Wednesday reading: Tales from the Inner City

[asakiyume]

I've been slowly reading through Shaun Tan's Tale from the Inner City, short stories and poems that accompany beautiful paintings of animals surreally present in a nameless city. I'd put it on my to-read list years ago, but was actually moved to read it when a Japanese guy on my Twitter reading list wrote an essay about one of the stories.

The essay (which I haven't finished yet) is about the cat story. Both the cat story and the dog story-poem are lovely; they say touching things about dogs and cats in people's lives, and the two pieces complement each other. (The **art** for the dog story is breathtaking: painting after painting of dog-and-person through history. When I got the book from the library, I just sat in the car, poring over those paintings.)

But the other pieces that I've read so far, while they have some great insights and beautiful turns of phrase, on balance have a kind of negativity about the city as a place and about human-animal interactions that's depressing. Animals are presented as numinous, beautiful, ineffable beings that are destroyed by interaction with humans/the city. (The dog and cat stories stand out because that's NOT the case in them.)

I've just finished the story that accompanies the cover painting:



It's truly a gorgeous painting, yes?

In the story, a bunch of siblings climb to the roofs of sky scrapers to fish in the sky, and miraculously, the most dreamy of them catches a moon fish.

The details of fishing in the sky are wonderful--knocking down aerials, holding on to a chimney pipe, things like that--and the details of the anatomy of a fish that lives so high in the atmosphere are marvelous--ozone bladders, aerogel blood, swim bladder. But the story really zeros in on the fact that catching this beautiful creature means its death, and the profit the siblings' parents had hoped to glean from the children's catch slips away from them because the fragile flesh of such a fish decays so fast. So you're (or I, anyway) left with this sense of grief over the destruction of this beautiful creature, and yes, that's certainly a story you can tell about fishing or hunting, but I don't know... I wanted something different to go with that image. (The story does have a hopeful note in the end, but ehhnn)

And then there are the opening lines of the story: "Consider this: There's no ocean in our city. No lake, and no river. Well, no real river, more like a chemical drain that runs upside down with all the muck on top..." That's very typical of how the city is portrayed in the pieces: awful, alienating, miserable. And while that's an experience of "city," it's definitely not the only one. I think I was imagining the stories would be more neutral toward their setting, or even positive. Or at least a mix.

I'll see how the rest of the stories and poems go, but I'm not super sangine. The next one is really short, a poem: a rhino on the freeway is shot, and at first drivers are happy because this obstacle is gone, and then they're sad because it was the last rhino. -_-

But the dog and cat stories are really beautiful. They might be enough to redeem the rest of the book. And the paintings are marvelous.

Comments

[sartorias]

I'd be so anxious about the dog stories, I think I'd give this one a miss--though that is a gorgeous cover.

[asakiyume]

The dog story was a bright spot. Really lovely. On the contrary, rather than giving it a miss for that reason, it would be the one reason to look at the book. Probably the best part of the whole book. But in the end, giving it a miss might be the best decision given the rest of the book.

Here's the first image, of a man from the depths of time, first encountering a dog:



Then there are bunches more--a hunter, a woman in the forest, etc., and then this woman:



And then this, so sweet



And then the last picture is the two of them, walking together.

But again, maybe not worth the rest of the book.

[sartorias]

Wow, that art is gloriously poignant.

[asakiyume]

It really is. In general I enjoy the paintings more than the text.

[oracne]

Wow, I REALLY would not be able to handle those stories right now.

[asakiyume]

It's a shame because there's no reason why they had to be grim. It's up to a creator what they want to do, and those are the stories/poems he wanted to put with those images, but as a reader, I wish he had had a different vision/mood.

... At least at the 46% mark.

[osprey_archer]

I read this a few years ago and I also found most of the stories a grim slog. Such a shame when they accompany such beautiful paintings! Perhaps if there had been a little more variety... a few grim stories but also more pleasant stories...

[asakiyume]

I thought I recalled that you had! I think I put it on my list when maybe Rachel had read it? But then I recalled that you weren't very favorable toward it. After dipping in at the dog story, I had hopes, but they're significantly lowered now, and as I glance ahead, it seems like most of the remaining ones are grim.

Why??

Maybe the guy was going through some serious alienation and really hated living in the city. That's the vibe I'm getting.

[rachelmanija]

I haven't read it and it sounds way too depressing for me.

[asakiyume]

If it wasn't you, I wonder where I did see it....

[purlewe]

oh that is sad. beautiful and sad. I probably would not finish this. I need more hope and less grim-ness in my reading.

[asakiyume]

Maybe I'll just page through the pictures ....

[sovay]

have a kind of negativity about the city as a place and about human-animal interactions that's depressing. Animals are presented as numinous, beautiful, ineffable beings that are destroyed by interaction with humans/the city.

The only Tan I have read is The Arrival (2006), which I adore and which is not about the innate destructiveness of the city, so I would have been surprised picking this book up and I am sorry that was your experience. I am glad the cat is all right.

[asakiyume]

I could be being oversensitive? And I really do appreciate his insights and his way with words. Just, in this book, it feels like the encounters between animals and the human world/humanity/built world are largely tragic.

[sovay]

I could be being oversensitive?

I doubt you're being oversensitive! I recommend The Arrival, though.

[asakiyume]

I just read a blurb--it sounds good. I will reserve it at the library!

[dark_phoenix54]

That painting is so beautiful!

[asakiyume]

It really is! So luminous.

[yamamanama]

It is a really nice cover.

[asakiyume]

It's gorgeous, and the other paintings are good too.

[threemeninaboat]

I love Shaun's books

[asakiyume]

I'll try the one sovay recommended, Arrival.

[light_of_summer]

This thread sent me to https://www.shauntan.net/arrival-book, where there are some drawings and a lengthy and interesting artist's statement. Thanks, all!

[asakiyume]

Ooh, I will have to take a look at the statement (it is a *little* daunting in its length, but still, I'm curious!)

And The Arrival is the book sovay recommended--I will give that one a try.

[coffeetime]

I landed here from the DW front page and...this book looks amazing. Just ordered it from my library. Thank you.

[asakiyume]

Wonderful! I hope many people get pleasure from it!