LITERARY CURIOS 01

Lists

May 8

Lists

LITERARY CURIOS 01

An assortment of interesting tidbits from the So Textual world.

How do you differentiate between the provocative and the provoked? A documentary about Francesca Woodman poses this question from the outset before diving into the tragically short life of the renowned American photographer. Woodman is known for her nude self-portraits and photos that blur the subject with their surroundings, all of which are shot in stark black and white. The film is available for free streaming courtesy of Kino Lorber—we’re also adding documentaries on Hannah Arendt and Sally Mann to our watchlist.

In what might be one of the most glamorous literary convergences of the year, an exhibition devoted to the icon of literary chic, Joan Didion, opened this week with curation by the inimitable New Yorker writer Hilton Als. What She Means is a sort of mosaic-ed portrait of a writer configured through more than 200 works chosen by another writer, meaning it offers a uniquely literary perspective on a largely visual discipline. The artist roster includes Ana Mendieta, Diane Arbus, Silke Otto-Knapp, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and a host of others who elucidate the chronology of Didion’s work. Als, who now also echoes Didion’s bicoastal living, is one of the late writer’s conspicuous admirers, a group to which we enthusiastically belong.

This intellectual junction also reminds us to revisit Didion’s last book of essays, to which Als wrote the introduction and references in the show’s title, and to pick up the accompanying exhibition catalog, which features new writings by Als, as well.

Dog-eared pages, marginalia, cracked spine, and coffee (or wine) soaked pages are hallmarks of a book that’s been pored over and returned to again and again. Albeit horrifying to the book purists among us, we’re guilty of such malpractice and likely to carry around battered copies stuffed into our bags or pockets. Beyond the physical implications of such love, though, folded corners and scribbled missives are often an essential component of a discerning reading practice, and one we find endlessly satisfying.

Virginia Woolf was an extensive notetaker, writing in her diary that “To begin reading with a pen in my hand, discovering, pouncing, thinking of theories, when the ground is new, remains one of my great excitements.” Woolf had an eclectic taste in pen color and gravitated toward atypical hues like gold, what she terms “lizard green,” and purple, the latter of which she used to write her manuscripts. She often saved pencils, crayons, and black and blue ink for revisions or notes for the next day.

Derived from Greek, ekphrasis refers to a piece of writing that vividly describes a visual artwork. The concept allows for an intertwining of the two disciplines, a skill we find both essential and gratifying for every discerning reader moving about the world. To cultivate an ekphrastic practice, first visit the collection of slim volumes based on this idea published by David Zwirner Books–Virginia Woolf, Cesar Aira, and Gertrude Stein are among the authors. This Long Century provides a more contemporary iteration, with writings by Durga Chew-Bose and Amina Cain.

The next step might involve grabbing a pen and paper, visiting a worthy exhibition, and finding a bench to sit, study, and write.

Speaking of Cain, we devoured an early copy of her forthcoming A Horse at Night, a slim diaristic essay that connects various snippets of writing and film that are currently informing her thinking.

Austrian designer Emilie Flöge was one of the pioneering women in fashion throughout the 20th century. Her sculptural dresses with empire waists, billowing bodices, and large, airy sleeves heralded in a new era with garments that rejected the restrictive nature of corsets and similarly structural apparel.

In addition to her designs, Flöge also embodied a sense of freedom in her relationship with the artist Gustav Klimt. As Anna Furman writes, “Klimt and Flöge’s relationship was also extremely unusual: they were romantic partners that never got married nor had children, and maintained a level of independence unprecedented for the time.” To channel Flöge’s unrestricted approach to style and life in our own wardrobes, we’re eyeing this Ganni dress made for movement.

Volume might also be interpreted more metaphorically, as finding activities that expand our experiences of the world. For doing just that, consider picking up Alexis Elton’s Scent Maps and heading to your favorite park or plot of green space. Explore similar concepts through Takuya Kuroda’s trumpeted runs, which juxtapose the tight, grittiness typical of jazz with longer, more expansive sections.