Why I Collect? by Tosh Berman

 

Why I Collect? by Tosh Berman

"la boutique obscure: 124 Dreams" by Georges Perec (translated by Daniel Levin Becker)

Dream diaries are usually only interesting between the person who is having that dream and their doctor.  Beyond that when someone comes up to you and says "I have a dream and its..."  Well, your first thought is to run away.   But alas what we have here is a dream book by the great Georges Perec, and even though it is his dreams... it's still not that interesting.

The best and greatest dream book is Michel Leiris' "Nights as Day Days as Night."  Actually one of my favorite all-time books and for god's sake it's a dream journal.  But Leiris maybe a more twisted character than Perec, and not as conceptual.   So "la boutique obscure: 124 Dreams" starts in 1968 and ends in 1972,  probably the most fruitful of his writing years.  I imagine that he started this project with a beginning and an ending -perhaps taking over the role of an actual everyday journal.  But i am just guessing here; what we do have is little narratives by Perec, which shows his dream world is very straight forward in a sense.  At least one gets the sense that there is a beginning, middle part and then end.  Like Godard, not always in that order, but there is a sense of some sort of organization within the Perec dream world.    Leiris on the other hand is more sexual (and there is sex in the Perec dream world) and a tad wilder.  Also his imagery is more poetic and seductive of sorts.  Perec is sort of listing his dreams for maybe a future analysis.

But the best part of the book for me is the end index, where he list categories like "Staircases" and the color "Red" for instance - and he mentions how many times he had a dream with the color red in it and so forth.  Which comes to mind on my own writing project, which is not about dreams, but I am writing something that is very systematic, and I realize that some of that came from Perec and his work.  So, yeah its interesting but mostly for the writing process than anything else.

"Proust, Blanchot and a Woman in Red" by Lydia Davis

A chapbook that is beautifully designed and elegant.  Very much like the author Lydia Davis, who is known for her short stories but also for her English translations of rather difficult works in French.   in other words, I adore her.   The Cahiers Series is a collection of chapbooks all concerning the nature of translations or translating literature.   A subject matter close to my heart, due that my press TamTam Books is pretty much focused on works from the French language  translated into English.

As an editor and publisher I really appreciate Davis' take on the role of the translator, especially when it concerns the works of Marcel Proust, Maurice Blanchot, and my personal fave, Michel Leiris.  Only 44 pages long, but as they say, size doesn't matter.   Its the contents that is important, and Davis tearing apart the prose of Proust and comparing it with other translators of the same work (Swann)  is a fascinating procedure in looking into language -especially from such a stylish writer like Proust.

The other two chapters focus on the work of Blanchot and Leiris.  Fleeting thoughts on those two authors, but what is fleeting to the average, is somewhat an essential aspect of Davis' style and thinking.   This whole series looks great, and going into the world of Lydia Davis is not a bad thing at all.

For more information on Sylph Editions:  http://www.sylpheditions.com/sylpheditionsall.html

"Correspondence" by Georges Bataille and Michel Leiris (Translated by Liz Heron)

A very interesting book that is not only a selected correspondence between the titans of kink and intellectual thought - Georges Bataille and Michel Leiris - but also some memoir writing from each writer about the other - in a sense. Bataille's journal is more personal and emotionally forward - where Leiris is cool and kind of logical. 

But the beauty of the book is the history of their friendship. In the 30's there were issues that looks like it will tear their relationship apart - but over time, it seemed to be forgotten. One of many many arguments and counter-arguments in the world of Andre Breton and his Surrealist group. 

And again, the book is not a straight ahead collection of letters between the two writers, there is also a very thoughtful afterword by Bernard Noel as well as countless footnotes focusing on various (some obscure) names that come in their correspondence. Well-researched and of course totally fascinating look into the passionate viewpoints of Bataille and Leiris.