictures in a torn curtain, a spot of light in an empty sports hall, and a picture of a billboard in front of Mount Fuji, displaying Mount Fuji itself.

Noguchi is not your typical street photo hunter. He is a craftsman who creates remarkable pictures from the unremarkable, with great precision and skill.

Photo from In color in Japan by Shin Noguchi


Photo from In color in Japan by Shin Noguchi

If you enjoyed this, you might also like my thoughts on William Eggleston’s Ancient and Modern, a book that redefined color photography.

You can find In Color in Japan on the Eyeshot photobook publisher website, the publisher known for its Street Photography and Documentary Photography editions.

Turtles All The Way Down – John Green

Turtles All The Way Down - John Green

On the plane from Miami to home, I watched the movie adaptation of this book. I probably watched half of it because of the self-prescribed high-melatonin-dose-induced half-sleep.
Regardless, I dare safely state that the book is much more enjoyable.

Aza, a girl with an obsessive awareness and fear of bacteria in her body, goes through her teen life.
She falls in love with an old friend she was friends with in her early youth. His father is now a billionaire. He goes missing.
Daisy is her best friend. Aza and Daisy search for the father, and in the end, they find him, dead.

John Green is a writer who can create moving stories without falling into traps of cliches or annoying theatrical emotions.