Jonathan Safran Foer: Die cutting a novel
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0:04 - 0:06You know, when I made this book, I didn't think of it
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0:06 - 0:08as something that would be difficult to read at all
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0:08 - 0:12and I imagine everybody who writes something difficult feels that way
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0:12 - 0:15when they send it out into the world.
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0:15 - 0:19So, the book is somewhat confusing because it has
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0:19 - 0:22a three dimensional aspect.
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0:22 - 0:25You can see literally into the book.
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0:25 - 0:27I should describe what the book is first.
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0:27 - 0:32About maybe three years ago, I got an email
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0:32 - 0:35from someone I'd never heard of before
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0:35 - 0:41saying, I'm starting a new publishing house
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0:41 - 0:48a kind of art literary publishing house, and would you like to make a book? And I can't promise you...
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0:48 - 0:50and there's a long list of things she couldn't promise.
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0:50 - 0:53I can't promise you lots of sales. I can't promise you
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0:53 - 0:56an advance.
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0:56 - 0:57I can't promise you this and that and that,
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0:57 - 1:00but what I can promise you is that we'll make any book
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1:00 - 1:01you want to make.
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1:01 - 1:04We'll make it as beautifully as it could be made.
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1:04 - 1:07And it's not that I was bowled over by that
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1:07 - 1:10so much as I didn't believe it,
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1:10 - 1:14and I thought, well she probably doesn't know what she's saying.
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1:14 - 1:16Maybe she thought I would want to
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1:16 - 1:19I don't know, doodle in a book or something,
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1:19 - 1:21but to say we can make any book you want to make...
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1:21 - 1:25and so I started thinking, what are the limits
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1:25 - 1:26of a book I would want to make?
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1:26 - 1:28Not because they were the limits of what a book could be,
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1:28 - 1:31but because they were the limits of what I wanted.
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1:31 - 1:34And I had for a long time been interested
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1:34 - 1:36in a process called die-cutting,
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1:36 - 1:40which is an ancient, I don't know if it's ancient, but it's very, very old.
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1:40 - 1:42It's been used as long as there's been manufacturing
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1:42 - 1:44of pretty much any kind, and it's basically
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1:44 - 1:47taking a material out of a material
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1:47 - 1:48with a stamp.
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1:48 - 1:51Pushing something through a material.
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1:51 - 1:53So your car door is made by die-cutting
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1:53 - 1:56a piece of steel or whatever.
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1:56 - 1:58It's a tough word. I mean, die-cutting.
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1:58 - 1:59Die-cutting.
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1:59 - 2:01When I saw it the first time, I thought, wow.
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2:01 - 2:02Die hard cutting.
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2:02 - 2:05It's almost onomatopoeic.
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2:05 - 2:08It's not because it doesn't make that sound when it's done,
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2:08 - 2:11but it's almost like a Yiddish word.
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2:11 - 2:12It sounds like what it is.
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2:12 - 2:16In any case, I had wanted to do something
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2:16 - 2:18with paper, with die-cutting,
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2:18 - 2:20and so I asked her if that would be possible,
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2:20 - 2:21and she said yes.
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2:21 - 2:23And so we entered into this process that
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2:23 - 2:24ended up taking a couple of years,
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2:24 - 2:28and I started with one of my favorite books,
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2:28 - 2:30which is Bruno Schulz's Street of Crocodiles,
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2:30 - 2:34and tried to carve out of it another story.
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2:34 - 2:37And I did.
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2:37 - 2:40How do you choose words from a text that you
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2:40 - 2:44love as much as you love the text by Bruno Schulz?
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2:44 - 2:46Well, in a way, loving the text didn't have anything to do with it.
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2:46 - 2:50I loved the text because it was so almost exactly because
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2:50 - 2:52it was so good for this purpose.
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2:52 - 2:56You know, it's just so...
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2:56 - 3:02you know, if you were going to eat a food that you love,
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3:02 - 3:04you would prefer that the plate be overflowing with it
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3:04 - 3:07rather than that there be a tiny little bit in the center of the plate.
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3:07 - 3:08I would, anyway.
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3:08 - 3:10That's probably a very American thing I just said.
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3:10 - 3:14But his book is overflowing with things that I love,
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3:14 - 3:23and so when I had to choose the book to commit to a book
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3:23 - 3:24to use this process with,
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3:24 - 3:28I wanted a very rich palette.
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3:28 - 3:31You know, if you're a painter, you don't want a palette with two colors.
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3:31 - 3:35Well you might, but you would rather have the choice of as many colors as there are,
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3:35 - 3:40and I think his book offers as many colors as any book that there is.
- Title:
- Jonathan Safran Foer: Die cutting a novel
- Description:
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Conversation with Jonathan Safran Foer about his book and artwork Tree of Codes, a novel that has been carved out of another novel by one of Foer's favourite novelists, Bruno Schulz.
The Times described Jonathan Safran Foer's (born 1977) Tree of Codes as a "true work of art". His publisher calls it a "sculptural object". To create the book, Foer took Bruno Schulz's novel The Street of Crocodiles and cut out the majority of the words. Foer himself explains that by removing words, he carved out a new story. In this conversation with the Danish journalist and publicist Synne Rifbjerg, Foer tells the story behind the book -- that he was called by a publisher one day, offering him a free hand to do any book he liked. Foer further explains why he used Bruno Schulz's book as a point of departure. In the end the conversation turns toward Foer's Jewish heritage and how -- against his own will -- it engraves itself in his writing.
Jonathan Safran Foer was interviewed by Synne Rifbjerg as part of the Louisiana Literature festival in August 2012.
Recorded August 23 2012 at the Concert Hall of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.Produced by: Kamilla Bruus
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
Meet more artists at http://channel.louisiana.dk
Louisiana Channel is a non-profit video channel for the Internet launched by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in November 2012. Each week Louisiana Channel will publish videos about and with artists in visual art, literature, architcture, design etc.
Read more:
http://channel.louisiana.dk/aboutSupported by Nordea-fonden.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Louisiana Channel
- Duration:
- 18:22
Jesse Nguyen edited English subtitles for Jonathan Safran Foer: Die cutting a novel | ||
Jesse Nguyen edited English subtitles for Jonathan Safran Foer: Die cutting a novel |