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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
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
brilliant essays. Cole is no doubt one of our greatest living writers/ thinkers
robotswithpersonality's review
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
chelseamartinez's review against another edition
4.0
Really great book of essays in three parts with some overlap, since there are reading/art recommendations interspersed along the way and photo references for more than just the photo section. As in Open City, even though that's a novel, it is exhilarating to follow Cole to random places (geographically and intellectually) and I think the progression of the essays is great, coming closer to "home" and what Cole may be most famous for on the internet towards the end; it's nice to see him approach certain cities or writers in multiple essays from different angles
***
Natives on the Boat
Always Returning
A Conversation with Aleksander Hemon - Here I learned that Fiction and Non-Fiction distinctions are not as important outside the United States!
Wangechi Mutu
An African Caesar
Red Shift
Portrait of a Lady
A True Picture of Black Skin
Gueorgui Pinkhassov
Google's Macchia & The Atlas of Affect - Here I learned about Dina Kelberman's The Simpsons project
Death in the Browser Tab
Far Away from Here & Shadows in Sao Paolo- Here I learned about Heimweh, and I felt happy because I read this already in the NYT magazine, but that is beside the point.
Home Strange Home
The Reprint - only mention of his wife?
A Reader's War & What It Is & The White Saviour Industrial Complex
Bad Laws & A Piece of the Wall
Brazilian Earth & Angels in Winter - Who is Beth?
***
Natives on the Boat
Always Returning
A Conversation with Aleksander Hemon - Here I learned that Fiction and Non-Fiction distinctions are not as important outside the United States!
Wangechi Mutu
An African Caesar
Red Shift
Portrait of a Lady
A True Picture of Black Skin
Gueorgui Pinkhassov
Google's Macchia & The Atlas of Affect - Here I learned about Dina Kelberman's The Simpsons project
Death in the Browser Tab
Far Away from Here & Shadows in Sao Paolo- Here I learned about Heimweh, and I felt happy because I read this already in the NYT magazine, but that is beside the point.
Home Strange Home
The Reprint - only mention of his wife?
A Reader's War & What It Is & The White Saviour Industrial Complex
Bad Laws & A Piece of the Wall
Brazilian Earth & Angels in Winter - Who is Beth?
timhoiland's review against another edition
5.0
Chalk it up to my TCK upbringing, but I am continually drawn to the work of authors and artists who live and create between cultures. That helps to explain why I’ve so appreciated Teju Cole's writing and photography. Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Cole now lives and works in the United States. But he carries both cultures inside of him, always:
"In Lagos, I was a regular middle-class kid. My first language was Yoruba, and I had Nigerian citizenship from birth. Yet I was also an American, the only one in my family – a fact and a privilege that my parents often alluded to. I didn’t dwell on it. I tried to wear it as easily as I could, like someone who is third in line to the throne: aware of extravagant possibilities but not counting on any particular outcome."
Cole will never not be Nigerian. He will never not be American. Identity for him will never not be complicated.
I relate to that. And I relate to this:
"My parents live in Lagos, Nigeria. Sometimes, when I miss them or miss home, I go to Google Maps and trace the highway that leads from Lagos Island to our family’s house in the northern part of the city. I find our street amid the complicated jumble of brown lines just east of the bus terminal. I can make out the shape of the house, the tree in front of it, the surrounding fence. I hover there, 'visiting home.'"
I’ve done the same thing so many times: tracing the road to the rural village in Guatemala where we used to live, finding various apartments in Guatemala City, or tracking down other meaningful places in Pennsylvania, California, Washington, and Texas. "Visiting" home(s).
I’m sure this shared sense of "in-betweenness," of liminality, is why I resonate with so much of what Cole has to say in his essay collection, Known and Strange Things. Even when he writes about people (Tomas Tranströmer), places (Shanghai), and topics (French cinema) in which I’m not particularly invested – or comes to conclusions I don’t share (atheism) – he always holds my attention. He’s a talented writer with a brilliant mind.
There’s so much in this collection I wish I could share with you, but we’d be here all day. So I’ll leave it at that.
"In Lagos, I was a regular middle-class kid. My first language was Yoruba, and I had Nigerian citizenship from birth. Yet I was also an American, the only one in my family – a fact and a privilege that my parents often alluded to. I didn’t dwell on it. I tried to wear it as easily as I could, like someone who is third in line to the throne: aware of extravagant possibilities but not counting on any particular outcome."
Cole will never not be Nigerian. He will never not be American. Identity for him will never not be complicated.
I relate to that. And I relate to this:
"My parents live in Lagos, Nigeria. Sometimes, when I miss them or miss home, I go to Google Maps and trace the highway that leads from Lagos Island to our family’s house in the northern part of the city. I find our street amid the complicated jumble of brown lines just east of the bus terminal. I can make out the shape of the house, the tree in front of it, the surrounding fence. I hover there, 'visiting home.'"
I’ve done the same thing so many times: tracing the road to the rural village in Guatemala where we used to live, finding various apartments in Guatemala City, or tracking down other meaningful places in Pennsylvania, California, Washington, and Texas. "Visiting" home(s).
I’m sure this shared sense of "in-betweenness," of liminality, is why I resonate with so much of what Cole has to say in his essay collection, Known and Strange Things. Even when he writes about people (Tomas Tranströmer), places (Shanghai), and topics (French cinema) in which I’m not particularly invested – or comes to conclusions I don’t share (atheism) – he always holds my attention. He’s a talented writer with a brilliant mind.
There’s so much in this collection I wish I could share with you, but we’d be here all day. So I’ll leave it at that.