Von Spatz

Abstract

the weight of figures, yet his emphasis on mundane interactions and their conversational subtleties ensures the novel’s gravity. Like the literary form of Wim Wenders’s film Wings of Desire, Ondjaki looks no further than these brief encounters to uncover life’s reverence. However, the novelist also instills a sense of fantasy through one of his protagonists, Odonato, a man whose body grows increasingly transparent as the comforts of an old life likewise disappear. Transparent City can still feel a bit eclectic at times, but more so due to the text’s insistence on reflecting a whole city’s demeanor. Some moments, such as the numerous exchanges between a seashell seller and a blinded curmudgeon, shine with an unexpected clarity. Ondjaki does stretch himself thin in some sequences, as the author’s critique of journalism through a former BBC contributor grows close to unnecessary and tangential. The sheer amount of commentary and characterization of not only Luanda but also its inhabitants is otherwise naturalistic and accessible. Notably, Stephen Henighan’s translation never appears to soften Ondjaki’s voice, preserving tonal subtleties amid the English adaptation. Ondjaki instills a sense of urban congestion throughout his discourse without unnecessary convolution. Through his examination of economic collapse and personal desperation, Ondjaki ’s wit rises. Transparent City never quite hits satirical notes as dire as a text like Mustafa Khalifa’s The Shell, but this also helps the commentary from feeling clinical or dogmatic. Ondjaki seems far more interested in observing his setting “as is” rather than prescribing a remedy. Transparent City is at its strongest when it is momentary with its prose. The thankfully sparse moments in which the text examines a single character or group of characters for too long are when it likewise drifts from its exceptional experimentation . Regardless, Ondjaki successfully reconciles the utility of a consistent narrative thread while maintaining an utterly unique form of transmission. Contrary to his text’s namesake, Ondjaki’s latest offering is far from invisible. Daniel Bokemper Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Anna Haifisch Von Spatz Montreal. Drawn & Quarterly. 2018. 68 pages. Anna Haifisch’s absurdist graphic novel Von Spatz is brilliant, weird, and darkly funny. Von Spatz is a tribute to artists, by an artist, inhabited by the influence of comic strips and animation throughout history. Haifisch is a German cartoonist and printmaker who cofounded the indie comics festival The Millionaire’s Club, held Patrick Chamoiseau Migrant Brothers: A Poet’s Declaration of Human Dignity Trans. Matthew Amos & Fredrik Rönnbäck Yale University Press Migrant Brothers is a thick lyric critique of the immigration crisis in southern and eastern Europe, a book of deliberate poetic activism spurred by vicarious encounters with brutality in the heart of France. In wandering prose poems translated from the French, Caribbean writer Patrick Chamoiseau pleads “for a global politics of hospitality” stretching beyond Europe and into all places humanity is found. Patrick Chamoiseau Slave Old Man Trans. Linda Coverdale New Press In Martinique, a plantation slave makes his escape into the rain forest, only to be followed relentlessly by his oppressor. As the chase proceeds through the thick wilderness, the nature surrounding them begins to exert an ethereal power over the men, and their lives are radically changed. With surreal prose, Patrick Chamoiseau depicts the cruelty of slavery and the beauty of Creole culture. Nota Bene WORLDLIT.ORG 73 annually in Leipzig, Germany. Haifisch’s strip The Artist was published as a collection in 2016 by Breakdown Press. The Artist is an episodic peek into the world of an artist , with themes that reemerge in Von Spatz. Von Spatz is a fictional rehabilitation center for artists in crisis, featuring such restorative features as a penguin pool, hot dog stand, and art supply store. In the opening pages, Walt Disney has a breakdown, destroying his office and alienating those around him, and is brought to the center by his wife. With a visually fantastic color palette of yellow, pink, and teal, the world of Von Spatz is a candy-colored haven inhabited by cranky artistic geniuses. Once at the luxurious Von Spatz, Walt meets French artist and illustrator Tomi Ungerer and Romanian cartoonist and illustrator Saul Steinberg. The three men...