The Man with the Beautiful Eyes: life lessons in childhood
"Charles Bukowski was a creature of perplexity and paradox, oscillating between romantic pessimism and luminous wisdom on the meaning of life, propelled by an outrageous daily routine. His expressive poems explored everything from the myths of creativity to his 'friendly advice' to young men.
In 1999, British animator Jonathan Hodgson and illustrator Jonny Hannah teamed up on a breathtaking animated adaptation of Bukowski's 1992 poem 'the man with the beautiful eyes' from his final and arguably best poetry collection, The Last Night of the Earth Poems."
(Maria Popova, Brain Pickings)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
A portal to the underworld in Jean Cocteau's Orphée (1950)
"Jean Cocteau's update of the Orpheus myth depicts a famous poet (Jean Marais), scorned by the Left Bank youth, and his love for both his wife, Eurydice (Marie Déa), and a mysterious princess (Maria Casarès). Seeking inspiration, the poet follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead, through Cocteau's famous mirrored portal. Orpheus's peerless visual poetry and dreamlike storytelling represent the legendary Cocteau at the height of his powers."
(The Criterion Collection)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Corporeality is situated in dwelling space: the revolution begins at home
"[Henri] Lefèbvre gives an interpretation of [Satz] Hölderlin's assertion that the 'human being' can only live as a poet. The relationship of the 'human being' to the world, to 'nature', to his desires and corporeality is situated in dwelling space; this is where it realises itself and becomes readable. It is impossible for him to build or to have a home in which he lives, without possessing something that is different from everyday life, that points beyond itself, namely his relationship to potentiality and the imaginary. This desire is encapsulated in even the most destitute hut, the most dreary high–rise apartment in [e.g. kitsch] objects. In objects possessing exactly those qualities that modernism wanted to do away with."
(Park Fiction 1995/98)
CONTRIBUTOR
The Constellations ProjectSHARE
