The Parisian
June’s calendar page features an unusual illustration – probably from a periodical going by the text at the bottom. It looks as though the artist was inspired by the fin-de-siècle style of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s graphic posters. It is fitting for me, anyway, as this evening I am off to the theatre, albeit to see quite a different style of play. Happy June!
Finite Homage
Cover art for PlayStation 2 video game IcoWhile I was researching yesterday’s story about Giorgio de Chirico, I came across one of his evocative paintings of two figures running through a cityscape … that turned out to be the cover of Ico, a Japanese PlayStation 2 video game released in 2001! It made me chuckle that I was momentarily fooled, but I was also impressed by its verisimilitude to de Chirico’s style.
The designer of the game, Fumito Ueda, painted it himself, saying that the surrealistic world of de Chirico matched the allegoric world of Ico. He was particularly inspired by de Chirico’s painting of a tower in The Nostalgia of the Infinite (the last painting in yesterday’s story). While the art of the video game was lauded, I was disappointed to discover it was typical of Japanese animé.
Goes to show you can’t judge even a video game by its cover!
A Lino Print Challenge
My May calendar pageHere is an interesting attempt to capture the most ethereal of atmospheric events in the most unsuitable medium imaginable: lino-print! I wonder what were the daunted thoughts running through the artist’s head when he or she received this brief! Or perhaps they relished the challenge.
If not for the title however, one might wonder if this was a bushfire, the ambiguity suggested by the artist choosing to silhouette black trees against a white and orange sky. It made me wonder how it would look inversed – look at the result below: a much more literal impression of the Aurora Borealis. I wonder what the artist would think of this?
One person on Good Reads has awarded five stars to Northern Lights (published in 1909), and describes these inspiring stories as ‘lives and loves of the past’. Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker (1862–1932) was a well-travelled Canadian novelist and British politician, who even made it as far as Australia where for a while he was an associate editor for the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. He is best known however for his stories about the history and lives of French Canadians, which are reputed to be ‘fine quality, descriptive and dramatic’.
May you all enjoy a fine quality May.
Proof Positive You Can’t Judge a Book by its Cover
I am most intrigued by this book cover on my April calendar page. ‘Where Ghosts Walk.’ What does it mean, I wonder? Is it a blood-curdling nineteenth century gothic novel set in a monastery, or crumbling medieval mansion? Or is it perhaps a haunting moral tale of love lost and a quest for redemption?
Then I remembered the global librarian, Professor Google, and made enquiries. I was disappointed to discover that the subject of this book published in 1898 is nothing so lurid (or fun). Amazon describes it as ‘The Haunts of Familiar Characters in History and Literature’; one person on Good Reads has rated it two stars, but left no review to explain this scathing dismissal.
Is it a blood-curdling nineteenth century gothic novel set in a monastery, or crumbling medieval mansion?
A subsequent and brief perusal of the first chapter on the Internet Archive did not incline me to read further: it is tedious and the literary style both old-fashioned and laboured. The chapter titles are deceptively enticing however: ‘Her Gloomy Honeymoon’, ‘Dante’s Everyday Wife’ and ‘Told on the Lagoon’ for example. The text does not live up to them. (Feel free to confirm this yourself, but don’t blame me for the minutes of your life lost.)
I wonder if this is why the publishers chose this book cover for the month that begins with a day of trickery? I would have preferred a gothic novel, BUT we can all enjoy the attractive design of the cover – and it proves that old adage of not judging a book by its cover!
Happy April, by the way!
Readings Has You Covered
Belated Happy New Year Greetings dear readers! I have been taking an extended holiday from posting in my SNAP journals, but this week I am back.
As happens every year with increasing difficulty, I went on my usual hunt for a wall calendar in early January. It seems not many people use them these days, because very few bookstores sell them anymore, at least here in Melbourne. I travelled quite a distance on the word of a work colleague, who said the bookstore Readings had a wide range (Readings won Bookstore of the Year at the London Book Fair in 2016).
Happily, my friend was correct, and I finally settled on ‘Vintage Book Cover Posters’, culled from the New York Library. The calendar is published by Catch Publishing, and is printed on nice uncoated, textured stock, which is always one of my essential criteria. Unfortunately, no information on the books or the illustrators is included. It is certainly a pleasant calendar to while away the year with however, and is a nice segue from last year's calendar.
Happy March!
