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mikelchartier's review against another edition
5.0
The blurb on the cover states that Known and Strange Things is a "blazingly intelligent" first book of essays. That begins to cover it. I was discussing these essays with a friend recently and couldn't quite articulate how impressive Teju Cole's observations of the world around him are. He has a way of stating things that are at once profound and deceptively simple. I expect that my experience is not unique in that it took me ~six months to read because his language is something in which to luxuriate. Spectacular read, highly recommended.
half_book_and_co's review against another edition
4.0
„Can my photograph convey an experience that others have already captured so well? The answer is almost always no, but you try anyway. I might feel myself to be a singular traveler, but I am in fact part of a great endless horde.” (Teju Cole, “Far Away from Here”)
Teju Cole is of course not only known for his writing but also his photography (and the ways he has tried to utilise social media). Consequential, “Known and Strange Things” not only thinks about specifics photographs but also about the process of taking photos. As someone who also loves to take photos and is tired of too simple complaints such as “now all the people take photos and no one really appreciates anymore” (for me, it is actually often the opposite, when I take a photo I really take the image in, it’s often also what I remember later), there was a lot to consider in Cole’s essays. I did not always agree but when I wanted to debate a point, following his thought-process also helped me sharpen my arguments.
It took me almost five years between picking up this book and actually finish reading it – which was mostly on me and not on the book. But this essay collection is packed full. There are 54 essays in the four sections named “Reading Things”, “Seeing Things”, “Being There”, and “Epilogue”. Cole peels back layers from literary works, dissects visual works of arts, their making and other works they talk to, and he writes about his own experiences. With so many texts, there will always be some bound to speak less to your interests. In some of the essays, I found the descriptions too dominating and would have wished for more direct analyses (though detailed descriptions of art can also partially already be some kind of analysis or interpretation). Then, Cole engages with some art that I am less interested in – though I love the incredible spectrum of works he does reference. That said, this is a fantastic collection which made me miss going to the gallery even more than I already did. But at least we still have books.
Teju Cole is of course not only known for his writing but also his photography (and the ways he has tried to utilise social media). Consequential, “Known and Strange Things” not only thinks about specifics photographs but also about the process of taking photos. As someone who also loves to take photos and is tired of too simple complaints such as “now all the people take photos and no one really appreciates anymore” (for me, it is actually often the opposite, when I take a photo I really take the image in, it’s often also what I remember later), there was a lot to consider in Cole’s essays. I did not always agree but when I wanted to debate a point, following his thought-process also helped me sharpen my arguments.
It took me almost five years between picking up this book and actually finish reading it – which was mostly on me and not on the book. But this essay collection is packed full. There are 54 essays in the four sections named “Reading Things”, “Seeing Things”, “Being There”, and “Epilogue”. Cole peels back layers from literary works, dissects visual works of arts, their making and other works they talk to, and he writes about his own experiences. With so many texts, there will always be some bound to speak less to your interests. In some of the essays, I found the descriptions too dominating and would have wished for more direct analyses (though detailed descriptions of art can also partially already be some kind of analysis or interpretation). Then, Cole engages with some art that I am less interested in – though I love the incredible spectrum of works he does reference. That said, this is a fantastic collection which made me miss going to the gallery even more than I already did. But at least we still have books.
keight's review against another edition
4.0
This collection of essays is divided into three sections — “Reading Things,” “Seeing Things,” and “Being There” — and for me they progress from the least cohesive to the most cohesive. Many of the literary essays feel more like sketches than fully fleshed out essays, and I slowly worked through these over the summer before lulling out when I was partway through the “Seeing Things” section. When I came back to Known and Strange Things, I found myself in the middle of an essay about the photographer Gueorgui Pinkhassov, which is mostly about his work on Instagram, though Teju Cole broadens the lens to inquire what photography means now that the barrier for entry has essentially disappeared:
All bad photos are alike, but each good photograph is good in its own way. The bad photos have found their apotheosis on social media, where everybody is a photographer and where we have to suffer through each other’s “photography” the way our forebears endured terrible recitations of poetry after dinner. Behind this dispiriting stream of empty images is what Russians call poshlost: fake emotion, unearned nostalgia. According to Nabokov, poshlost “is not only the obviously trash but mainly the falsely important. the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive.” He knows us too well. Read more on my booklog
All bad photos are alike, but each good photograph is good in its own way. The bad photos have found their apotheosis on social media, where everybody is a photographer and where we have to suffer through each other’s “photography” the way our forebears endured terrible recitations of poetry after dinner. Behind this dispiriting stream of empty images is what Russians call poshlost: fake emotion, unearned nostalgia. According to Nabokov, poshlost “is not only the obviously trash but mainly the falsely important. the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive.” He knows us too well. Read more on my booklog
dkai's review against another edition
4.0
First few were a bit hard to get through but then it ramped up. Lots of highlightable passages. Broad range of subjects around the world, with prominent theme of images.
bloom_18's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
brilliant essays. Cole is no doubt one of our greatest living writers/ thinkers
zemily83's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
robotswithpersonality's review against another edition
I want to preface all other thoughts with the recommendation that you take this collection slowly. I worked within the parameters of a library loan period to finish this book, and I wish I'd had more time, both to appreciate the variety in subject matter and tone among the more thoughtful and even idyllic musings earlier in the collection, and to pace myself in encountering the often very heavy, dark material dealt with in the second half.
Captivatingly beautiful writing where the subject matter allows such flourishes, more straight-forward eloquence where the facts take centre stage.
Many of the essays in the first two sections appear in the tone of a review or an obituary. As skilled a writer as he is, Cole's ability to focus in on his subject, a person, object or art form, often means the best quotes I wanted to pull out, were actually an appropriate centring and distillation of others' words. As a result I now have a range of other creatives I want to look into right away.
Appreciable range of creatives and results touched upon: novelists, musicians, filmmakers/directors, poets, photographers, aka within art: literature, photography, music, film, poetry.
What also stood out to me was how important it is to the expansion of art and the mind, to gaining new perspectives and increasing empathy, that people, artists in particular, can travel.
I've included brief notes on essays that particularly struck me, but they're no substitution for actually reading Cole's work, and though it was not a comfortable experience, the essays towards the end are nonetheless important additions to the dialogue surrounding issues humanity continues to struggle with: racism, violence, politics, pursuit of justice, quality of life.
Black Body - response to essays in Notes on a Native Son, feels like the missing piece to that collection for the modern reader, though as usual, feels deplorable to still be topical, re: racism
Natives on the Boat - racism in the older generation, subtle forms, how a person can be skilled, kind in that moment, still a racist
Poetry of the Disregarded- brief but gorgeous commingling of one writer admiring another
In Place of Thought - 4 searing pages, please read
Unnamed Lake - conscience and the unconscious, what atrocities have been recorded, the helplessness in watching archive footage and not being able to change the actions taken, what bothers us in the wee hours of the night
Portrait of a Lady - African portrait/people photographers, past and present, subjects of photos asserting independence, how they wish to be seen, especially women, lesbian and transgender, contrast to how white colonialists and explorers took pictures of 'natives' - a reminder of how art can function to change perspectives
Finders Keepers - preservation and appropriation, art vs volume, the flood of digital images, assigning credit, commentary on it as creative statement, collage works of many collected by one -who owns it then? - intriguing question from an information management standpoint
Google's Macchia - also looking at digital photography - how do we judge it, curate it, make new art from it - my fave for being so open to creative possibilities rather than JUST fear around surveillance, copyright, etc
The Reprint - angle on Obama's election that, no surprise, as a white Canadian, I hadn't considered previously, a perspective I can't inhabit, but am grateful he shared with readers
Reader's War - the rewriting of opening sentences within the text is incredibly impactful, I have trouble with Cole's 'torn' back and forth - perhaps being of a different country means I can't see the fine line of necessity drawn for military justification, even as he chastises the use of drones and assasinations
What It Is - barely two pages, such a glorious fuck you to ridiculous, nonsensical, hysteria-mongering, conservative-leaning headlines
Shadows in Sao Paulo - continuing in themes of: 1) how a photograph is not simply capturing the truth, manipulation by lense chosen, aspects focused on, etc; 2) traveling to different places and reflecting on the art and history, the artists, people who lived/visited/worked there
The Island - three page punch in the face, Commemorative? Impactful
White Savior Industrial Complex - Just. Read it.
Perplexed ...Perplexed - Such an eloquent look at a topic I didn't want to make eye contact with - mob violence/killings
A Piece of the Wall - Visceral reminder of Solito - (bio of an immigrant's crossing) - attempts balance of perspectives in who is interviewed, but it's so obvious that compassion is only visible in those who want to help, want a demilitarized, open border. Those enforcing border all appear terse, uninterested in nuance, callous. President at the time not excluded from censure for stance on immigrants/immigrant law.
⚠️ Discussion of racism, xenophobia, apartheid, (war) atrocites, genocide, torture, religious intolerance, iconoclasm (destruction of religious buildings/art), street violence, history of colonialism, enslavement, immigrant border crossing deaths
Captivatingly beautiful writing where the subject matter allows such flourishes, more straight-forward eloquence where the facts take centre stage.
Many of the essays in the first two sections appear in the tone of a review or an obituary. As skilled a writer as he is, Cole's ability to focus in on his subject, a person, object or art form, often means the best quotes I wanted to pull out, were actually an appropriate centring and distillation of others' words. As a result I now have a range of other creatives I want to look into right away.
Appreciable range of creatives and results touched upon: novelists, musicians, filmmakers/directors, poets, photographers, aka within art: literature, photography, music, film, poetry.
What also stood out to me was how important it is to the expansion of art and the mind, to gaining new perspectives and increasing empathy, that people, artists in particular, can travel.
I've included brief notes on essays that particularly struck me, but they're no substitution for actually reading Cole's work, and though it was not a comfortable experience, the essays towards the end are nonetheless important additions to the dialogue surrounding issues humanity continues to struggle with: racism, violence, politics, pursuit of justice, quality of life.
Black Body - response to essays in Notes on a Native Son, feels like the missing piece to that collection for the modern reader, though as usual, feels deplorable to still be topical, re: racism
Natives on the Boat - racism in the older generation, subtle forms, how a person can be skilled, kind in that moment, still a racist
Poetry of the Disregarded- brief but gorgeous commingling of one writer admiring another
In Place of Thought - 4 searing pages, please read
Unnamed Lake - conscience and the unconscious, what atrocities have been recorded, the helplessness in watching archive footage and not being able to change the actions taken, what bothers us in the wee hours of the night
Portrait of a Lady - African portrait/people photographers, past and present, subjects of photos asserting independence, how they wish to be seen, especially women, lesbian and transgender, contrast to how white colonialists and explorers took pictures of 'natives' - a reminder of how art can function to change perspectives
Finders Keepers - preservation and appropriation, art vs volume, the flood of digital images, assigning credit, commentary on it as creative statement, collage works of many collected by one -who owns it then? - intriguing question from an information management standpoint
Google's Macchia - also looking at digital photography - how do we judge it, curate it, make new art from it - my fave for being so open to creative possibilities rather than JUST fear around surveillance, copyright, etc
The Reprint - angle on Obama's election that, no surprise, as a white Canadian, I hadn't considered previously, a perspective I can't inhabit, but am grateful he shared with readers
Reader's War - the rewriting of opening sentences within the text is incredibly impactful, I have trouble with Cole's 'torn' back and forth - perhaps being of a different country means I can't see the fine line of necessity drawn for military justification, even as he chastises the use of drones and assasinations
What It Is - barely two pages, such a glorious fuck you to ridiculous, nonsensical, hysteria-mongering, conservative-leaning headlines
Shadows in Sao Paulo - continuing in themes of: 1) how a photograph is not simply capturing the truth, manipulation by lense chosen, aspects focused on, etc; 2) traveling to different places and reflecting on the art and history, the artists, people who lived/visited/worked there
The Island - three page punch in the face, Commemorative? Impactful
White Savior Industrial Complex - Just. Read it.
Perplexed ...Perplexed - Such an eloquent look at a topic I didn't want to make eye contact with - mob violence/killings
A Piece of the Wall - Visceral reminder of Solito - (bio of an immigrant's crossing) - attempts balance of perspectives in who is interviewed, but it's so obvious that compassion is only visible in those who want to help, want a demilitarized, open border. Those enforcing border all appear terse, uninterested in nuance, callous. President at the time not excluded from censure for stance on immigrants/immigrant law.
⚠️ Discussion of racism, xenophobia, apartheid, (war) atrocites, genocide, torture, religious intolerance, iconoclasm (destruction of religious buildings/art), street violence, history of colonialism, enslavement, immigrant border crossing deaths