"We want people to have a centre, a history, an account that makes sense. We want to be able to say This is what he did and Here's why. It forms a lock against oblivion. Does it?" Anne Carson
The most lovely book just arrived in the mail today. I know, I know, I say this all the time. My bookish infatuations are numerous and intense. But Nox by Anne Carson, due out later this month from New Directions, is breathtaking. I can't put it down. After leafing through an arc some time back, I already knew how special the content is here. A moving eulogy for Carson's brother. But until I actually opened this "book in a box" today in its finished form, it did not wield its full impact upon me.
So you open the book (the box) like this.
And then the pages unfold before you much as the narrative thread does. One piece at a time accordion style. Like the pieces of a life that march through a sequence but remain joined, intact. Indivisible from the whole story.
The scrapbook effect of personal artefacts, photos, notes, collage, sketches tell the story of Carson's brother's life in a visually arresting way before you ever get to the words. Will be back soon with my account of those words. Still reading the visual story.
