Tuesday, August 22, 2006

 

Actually went out after work yesterday, and pretended to be a real person, eating dinner out and nosing myself into shops. Picked up a book by Eduardo Galeano, who writes these odd little parable/allegory/anecdote things, somewhat heavy-handed in English, a language that always likes a little flourish at the end to turn away from whatever emotions have built up in the text, but I think you can get away with almost anything in Spanish, which is the language in which I first encountered him.

Spanish train stations used to sell these tiny books, about two-and-a-half inches square, that came at 100 pesetas a pop -- about a dollar or so. They were all very beautifully designed, and I picked up a few on a trip from Valencia to Sagunto, where I also got to listen to a man speaking Russian to his child who answered back in Catalan.

I wish we had something like these books (I'm a fan of the tiny as always). We have the Dover Thrift editions, but they're not really pocket-sized and not very pretty. I think I'm going to hunt down some of my "Alianza Cien" books -- which included a collection of Galeano's odd fragments, and scan them, so you can take a peek. They were a good example of how something beautiful can induce you to enjoy something you otherwise wouldn't have picked up.

posted by Reen |link| 0 comments

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