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Meteorlar
Çağdaş Fransız romanın büyük ustalarından Tournier sayesinde hayata bir kaleydoskoptan bakmayı öğreniyoruz. Her romanında yeniden kurguladığı dünyada uzun yolculuklara çıkarıyor bizi Tournier. Her biri sonsuz imge ve ilişki olasılıklarıyla tahayyülümüzün sınırlarını zorlayan Cuma, Çalı Horozu, Altın Damla, Veda Yemeği, Kaynak ve Çalı Kızılağaçları Kralı gibi romanları, hiçbiri diğerine benzemeyen birer felsefe evreni.
Baş döndürücü romanlarından biri de Meteorlar. Zaman ve mekan içinde; dünya, evren, doğa olayları arasında, daha da önemlisi, yaşantılar ve zihniyetler arasında gelgitli bir yolculuğun romanı.
1930'ların Fransa taşrasındaki aile reisi ve işadamı rolleri ile Paris'teki hovarda hayatı arasına sıkışmış bir adam Edouard... Evini her şeyi kabul etmiş, sürekli çocuk doğuran bir anne ve son çocukları, ikizler Jean'la Paul... Özürlü çocuklar için bir eğitim kurumu... Edouard'ın iki erkek kardeşi: Çöp imparatorluğunun başındaki tutucu Gustave ve ölünce, işin başına geçmek zorunda kalan eşcinsel bohem Alexandre...
Meteorlar'da İkinci Dünya Savaşı ve sonrası dönemin oluşturduğu Avrupa fonu önünde birbirinden ilginç yolculuktan çıkarız: Özürlü çocuklar kurumundaki çocukların gizli iletişim evreni ya da ikizlerin kapalı, mutlak evrenleri; modern dünyanın temel zihniyetlerinden heteroseksüellik karşısında, heteroseksüel olmama hali; hatta çöplerin son derece gizemli, zengin dünyası, yolculuğumuz sırasında uğradığımız duraklardan bazıları.
Ve Meteorlar, yani ikizler; gökselliğe, rüzgarlara, gelgetlire göre yaşayanlar; rüzgar dilini konuşanlar... "Başka" olanlar...
Tournier, bir kez daha modern birey denilen o zavallının dünyasına saldırıyor; başka bir hayatın dilinden, rüzgar dilinden konuşuyor...
Hep aynı dili konuşanlardan, hayatın bir sırrı olmadığını söyleyenlerden sıkıldıysanız ve her gün toplanan çöplerin anlamını, sapkınları, ikizleri, meteorolojik olayların sırrını, yerin ve zamanın taşıdığı işaretleri merak ediyorsanız; o zaman, Meteorlar'ı bitirdiğinizde, hayatı okuyuşunuz değişmiş olacak.
Baş döndürücü romanlarından biri de Meteorlar. Zaman ve mekan içinde; dünya, evren, doğa olayları arasında, daha da önemlisi, yaşantılar ve zihniyetler arasında gelgitli bir yolculuğun romanı.
1930'ların Fransa taşrasındaki aile reisi ve işadamı rolleri ile Paris'teki hovarda hayatı arasına sıkışmış bir adam Edouard... Evini her şeyi kabul etmiş, sürekli çocuk doğuran bir anne ve son çocukları, ikizler Jean'la Paul... Özürlü çocuklar için bir eğitim kurumu... Edouard'ın iki erkek kardeşi: Çöp imparatorluğunun başındaki tutucu Gustave ve ölünce, işin başına geçmek zorunda kalan eşcinsel bohem Alexandre...
Meteorlar'da İkinci Dünya Savaşı ve sonrası dönemin oluşturduğu Avrupa fonu önünde birbirinden ilginç yolculuktan çıkarız: Özürlü çocuklar kurumundaki çocukların gizli iletişim evreni ya da ikizlerin kapalı, mutlak evrenleri; modern dünyanın temel zihniyetlerinden heteroseksüellik karşısında, heteroseksüel olmama hali; hatta çöplerin son derece gizemli, zengin dünyası, yolculuğumuz sırasında uğradığımız duraklardan bazıları.
Ve Meteorlar, yani ikizler; gökselliğe, rüzgarlara, gelgetlire göre yaşayanlar; rüzgar dilini konuşanlar... "Başka" olanlar...
Tournier, bir kez daha modern birey denilen o zavallının dünyasına saldırıyor; başka bir hayatın dilinden, rüzgar dilinden konuşuyor...
Hep aynı dili konuşanlardan, hayatın bir sırrı olmadığını söyleyenlerden sıkıldıysanız ve her gün toplanan çöplerin anlamını, sapkınları, ikizleri, meteorolojik olayların sırrını, yerin ve zamanın taşıdığı işaretleri merak ediyorsanız; o zaman, Meteorlar'ı bitirdiğinizde, hayatı okuyuşunuz değişmiş olacak.
421 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
40 people are currently reading
1577 people want to read
About the author
Michel Tournier
185 books271 followersMichel Tournier was a French writer.
His works are highly considered and have won important awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1967 for Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique. and the Prix Goncourt for Le Roi des aulnes in 1970. His works dwell on the fantastic, his inspirations including traditional German culture, Catholicism, and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard. He lived in Choisel and was a member of the Académie Goncourt. His autobiography has been translated and published as The Wind Spirit (Beacon Press, 1988).
His works are highly considered and have won important awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1967 for Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique. and the Prix Goncourt for Le Roi des aulnes in 1970. His works dwell on the fantastic, his inspirations including traditional German culture, Catholicism, and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard. He lived in Choisel and was a member of the Académie Goncourt. His autobiography has been translated and published as The Wind Spirit (Beacon Press, 1988).
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December 22, 2019
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December 14, 2022
O kadar çok satırın altını çizdim ki kitap paçavraya döndü:) Bu ilişkiyi kurabildiğim kitap çok azdır. Benim için özel oldu. Hayran kaldığım bir roman karakteri ile de tanışmış oldum, Alexsandre:)
September 28, 2020
Λογοτεχνία πλούσια σε περιγραφή, επιλογή θεσπέσιων λέξεων από τον συγγραφέα και πάνω απ 'όλα ευθυγράμμιση διαλεκτικής μετέωρης γραφής, αριστουργηματική πεζογραφία που φέρνει μια μορφή ποίησης στην ανάγνωση. Τι ευτυχία!!ευχαριστώ
M.Tournier.
Το βιβλίο
τούτο είναι μια απόλαυση, μια εγκεφαλική γαστρονομία ...
Τα μετεωρολογικά φαινόμενα που αφυπνίζουν και καθορίζουν την πνευματική και ψυχική μας ενάργεια, τη μεταρσίωση του υλικού, την εξάχνωση των σωμάτων που καίγονται απο την αιολική γλώσσα της κρυπτογραφίας και τηρούν ευλαβικά το τελετουργικό της δίδυμης οντότητας, κάθαρση, εξιλέωση, απολύμανση απο αναπνοές ξένων σωμάτων, μετά αγκαλιά σε στάση νεογνών και απολύτρωση της ιεροτελεστίας που δίνει με κατάνυξη η θεϊκή κοινωνία του σπέρματος του άλλου που είναι εσύ, του Εγώ σου που είναι ο άλλος και είστε ένα, ένα κυτταρικό υπερτέλεια δομημένο πλάσμα με δυο καρδιές και μία ψυχή. Ο Ζαν Πωλ, οι Ζαν Πωλ.
Ο Michel Tournier αναπτύσσει μερικά από τα αγαπημένα του θέματα στο Les Météores: σκουπίδια, ομοφυλοφιλία, αλλά κυρίω�� αδελφοποίηση. Το θέμα των διδύμων περιγράφεται μέσω δύο χαρακτήρων στο μυθιστόρημα και για τους ειδικούς είναι ένα από τα πιο λαμπρά και σχετικά κείμενα που περιγράφουν την ψυχολογία των ομοζυγωτικών διδύμων, τη σχέση τους και τις σχέσεις τους με άλλους.
Έζησα με τον δανδή των σκουπιδιών και γνώρισα μαζί του τον πολιτισμό που θάβεται καθημερινά μέσα στις χωματερές της αστικής πολιτισμικής ανεπάρκειας. Ο τρόπος με τον οποίο περιγράφει την ανθρώπινη κατάσταση σε όλη της την ευθραυστότητα είναι ο λόγος για τον αξίζει να καταλάβεις πως τα βιολογικά σκουπίδια, τα οικιακά απόβλητα φανερώνουν μέσα απο την σαπίλα και την αποξήρανση τα μυστικά των οικογενειακών φυλακών, τα πλούτη, τη φτώχεια, την υγεία και την ευημερία, τα ανθρώπινα πάθη, τα πανανθρώπινα λάθη, τα οικουμενικά διαλεκτικά της κάθε ράτσας, απο την πρεμιέρα στην αποτελεσματικότητα.
Όλη η χωνεμένη ανθρωπιά μέσα στο βασίλειο των σκουπιδιών, όλη η Ιστορία του πλανήτη πάνω και κάτω απο χωματερές και τύμβους υγειονομικής ταφής, χώροι απρόσιτοι, σιχαμεροί, απόβλητοι, και τόσο μα τόσο ανεξάρτητοι που μπορούν να ζήσουν πριν και μετά την ύπαρξη της φυσικής οντότητας. Συγκομιδή και αποκομιδή απορριμμάτων, διακομιδή σε χρωματιστές και μυρωδάτες χωματερές θανάτου και Αναστάσης. Πως να ήταν, αν ήταν αλλιώς.
Ακόμη και η υποβαθμισμένη, κατεστραμμένη φύση των χωματερών και της αποσύνθεσης, του διαβρωμένου αστικού τοπίου και των εγκαταλειμμένων βιομηχανιών, των αποψιλωμένων δασικών εκτάσεων και της προϊούσας εδαφικής διάβρωσης ιδεατά δεν οφείλει απλώς να είναι παρούσα στη σύγχρονη λογοτεχνία αλλά και να υποδηλώνει το πώς θα μπορούσαν να ήταν τα πράγματα αν ο πολιτισμός και η ανάπτυξη είχαν ακολουθήσει διαφορετική πορεία.
Πράγματι, είναι μια ιστορία αγάπης που ξεφεύγει από τη σύμβαση, η οποία πηγαίνει προς τα πίσω, αν θέλετε, με κοινωνικούς κανόνες, μια αγάπη που είναι τόσο φυσική και τόσο ασυνήθιστη ... πόσο όμορφη!
Εποχές, μετεωρολογικά, αστρονομικά.μαθηματικά, ομοφυλοφιλικά, διττά, μοναδικά, ουράνια σώματα, μετέωρα φαινόμενα,το Άγιον πνεύμα. Η φύση. Ο ανατολίτης θεός. Ο απροσμέτρητος χρόνος που φανερώνει τις αποκλίσεις και τις συμβάσεις των λόγων και των έργων μέσω του πνεύματος που πάντα είναι γνωστό για την παρουσία της απουσία του.
Ένα κλωστουφαντουργίο, ένα ίδρυμα για άρρωστα παιδάκια απο αυτα που διανοητικά πλησιάζουν τη διαταραχή, απο τα ευγενέστατα και ευφυέστατα αυτιστικά παιδιά της μαθηματικής διάνοιας μέχρι τα ανάπηρα τερατόμορφα πλασματάκια που τρομάζουν ακόμα και τα δικά τους είδωλα σε αντικατοπτρισμό.
Τα εργοστάσια του Παρισιού και τα Απορρίμματα της διαβολικά παραγωγικής πραγματικότητας.
Απορριμματοφόρα φουσκωμένα απο σκουπίδια σαν παχύδερμα ακολουθούν μια πομπή σκοτεινή και μυστηριώδη. Τα ανατρεπόμενα οχήματα προχωρούν αργά με τη μούρη κολλημένη στα οπίσθια του μπροστινού τους, απο την όχθη του Σηκουάνα μέχρι την πλατφόρμα μιας ζυγαριάς, σταματούν προτού κατευθυνθούν σε μια μεγάλη αλάνα για να αρχίσουν το μπαλέτο τους
μπρος -πίσω, μπρος - πίσω και στο τέλος δεκατρία απο αυτά αποσπώνται και κατευθύνονται με τον κώλο σε μια τάφρο. Είναι τόσο μεγάλη που χωράει να πετάξεις μέσα και σπίτια, οι καρότσες ανασηκώνονταν τα Απορρίμματα κατρακυλούν. Η τάφρος αυτή είναι ο προθάλαμος της κόλασης. Τα απόβλητα γλιστρούν στις φλόγες μαζί με την προσωπικότητα τους, τις αναμνήσεις, τις γλώσσες, τις αποχρώσεις, τις προτιμήσεις και τις απέχθειες τους. Ειναι μια λυσσαλέα ισοπεδωτική εκμηδένιση κάθε φινέτσας,κάθε λεπτής διαφοράς,κάθε στοιχείου που κάνει την ύπαρξη μοναδική και αναντικατάστατη.
Κι εγώ αγαπώ τους ανθρώπους που υπηρετούσαν και υπηρετούν αυτά τα μέρη σε όποια γωνιά του κόσμου. Φαντάζομαι τον οδηγό του απορριμματοφόρου να δίνει εξηγήσεις ουρλιάζοντας, ανάμεσα σε τριξίματα, τραντάγματα και βρυχηθμούς και εγγράφεται μέσα στην παθητική μου μνήμη μια λατρεία για αυτούς τους Ζοφερούς εκμηδενιστές που οδηγούν τα θαύματα μέσα στην κόλαση που βασιλεύει ο θάνατος.
Τα μετεωρολογικά με φόβισαν με όλα τα ακραία ατμοσφαιρικά φαινόμενα. Έχουν μια ιερότητα, που δεν προβλέπεται ούτε διαψεύδεται.
Ο μαθηματικός ουρανός των αστρονόμων είναι ιερός ως τόπος του Πατέρα. Η γη των ανθρώπων είναι ιερή ως τόπος του Υιού. Μεταξύ των δυο, ο νεφελώδης και απρόβλεπτος ουρανός της μετεωρολογίας είναι ο τόπος του Πνεύματος που συνδέει ουρανό με γη. Είναι μια βουερή και ζωντανή σφαίρα που τυλίγει τη γη σαν μανδύας, γεμάτος παρορμήσεις και στροβιλισμούς, και ο μανδύας αυτός είναι πνεύμα, σπόρος και λόγος
«Πόσο είναι διαπεραστικά τα απογεύματα του φθινοπώρου ! Αχ! διαπεραστικά μέχρι να πονέσεις! γιατί υπάρχουν κάποιες ηδονικές αισθήσεις των οποίων η αοριστία δεν αποκλείει την ένταση … και δε βρίσκεται ακίδα πιο μυτερή από εκείνη του Απείρου.
Μεγάλη ευχαρίστηση για κείνον που βυθίζει το κοίταγμα του μέσα στο απέραντο του ουρανού και της θάλασσας! Μοναξιά,σιωπή,
άφθαστη αγνότητα του γαλάζιου! Ένα μικρό ιστιοφόρο τρεμουλιάζει στον ορίζοντα, και με τη μικρότητα του και την απομόνωσή του μιμείται την αγιάτρευτή μου ύπαρξη, μονότονη μελωδία της φουσκοθαλασσιάς , κι όλα τα πράγματα σκέφτονται για μένα, ή εγώ σκέφτομαι γι’ αυτά < γιατί μέσα στο μεγαλείο του ονείρου , το εγώ γρήγορα χάνεται! … σκέφτονται, λέω, όμως μουσικά και γραφικά , χωρίς λεπτολογίες, χωρίς συλλογισμούς, χωρίς συμπεράσματα.
Κάθε φορά , αυτές οι σκέψεις, που βγαίνουν από μένα ή εφορμούν από τα πράγματα , γίνονται γρήγορα πολύ έντονες. Η ενέργεια μέσα στην ηδονή δημιουργεί μια αδιαθεσία και μια θετική οδύνη. Τα νεύρα μου πολύ τεντωμένα δε δίνουν πια παρά κραδασμούς παραπονιάρικους και οδυνηρούς .
Και τώρα το βάθος του ουρανού με καταπλήσσει …η διαφάνειά του με εξαγριώνει . Η αναισθησία της θάλασσας, το αμετάβλητο του θεάματος , με αγανακτούν…Αχ! πρέπει για πάντα να υποφέρουμε, ή για πάντα να αποφεύγουμε το ωραίο ; Φύση , γόησσα , χωρίς οίκτο, αντίπαλε που πάντοτε νικάς , άφησέ με! Σταμάτα να βάζεις σε πειρασμό τους πόθους και την περηφάνειά μου. Η σπουδή του ωραίου είναι μια μονομαχία όπου ο καλλιτέχνης κραυγάζει από τρόμο προτού να νικηθεί».
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.
M.Tournier.
Το βιβλίο
τούτο είναι μια απόλαυση, μια εγκεφαλική γαστρονομία ...
Τα μετεωρολογικά φαινόμενα που αφυπνίζουν και καθορίζουν την πνευματική και ψυχική μας ενάργεια, τη μεταρσίωση του υλικού, την εξάχνωση των σωμάτων που καίγονται απο την αιολική γλώσσα της κρυπτογραφίας και τηρούν ευλαβικά το τελετουργικό της δίδυμης οντότητας, κάθαρση, εξιλέωση, απολύμανση απο αναπνοές ξένων σωμάτων, μετά αγκαλιά σε στάση νεογνών και απολύτρωση της ιεροτελεστίας που δίνει με κατάνυξη η θεϊκή κοινωνία του σπέρματος του άλλου που είναι εσύ, του Εγώ σου που είναι ο άλλος και είστε ένα, ένα κυτταρικό υπερτέλεια δομημένο πλάσμα με δυο καρδιές και μία ψυχή. Ο Ζαν Πωλ, οι Ζαν Πωλ.
Ο Michel Tournier αναπτύσσει μερικά από τα αγαπημένα του θέματα στο Les Météores: σκουπίδια, ομοφυλοφιλία, αλλά κυρίω�� αδελφοποίηση. Το θέμα των διδύμων περιγράφεται μέσω δύο χαρακτήρων στο μυθιστόρημα και για τους ειδικούς είναι ένα από τα πιο λαμπρά και σχετικά κείμενα που περιγράφουν την ψυχολογία των ομοζυγωτικών διδύμων, τη σχέση τους και τις σχέσεις τους με άλλους.
Έζησα με τον δανδή των σκουπιδιών και γνώρισα μαζί του τον πολιτισμό που θάβεται καθημερινά μέσα στις χωματερές της αστικής πολιτισμικής ανεπάρκειας. Ο τρόπος με τον οποίο περιγράφει την ανθρώπινη κατάσταση σε όλη της την ευθραυστότητα είναι ο λόγος για τον αξίζει να καταλάβεις πως τα βιολογικά σκουπίδια, τα οικιακά απόβλητα φανερώνουν μέσα απο την σαπίλα και την αποξήρανση τα μυστικά των οικογενειακών φυλακών, τα πλούτη, τη φτώχεια, την υγεία και την ευημερία, τα ανθρώπινα πάθη, τα πανανθρώπινα λάθη, τα οικουμενικά διαλεκτικά της κάθε ράτσας, απο την πρεμιέρα στην αποτελεσματικότητα.
Όλη η χωνεμένη ανθρωπιά μέσα στο βασίλειο των σκουπιδιών, όλη η Ιστορία του πλανήτη πάνω και κάτω απο χωματερές και τύμβους υγειονομικής ταφής, χώροι απρόσιτοι, σιχαμεροί, απόβλητοι, και τόσο μα τόσο ανεξάρτητοι που μπορούν να ζήσουν πριν και μετά την ύπαρξη της φυσικής οντότητας. Συγκομιδή και αποκομιδή απορριμμάτων, διακομιδή σε χρωματιστές και μυρωδάτες χωματερές θανάτου και Αναστάσης. Πως να ήταν, αν ήταν αλλιώς.
Ακόμη και η υποβαθμισμένη, κατεστραμμένη φύση των χωματερών και της αποσύνθεσης, του διαβρωμένου αστικού τοπίου και των εγκαταλειμμένων βιομηχανιών, των αποψιλωμένων δασικών εκτάσεων και της προϊούσας εδαφικής διάβρωσης ιδεατά δεν οφείλει απλώς να είναι παρούσα στη σύγχρονη λογοτεχνία αλλά και να υποδηλώνει το πώς θα μπορούσαν να ήταν τα πράγματα αν ο πολιτισμός και η ανάπτυξη είχαν ακολουθήσει διαφορετική πορεία.
Πράγματι, είναι μια ιστορία αγάπης που ξεφεύγει από τη σύμβαση, η οποία πηγαίνει προς τα πίσω, αν θέλετε, με κοινωνικούς κανόνες, μια αγάπη που είναι τόσο φυσική και τόσο ασυνήθιστη ... πόσο όμορφη!
Εποχές, μετεωρολογικά, αστρονομικά.μαθηματικά, ομοφυλοφιλικά, διττά, μοναδικά, ουράνια σώματα, μετέωρα φαινόμενα,το Άγιον πνεύμα. Η φύση. Ο ανατολίτης θεός. Ο απροσμέτρητος χρόνος που φανερώνει τις αποκλίσεις και τις συμβάσεις των λόγων και των έργων μέσω του πνεύματος που πάντα είναι γνωστό για την παρουσία της απουσία του.
Ένα κλωστουφαντουργίο, ένα ίδρυμα για άρρωστα παιδάκια απο αυτα που διανοητικά πλησιάζουν τη διαταραχή, απο τα ευγενέστατα και ευφυέστατα αυτιστικά παιδιά της μαθηματικής διάνοιας μέχρι τα ανάπηρα τερατόμορφα πλασματάκια που τρομάζουν ακόμα και τα δικά τους είδωλα σε αντικατοπτρισμό.
Τα εργοστάσια του Παρισιού και τα Απορρίμματα της διαβολικά παραγωγικής πραγματικότητας.
Απορριμματοφόρα φουσκωμένα απο σκουπίδια σαν παχύδερμα ακολουθούν μια πομπή σκοτεινή και μυστηριώδη. Τα ανατρεπόμενα οχήματα προχωρούν αργά με τη μούρη κολλημένη στα οπίσθια του μπροστινού τους, απο την όχθη του Σηκουάνα μέχρι την πλατφόρμα μιας ζυγαριάς, σταματούν προτού κατευθυνθούν σε μια μεγάλη αλάνα για να αρχίσουν το μπαλέτο τους
μπρος -πίσω, μπρος - πίσω και στο τέλος δεκατρία απο αυτά αποσπώνται και κατευθύνονται με τον κώλο σε μια τάφρο. Είναι τόσο μεγάλη που χωράει να πετάξεις μέσα και σπίτια, οι καρότσες ανασηκώνονταν τα Απορρίμματα κατρακυλούν. Η τάφρος αυτή είναι ο προθάλαμος της κόλασης. Τα απόβλητα γλιστρούν στις φλόγες μαζί με την προσωπικότητα τους, τις αναμνήσεις, τις γλώσσες, τις αποχρώσεις, τις προτιμήσεις και τις απέχθειες τους. Ειναι μια λυσσαλέα ισοπεδωτική εκμηδένιση κάθε φινέτσας,κάθε λεπτής διαφοράς,κάθε στοιχείου που κάνει την ύπαρξη μοναδική και αναντικατάστατη.
Κι εγώ αγαπώ τους ανθρώπους που υπηρετούσαν και υπηρετούν αυτά τα μέρη σε όποια γωνιά του κόσμου. Φαντάζομαι τον οδηγό του απορριμματοφόρου να δίνει εξηγήσεις ουρλιάζοντας, ανάμεσα σε τριξίματα, τραντάγματα και βρυχηθμούς και εγγράφεται μέσα στην παθητική μου μνήμη μια λατρεία για αυτούς τους Ζοφερούς εκμηδενιστές που οδηγούν τα θαύματα μέσα στην κόλαση που βασιλεύει ο θάνατος.
Τα μετεωρολογικά με φόβισαν με όλα τα ακραία ατμοσφαιρικά φαινόμενα. Έχουν μια ιερότητα, που δεν προβλέπεται ούτε διαψεύδεται.
Ο μαθηματικός ουρανός των αστρονόμων είναι ιερός ως τόπος του Πατέρα. Η γη των ανθρώπων είναι ιερή ως τόπος του Υιού. Μεταξύ των δυο, ο νεφελώδης και απρόβλεπτος ουρανός της μετεωρολογίας είναι ο τόπος του Πνεύματος που συνδέει ουρανό με γη. Είναι μια βουερή και ζωντανή σφαίρα που τυλίγει τη γη σαν μανδύας, γεμάτος παρορμήσεις και στροβιλισμούς, και ο μανδύας αυτός είναι πνεύμα, σπόρος και λόγος
«Πόσο είναι διαπεραστικά τα απογεύματα του φθινοπώρου ! Αχ! διαπεραστικά μέχρι να πονέσεις! γιατί υπάρχουν κάποιες ηδονικές αισθήσεις των οποίων η αοριστία δεν αποκλείει την ένταση … και δε βρίσκεται ακίδα πιο μυτερή από εκείνη του Απείρου.
Μεγάλη ευχαρίστηση για κείνον που βυθίζει το κοίταγμα του μέσα στο απέραντο του ουρανού και της θάλασσας! Μοναξιά,σιωπή,
άφθαστη αγνότητα του γαλάζιου! Ένα μικρό ιστιοφόρο τρεμουλιάζει στον ορίζοντα, και με τη μικρότητα του και την απομόνωσή του μιμείται την αγιάτρευτή μου ύπαρξη, μονότονη μελωδία της φουσκοθαλασσιάς , κι όλα τα πράγματα σκέφτονται για μένα, ή εγώ σκέφτομαι γι’ αυτά < γιατί μέσα στο μεγαλείο του ονείρου , το εγώ γρήγορα χάνεται! … σκέφτονται, λέω, όμως μουσικά και γραφικά , χωρίς λεπτολογίες, χωρίς συλλογισμούς, χωρίς συμπεράσματα.
Κάθε φορά , αυτές οι σκέψεις, που βγαίνουν από μένα ή εφορμούν από τα πράγματα , γίνονται γρήγορα πολύ έντονες. Η ενέργεια μέσα στην ηδονή δημιουργεί μια αδιαθεσία και μια θετική οδύνη. Τα νεύρα μου πολύ τεντωμένα δε δίνουν πια παρά κραδασμούς παραπονιάρικους και οδυνηρούς .
Και τώρα το βάθος του ουρανού με καταπλήσσει …η διαφάνειά του με εξαγριώνει . Η αναισθησία της θάλασσας, το αμετάβλητο του θεάματος , με αγανακτούν…Αχ! πρέπει για πάντα να υποφέρουμε, ή για πάντα να αποφεύγουμε το ωραίο ; Φύση , γόησσα , χωρίς οίκτο, αντίπαλε που πάντοτε νικάς , άφησέ με! Σταμάτα να βάζεις σε πειρασμό τους πόθους και την περηφάνειά μου. Η σπουδή του ωραίου είναι μια μονομαχία όπου ο καλλιτέχνης κραυγάζει από τρόμο προτού να νικηθεί».
Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.
November 2, 2022
Çınlayan Taşlar, Cryptophasia
Tournier’i en son Çalı Horozundaki anlatımıyla hatırlıyorum; dinler, mitler, efsaneler ve duygular üzerine histerik tatları önümüze koymuş ve lezzetleri ayrıştırırken yüzümüze bakar gibi sayfalardan tebessümünü kelimelerle ifade etmiş gibiydi. Yine o kitapta Tournier’in birbirine uzaktan bakan nesneler ve bağlamlar üzerinden fikirler devşirmesine hayran olurken sanırım biraz da kızarak kitabı 3 yıldız ile sonlandırmışım. Şimdi bugüne geldiğimizde Çınlayan Taşlarda yolumuz tekrar kesişti ve uzun bir yolculuğa çıktık.
Kitabın başlangıcından itibaren Maria Barbara’nın Pastoral bir anlatımla dul kalmasından Eduyla tanışmasına, ikizlerle ve ilk törensel hareketlerinin sahneye çıkışını okuyoruz. Tekstil fabrikası, Çınlayan Taşlar’ın merkez üssü gibi; Maria ve Edu’nun aile oluşlarından, İkizlerin okuldaki genel durumlarına kadar, dokuma tezgahlarında makinelerin seslerinin içinde çalışanlarına ilkesizce yaklaşan Edu’nun (ki kendisi kadın işçi cümlesine bile saygı duymuyor) iplik ve kumaştan örülmüş kalesi gibi.
Daha sonra sahneye Alexandre çıkıyor ve artık bu metnin kemikleşmesi başlıyor. Alexandre insan bedeninin kutsanması (veya eksikliği üzerine demek daha doğru olur), uzun cümlelerle bir zihin paradigmasına başlıyor. Alex, zevkler ten ve his üzerinden bir tiksinmeyle arayış içerisine giriyor. Kendi ayinini kendi kutsalını alaycı bir izahi tavırla aktarıyor. Tüm bu hezeyanlar içinde cinsellikle ilgili atıfları, tanım ve çıkarımları öyle abartılı bir tonda söylüyorki, toplum içerisinde azınlık gibi bir muamele gören eşcinsellik kavramının heteroseksüellikle yer değiştirdiği bir anlatıya dönüşüyor. Aslında bunu sadece eşcinsellik ve cinsiyetler üzerinden de yapmıyor, sanırım 80. Sayfa dolaylarında “yoksulun psikososyolojisi” başlığı altında 6 maddeyle yoksul olmanın, düşkünlüğün kısa ve abartılı manifestosunu belirtiyor. Bir de aileden kalan kentin çöp toplama işinin başına geçip geçmeme ikileminde yaşadığı bir durum var; dolma, boşalma, insan sağaltımı, yer değiştirme, dönüşüm ve görünmeyen taraf gibi hiç bitmeyen bir çöp metaforuyla Tournier, Alex’in aylak ama bir o kadar da güçlü cümleleriyle hepimizi çöplüğün züppesine çeviriyor. Gerçekten her ne kadar ikizler gibi dursa da, Alex bu kitabın tüm duygu dinamiklerini sırtında taşıyan en tuhaf karakter diye düşünüyorum.
Orman Çilekleri, Kadans
İkizler’in sunumu, Rahibe’ Beatrice’in Aziz Brigitte’ki korumacı ve anaç profiliyle ortaya çıkmaya başlıyor. Ama ondan önce okul, aslında normal olan çocukların tuhaflaştırılmış anlatımıyla Çınlayan Taşlar’ın Tekstil fabrikasından sonraki en gizemli sığınağına dönüşüyor. Buradaki en dikkat çeken öğrenci sanırım takvim çocuk. Okulda farklı dil ve zeka seviyelerine ayrılmış dört grupta çocuklar var. Grupların ayrışması özellikle dil ve fonetik temelli anlatılmış. Bu kısımda cennet, kovulan Adem Eve’nin ve kovulanların kendi aralarında konuştukları dil gibi bir kısa ve teolojik bir anlatım var. Tekrar ikizlere gelecek olursam, Jean ve Paul’ün gözünden iki beden tek ruh gibi kaba ve kısa bir tanımlamayla başlamak isterim. Aslında bu durum benim tanımlamamın tam aksi gibi ‘ iki ruh bir beden ‘ gibi de tanımlanabilir. Bu göreceyi yaratan ise teklik, tek olmak, uzun bir hayat arayışında ikinin rahatsız edici ve boşluklu hissini sayfalar boyunca okumak oldu. Kitapla ilgili tüm yorumumu ikizlerin sırtında daha da uzatmak istiyorum fakat yazdıkça herhangi bir yere oturtamadığım cümleler ve sayfalar, teknik, köşeli ve anlamlandırılmaya çalışılmış kurallar bütününe dönüşüyormuş gibi hissediyorum. O sebepten kitapta altını çizdiğim kısımları yorumumun kalanına ekleyerek sonlandırmak istiyorum.
“Düşünce nesneden, düşüncenin düşüncesi de düşünceden daha ötedir. Bu nedenle taklit de taklit edilmiş şeyden daha ötedir, çünkü taklit = nesne + taklit etme çabasıdır ki bu çaba, içinde yeniden oluşma, dolayısıyla niceliği niteliğe katma olacağına sahiptir.”
“Çöplük, içine eşyanın gömüldüğü bir hiçlik değil; başarıyla binbir denemeden geçtikten sonra bu eşyanın kendisine yer bulduğu bir müze gibidir. Tüketim, üretimin yok edilemez ve gerçekten yeni olan payını ayırmaya yönelik seçmeli bir süreçtir. Bir şişenin içindeki sıvı, diş macunu tüpünün içindeki macun, portakalın etnesi, pilicin eti tüketim filtresinden geçerek elenir; geriye boşalmış şişe, yassılaşmış tüp, portakalın kabuğu, pilicin kemikleri, üretimin sert ve dayanıklı bölümleri, uygarlığımızın geleceğin arkeologlarına bırakacağı mirasın öğeleri kalır.”
“İsa çarmıhta sakatlanmış, umudu kırılmış durumda öldü, bu yüzden Hristiyan merkezciliği ister istemez bir acı, bir can çekişme ve bir ölüm inancıdır. Her yerde dikili çarmıha çivilenmiş İsa amblemi, alışkanlıkla yaratılmış anestezi ya da eğlence sayesinde katlandığımız korkunç bir görüntüdür.”
Tournier’i en son Çalı Horozundaki anlatımıyla hatırlıyorum; dinler, mitler, efsaneler ve duygular üzerine histerik tatları önümüze koymuş ve lezzetleri ayrıştırırken yüzümüze bakar gibi sayfalardan tebessümünü kelimelerle ifade etmiş gibiydi. Yine o kitapta Tournier’in birbirine uzaktan bakan nesneler ve bağlamlar üzerinden fikirler devşirmesine hayran olurken sanırım biraz da kızarak kitabı 3 yıldız ile sonlandırmışım. Şimdi bugüne geldiğimizde Çınlayan Taşlarda yolumuz tekrar kesişti ve uzun bir yolculuğa çıktık.
Kitabın başlangıcından itibaren Maria Barbara’nın Pastoral bir anlatımla dul kalmasından Eduyla tanışmasına, ikizlerle ve ilk törensel hareketlerinin sahneye çıkışını okuyoruz. Tekstil fabrikası, Çınlayan Taşlar’ın merkez üssü gibi; Maria ve Edu’nun aile oluşlarından, İkizlerin okuldaki genel durumlarına kadar, dokuma tezgahlarında makinelerin seslerinin içinde çalışanlarına ilkesizce yaklaşan Edu’nun (ki kendisi kadın işçi cümlesine bile saygı duymuyor) iplik ve kumaştan örülmüş kalesi gibi.
Daha sonra sahneye Alexandre çıkıyor ve artık bu metnin kemikleşmesi başlıyor. Alexandre insan bedeninin kutsanması (veya eksikliği üzerine demek daha doğru olur), uzun cümlelerle bir zihin paradigmasına başlıyor. Alex, zevkler ten ve his üzerinden bir tiksinmeyle arayış içerisine giriyor. Kendi ayinini kendi kutsalını alaycı bir izahi tavırla aktarıyor. Tüm bu hezeyanlar içinde cinsellikle ilgili atıfları, tanım ve çıkarımları öyle abartılı bir tonda söylüyorki, toplum içerisinde azınlık gibi bir muamele gören eşcinsellik kavramının heteroseksüellikle yer değiştirdiği bir anlatıya dönüşüyor. Aslında bunu sadece eşcinsellik ve cinsiyetler üzerinden de yapmıyor, sanırım 80. Sayfa dolaylarında “yoksulun psikososyolojisi” başlığı altında 6 maddeyle yoksul olmanın, düşkünlüğün kısa ve abartılı manifestosunu belirtiyor. Bir de aileden kalan kentin çöp toplama işinin başına geçip geçmeme ikileminde yaşadığı bir durum var; dolma, boşalma, insan sağaltımı, yer değiştirme, dönüşüm ve görünmeyen taraf gibi hiç bitmeyen bir çöp metaforuyla Tournier, Alex’in aylak ama bir o kadar da güçlü cümleleriyle hepimizi çöplüğün züppesine çeviriyor. Gerçekten her ne kadar ikizler gibi dursa da, Alex bu kitabın tüm duygu dinamiklerini sırtında taşıyan en tuhaf karakter diye düşünüyorum.
Orman Çilekleri, Kadans
İkizler’in sunumu, Rahibe’ Beatrice’in Aziz Brigitte’ki korumacı ve anaç profiliyle ortaya çıkmaya başlıyor. Ama ondan önce okul, aslında normal olan çocukların tuhaflaştırılmış anlatımıyla Çınlayan Taşlar’ın Tekstil fabrikasından sonraki en gizemli sığınağına dönüşüyor. Buradaki en dikkat çeken öğrenci sanırım takvim çocuk. Okulda farklı dil ve zeka seviyelerine ayrılmış dört grupta çocuklar var. Grupların ayrışması özellikle dil ve fonetik temelli anlatılmış. Bu kısımda cennet, kovulan Adem Eve’nin ve kovulanların kendi aralarında konuştukları dil gibi bir kısa ve teolojik bir anlatım var. Tekrar ikizlere gelecek olursam, Jean ve Paul’ün gözünden iki beden tek ruh gibi kaba ve kısa bir tanımlamayla başlamak isterim. Aslında bu durum benim tanımlamamın tam aksi gibi ‘ iki ruh bir beden ‘ gibi de tanımlanabilir. Bu göreceyi yaratan ise teklik, tek olmak, uzun bir hayat arayışında ikinin rahatsız edici ve boşluklu hissini sayfalar boyunca okumak oldu. Kitapla ilgili tüm yorumumu ikizlerin sırtında daha da uzatmak istiyorum fakat yazdıkça herhangi bir yere oturtamadığım cümleler ve sayfalar, teknik, köşeli ve anlamlandırılmaya çalışılmış kurallar bütününe dönüşüyormuş gibi hissediyorum. O sebepten kitapta altını çizdiğim kısımları yorumumun kalanına ekleyerek sonlandırmak istiyorum.
“Düşünce nesneden, düşüncenin düşüncesi de düşünceden daha ötedir. Bu nedenle taklit de taklit edilmiş şeyden daha ötedir, çünkü taklit = nesne + taklit etme çabasıdır ki bu çaba, içinde yeniden oluşma, dolayısıyla niceliği niteliğe katma olacağına sahiptir.”
“Çöplük, içine eşyanın gömüldüğü bir hiçlik değil; başarıyla binbir denemeden geçtikten sonra bu eşyanın kendisine yer bulduğu bir müze gibidir. Tüketim, üretimin yok edilemez ve gerçekten yeni olan payını ayırmaya yönelik seçmeli bir süreçtir. Bir şişenin içindeki sıvı, diş macunu tüpünün içindeki macun, portakalın etnesi, pilicin eti tüketim filtresinden geçerek elenir; geriye boşalmış şişe, yassılaşmış tüp, portakalın kabuğu, pilicin kemikleri, üretimin sert ve dayanıklı bölümleri, uygarlığımızın geleceğin arkeologlarına bırakacağı mirasın öğeleri kalır.”
“İsa çarmıhta sakatlanmış, umudu kırılmış durumda öldü, bu yüzden Hristiyan merkezciliği ister istemez bir acı, bir can çekişme ve bir ölüm inancıdır. Her yerde dikili çarmıha çivilenmiş İsa amblemi, alışkanlıkla yaratılmış anestezi ya da eğlence sayesinde katlandığımız korkunç bir görüntüdür.”
October 31, 2012
Gemini is an oneiric chorus of multiple voices loosely charting the lugubrious tale of two incestuous twin brothers, but interspersed with parallel synchronised storylines which fuse the peristaltic threads of the narrative into a single storyboard ingot.
In a way, the eponymous Gemini are red herrings: the underlying theme is cryptophasial ontology, but expanded from its filial scope as a possible rubric for other sapient relationships. I would like to say here ‘all’ sapient relationships, but Tournier is beguiling on this point: unapologetically misogynistic, he focuses predominantly on male interactions and the exclusivity of a linkage (emotional and physical) totally unencumbered and uninformed by biological imperative. In this he has a point: its probably true to say that all societal norms are usually predicated on procreational considerations, to which the homosexual community need not subscribe. Still, perhaps there is no need for this exclusivity to ostracise all things Cytherean.
That notwithstanding, Gemini offers a finessed reversal of perspective, through the voice of Alexandre (the gay uncle of the twins), where homosexuality becomes the anchoring societal norm and the heterosexual world is relegated to marginalised status: cleverly rendered binocular vision.
Some of the props here become character actors in their own right: there is a recurring monton of garbage throughout: garbage as a collection of human ‘signatures’ and ‘celebrations’ but most of all, as a metaphor, or signifier even, of the base layer which imbues humanity: all of our psychologically teratological history streamed through the debris of our cast-off. And strangely, there is also a tapeworm. This tapeworm seems to sneak out of various anuses at the most inopportune moments: or perhaps, quite opportunely, at moments when characters most seek to affirm their social worth, the tapeworm is discharged as a slimy birth down their legs. Perhaps a timely reminder we are all poos in a pod. Or something.
An understated humour has incremental creep here: constellations of events are arranged just-so in the build up to spectacularly comic mis-en-scenes, quickly doused thereafter with rather too grim reality. In a brilliant scene (pg 258) the twins father assumes he will be arrested for running illicit underground propaganda during WWII (which we know is an over-exaggeration since he is singularly lazy and too addicted to the fine life to put his neck on the line). A two page soliloquy ensues where dad takes his leave of his family as he prepares to be martyred, his name forever remembered in the anals of history, when the gendarmes arrest his unassuming, matronly, meek wife, for serious subterfuge. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages. Of course, the sting in the tail is that mum is never seen again.
Gemini is foremost a rambling rumination on the intricacies of human relations ,and the many layers they traverse. Elaborate, mellifluous, shocking at times, and always captivating.
In a way, the eponymous Gemini are red herrings: the underlying theme is cryptophasial ontology, but expanded from its filial scope as a possible rubric for other sapient relationships. I would like to say here ‘all’ sapient relationships, but Tournier is beguiling on this point: unapologetically misogynistic, he focuses predominantly on male interactions and the exclusivity of a linkage (emotional and physical) totally unencumbered and uninformed by biological imperative. In this he has a point: its probably true to say that all societal norms are usually predicated on procreational considerations, to which the homosexual community need not subscribe. Still, perhaps there is no need for this exclusivity to ostracise all things Cytherean.
That notwithstanding, Gemini offers a finessed reversal of perspective, through the voice of Alexandre (the gay uncle of the twins), where homosexuality becomes the anchoring societal norm and the heterosexual world is relegated to marginalised status: cleverly rendered binocular vision.
Some of the props here become character actors in their own right: there is a recurring monton of garbage throughout: garbage as a collection of human ‘signatures’ and ‘celebrations’ but most of all, as a metaphor, or signifier even, of the base layer which imbues humanity: all of our psychologically teratological history streamed through the debris of our cast-off. And strangely, there is also a tapeworm. This tapeworm seems to sneak out of various anuses at the most inopportune moments: or perhaps, quite opportunely, at moments when characters most seek to affirm their social worth, the tapeworm is discharged as a slimy birth down their legs. Perhaps a timely reminder we are all poos in a pod. Or something.
An understated humour has incremental creep here: constellations of events are arranged just-so in the build up to spectacularly comic mis-en-scenes, quickly doused thereafter with rather too grim reality. In a brilliant scene (pg 258) the twins father assumes he will be arrested for running illicit underground propaganda during WWII (which we know is an over-exaggeration since he is singularly lazy and too addicted to the fine life to put his neck on the line). A two page soliloquy ensues where dad takes his leave of his family as he prepares to be martyred, his name forever remembered in the anals of history, when the gendarmes arrest his unassuming, matronly, meek wife, for serious subterfuge. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages. Of course, the sting in the tail is that mum is never seen again.
Gemini is foremost a rambling rumination on the intricacies of human relations ,and the many layers they traverse. Elaborate, mellifluous, shocking at times, and always captivating.
April 5, 2023
İkizler burcu. İkizlik gizi. Roman boyunca çatlak kalıp parçalanamayan ikizlik hücresi. Bu hücreye sürekli göz kırpan, zıt ya da tamamlayıcı, çeşit çeşit ikilik.
Mesela ikizlerimiz Jean ve Paul’ün züppe, öncü eşcinsel amcası, oya gibi işlenmiş muhteşem bir karakter olan Alexandre’nin kılıç bastonu ve kını. Onun avı ve avının avı. İnci taneli bir küpe ve öteki teki (öteki, teki?) Aşk ve acıma… Mesela med ve cezir, mesela Doğu Berlin ve Batı Berlin, mesela El-Kantara ve El-Kantara…
Meteorlar, atmosfer olayları ve Alexandre’nin krallığındaki milyonlarca tonluk çöp, 2. Dünya Savaşı ve Jules Verne tarzı soluk soluğa bir dünya turunun simgelediği kendinden kaçış gibi güçlü alt izleklerin yardımıyla, her şeye delice bir dürbün bakışı. (‘’siz de panoramik JUMO dürbünleri ile daha geniş görün!’’)
Tournier’in, yarattığı karmaşadan bunalarak (kolayına) kaçtığını düşündüğüm birkaç nokta yüzünden bence dev başyapıt olmayı ıskalıyor.
Fakat bu haliyle bile insanın aklını alıyor.
Son olarak; bir iki haftalığına bu kitaba gömülecek şanslı okur, evet sen, bilesin ki Meteorlar bu mahrem zaman boyunca senin ikizindir ve okuyacağın satırlar ikinize özel bir rüzgâr dilinde yazılmıştır.
Mesela ikizlerimiz Jean ve Paul’ün züppe, öncü eşcinsel amcası, oya gibi işlenmiş muhteşem bir karakter olan Alexandre’nin kılıç bastonu ve kını. Onun avı ve avının avı. İnci taneli bir küpe ve öteki teki (öteki, teki?) Aşk ve acıma… Mesela med ve cezir, mesela Doğu Berlin ve Batı Berlin, mesela El-Kantara ve El-Kantara…
Meteorlar, atmosfer olayları ve Alexandre’nin krallığındaki milyonlarca tonluk çöp, 2. Dünya Savaşı ve Jules Verne tarzı soluk soluğa bir dünya turunun simgelediği kendinden kaçış gibi güçlü alt izleklerin yardımıyla, her şeye delice bir dürbün bakışı. (‘’siz de panoramik JUMO dürbünleri ile daha geniş görün!’’)
Tournier’in, yarattığı karmaşadan bunalarak (kolayına) kaçtığını düşündüğüm birkaç nokta yüzünden bence dev başyapıt olmayı ıskalıyor.
Fakat bu haliyle bile insanın aklını alıyor.
Son olarak; bir iki haftalığına bu kitaba gömülecek şanslı okur, evet sen, bilesin ki Meteorlar bu mahrem zaman boyunca senin ikizindir ve okuyacağın satırlar ikinize özel bir rüzgâr dilinde yazılmıştır.
May 20, 2009
Like most masterpieces, Gemini is not a good book: its pacing feels rushed, its characters functional, and its incidences programmatic, like a beautiful landscape whose graph paper canvas shows through at points, ruining the spell and forcing its audience to take an initial step back. The "mistake" here, I'd say, is not that Tournier graphs his novels (for is there any contemporary author whose ideas seem more organic and essential?); rather, the parts of this grand philosophical tour de force that taste most undercooked seem to be exactly the ones in which his expansive, daydreaming method is curtailed, and his monologic digressions strapped, like Flaubert in Egypt, to the plodding camel of his plot. What I mean by this is: Tournier tries to give us a novel that is also a meditation and demonstration, but his formal anxiety causes him (I think) to occasionally slight his most obvious strength (that is, his ability to build and describe the interior worlds of his characters) in favor of what the novel "should do" (move forward, give us plot). Once more, to use his own words he favors chronology over meteorology and the clock over the weather. Or maybe I'm missing some more interesting interaction between the two here. Either way, the goal of this book appears to be to create a world for the reader, and the disjunction I occasionally felt hurt, rather than helped that goal.
But talking this way about great books is stupid and ungrateful after a point. In the last month I've read over 1500 straight pages of Tournier, and am in no mood to quit. How many writers can sustain that kind of attention? He may be uneven, but he is never boring, repetitive, or opaque. He's like Bolano in the way that his books seem to speak to one another: Gemini, for example, is the more cheerful and expansive right hand to The Ogre's subterranean left, both of them together forming what T's first novel helps us see as a vast Crusoeian epic, or encyclopedia of world-building. Again, the trick here reminds me most of the European authors for whom ideas were toys to be played with, rather than rocks to be suffered under: Mann, Gombrowicz, Voltaire, even Verne (the end third of this book reading, in many ways, like a simultaneous rewriting of both Around the World and 80 Days and Candide). And the most amazing thing is, despite the constant reiteration of themes and forms, I never once felt that any of its scenes were redundant. On the contrary, (to contradict myself for a second) I felt as if I were watching that very same landscape painting I'd first dismissed as clumsy grow more and more gorgeous as its layers of paint thinned and then evaporated, revealing a serene and unarguable grid of plain blue lines for my contemplation.
What did I learn from this book? (this is my favorite of the goodreads prompts) A novel - at least the type of novel that I've grown obsessed with over the last few years - is not a solution: it's a record of an impulse; a desire, not just to discover, but to discover in a specific (if marvelously fecund) way. The Russian poet/geologist Osip Mandelstam put it best in his long essay "Conversation about Dante", when he said "There is no syntax: there is a magnetized impulse, a longing for the stern of a ship, a longing for a forage of worms, a longing for an unpromulgated law, a longing for Florence." I had to look up "unpromulgated": it means hidden, unbroadcast. So, the novel as travel guide, essay, booke detailing the translations, through the vast foreign languages of space and time, of a single, overriding impulse. If this sounds obscure, I can only apologize: in Tournier it is remarkably clear. Gemini, like Bolano's 2666, is an attempt to both describe and promulgate a method of meaning-creation that is surprisingly versatile. It's a search. Like its predecessor, it ends on a visionary expansion that made me feel like a pilgrim: I have never, I thought, read this before.
But talking this way about great books is stupid and ungrateful after a point. In the last month I've read over 1500 straight pages of Tournier, and am in no mood to quit. How many writers can sustain that kind of attention? He may be uneven, but he is never boring, repetitive, or opaque. He's like Bolano in the way that his books seem to speak to one another: Gemini, for example, is the more cheerful and expansive right hand to The Ogre's subterranean left, both of them together forming what T's first novel helps us see as a vast Crusoeian epic, or encyclopedia of world-building. Again, the trick here reminds me most of the European authors for whom ideas were toys to be played with, rather than rocks to be suffered under: Mann, Gombrowicz, Voltaire, even Verne (the end third of this book reading, in many ways, like a simultaneous rewriting of both Around the World and 80 Days and Candide). And the most amazing thing is, despite the constant reiteration of themes and forms, I never once felt that any of its scenes were redundant. On the contrary, (to contradict myself for a second) I felt as if I were watching that very same landscape painting I'd first dismissed as clumsy grow more and more gorgeous as its layers of paint thinned and then evaporated, revealing a serene and unarguable grid of plain blue lines for my contemplation.
What did I learn from this book? (this is my favorite of the goodreads prompts) A novel - at least the type of novel that I've grown obsessed with over the last few years - is not a solution: it's a record of an impulse; a desire, not just to discover, but to discover in a specific (if marvelously fecund) way. The Russian poet/geologist Osip Mandelstam put it best in his long essay "Conversation about Dante", when he said "There is no syntax: there is a magnetized impulse, a longing for the stern of a ship, a longing for a forage of worms, a longing for an unpromulgated law, a longing for Florence." I had to look up "unpromulgated": it means hidden, unbroadcast. So, the novel as travel guide, essay, booke detailing the translations, through the vast foreign languages of space and time, of a single, overriding impulse. If this sounds obscure, I can only apologize: in Tournier it is remarkably clear. Gemini, like Bolano's 2666, is an attempt to both describe and promulgate a method of meaning-creation that is surprisingly versatile. It's a search. Like its predecessor, it ends on a visionary expansion that made me feel like a pilgrim: I have never, I thought, read this before.
August 22, 2013
fără îndoială, romanul acesta este capodopera lui tournier și un roman de referință pentru literatura franceză a secolului trecut. nu numai că te lasă perplex prin perspectivele sale – dintre care cea care bobinează firul epic este gemelaritatea ca perfecțiune umană. nu doar că-ți poartă imaginația prin metafore pitorești – de exemplu, grădina ca insulă de eternitate. dar te introduce în referințe dintre cele mai ciudate și heteroclite – psihanalitice, mitologice, religioase, meteorologice, biologice.
este și nu este un roman. este roman pentru că are acțiune – povestea neamului surin, a familiei edouard și maria barbara, care, alături de mulți copii îi are pe gemenii jean-paul, gemeni identici care vor alcătui ființa pefectă. și pornind de la gemeni, tot romanul subîntinde această perspectivă – deloc unică – a gemelarității ca ideal ubicuu. până la ideea că noi, negemenii, singularii, suntem doar niște căpcăuni care ne-am ucis, în căiță, fratele geamăn. cei doi gemeni vorbesc un grai specific, mai mult tăcut, de o generalitate până la esență – eoliana. somnul și instinctele sexuale și le rezolvă tot în doi, într-un 69 numit jocul de-a bep. până când unul dintre cei doi va destrăma visul, iar celălalt va trebui să-l urmărească, neștiind de fapt că va cuceri lumea, va putea să se extindă asupra ei ca un copac cu rădăcini infinite, țintuit în pat ca eroul lui max blecher.
un alt personaj memorabil este unchiul celor doi, alexandre, un homosexual dandy al gunoaielor, care imprimă romanului perspective provocatoare, decadente, dar mai cu seamă mizantropice și inteligente (aș putea spune că alexandre surin e un cioran gay). și el caută perfecțiunea împerecherii – una superioară celei heterosexuale – dar pe care nu o va găsi niciodată.
despre un alt roman al lui tournier, regele arinilor, aici.
nu este roman pentru că avem numeroase incursiuni eseistice și concentrate despre arabia, japonia, islanda, canada sau germania. și deasupra tuturor, vântul paraclet, duhul sfânt care împărățește lumea, sferă vie și zgomotoasă care înconjoară pământul ca un înveliș plin de umori și vârtejuri și asta înseamnă spirit, sămânță și cuvânt. (p.110) ca materializare a duhului, meteorii – adică toate fenomenele meteorologice – reflectă viața umană: Un nor se formează în cer ca o imagine în creierul meu, vântul suflă așa cum eu respir, un curcubeu se arcuiește între două zări, în timp ce inima se împacă din nou cu viața. (p.432)
există sute de idei, comparații, panseuri, metafore – majoritatea prin gând nu-ți vor trece vreodată. și ăsta cred că e geniul lui tournier (afirmat total în această carte): perspective neașteptate, învelite elegant în ironie și inteligență livrească.
mi-aș dori ca romanul să fie reeditat – declar sobru că e de referință – cum au fost reeditate celelalte traduceri, pe la polirom, rao, sau humanitas. și se cuvine prinos traducătoarei irina bădescu, pentru munca sa superțuț.
este și nu este un roman. este roman pentru că are acțiune – povestea neamului surin, a familiei edouard și maria barbara, care, alături de mulți copii îi are pe gemenii jean-paul, gemeni identici care vor alcătui ființa pefectă. și pornind de la gemeni, tot romanul subîntinde această perspectivă – deloc unică – a gemelarității ca ideal ubicuu. până la ideea că noi, negemenii, singularii, suntem doar niște căpcăuni care ne-am ucis, în căiță, fratele geamăn. cei doi gemeni vorbesc un grai specific, mai mult tăcut, de o generalitate până la esență – eoliana. somnul și instinctele sexuale și le rezolvă tot în doi, într-un 69 numit jocul de-a bep. până când unul dintre cei doi va destrăma visul, iar celălalt va trebui să-l urmărească, neștiind de fapt că va cuceri lumea, va putea să se extindă asupra ei ca un copac cu rădăcini infinite, țintuit în pat ca eroul lui max blecher.
un alt personaj memorabil este unchiul celor doi, alexandre, un homosexual dandy al gunoaielor, care imprimă romanului perspective provocatoare, decadente, dar mai cu seamă mizantropice și inteligente (aș putea spune că alexandre surin e un cioran gay). și el caută perfecțiunea împerecherii – una superioară celei heterosexuale – dar pe care nu o va găsi niciodată.
despre un alt roman al lui tournier, regele arinilor, aici.
nu este roman pentru că avem numeroase incursiuni eseistice și concentrate despre arabia, japonia, islanda, canada sau germania. și deasupra tuturor, vântul paraclet, duhul sfânt care împărățește lumea, sferă vie și zgomotoasă care înconjoară pământul ca un înveliș plin de umori și vârtejuri și asta înseamnă spirit, sămânță și cuvânt. (p.110) ca materializare a duhului, meteorii – adică toate fenomenele meteorologice – reflectă viața umană: Un nor se formează în cer ca o imagine în creierul meu, vântul suflă așa cum eu respir, un curcubeu se arcuiește între două zări, în timp ce inima se împacă din nou cu viața. (p.432)
există sute de idei, comparații, panseuri, metafore – majoritatea prin gând nu-ți vor trece vreodată. și ăsta cred că e geniul lui tournier (afirmat total în această carte): perspective neașteptate, învelite elegant în ironie și inteligență livrească.
mi-aș dori ca romanul să fie reeditat – declar sobru că e de referință – cum au fost reeditate celelalte traduceri, pe la polirom, rao, sau humanitas. și se cuvine prinos traducătoarei irina bădescu, pentru munca sa superțuț.
July 7, 2023
An overwhelming, philosophical, confounding (at times tedious) novel by a French author who does not shy away from complicating the text and challenging readers.
The French title, Les Météores, does not refer to rocks falling from space (those are meteorites) but all things meteorological, which leads to my alternate title for this overwhelming achievement: "All the Winds of Heaven." The meteor/logical points to our vain attempts to predict the wind and waves, to manage the fog of war, to organize the intertwined morass of celestial and terrestrial events: the "poverty of meteorology" Tournier calls it, in the chapter "The Extended Soul."
This book is about twins, copies, doubling, shadows, and so on, but also paradoxical pairings — the grotesque and the divine (a la Genet): quiet storms, lush desert gardens, a dandy garbage collector and the elevation of trash, geminate cells and seminal communion and much more. The terrorists in France who became the resistance. Dispaired twins and cryptophasia. The qualities of space and space-time confusion. A red train crossing a continent, and a red tunnel under a border between twin towns.
Without revealing too much, there is some travelling, and at one point the narrative arrives in . . . Vancouver, of all places, where I have lived. Unfortunately, Tournier's details became a little unfocussed in Canada, with errors (Calgary is not the capital of Alberta) and muddled observations (Canada is the most food-obsessed country... really? Compared to what—every other food-obsessed country?). However, these are minor drawbacks, and indeed the summary for this book wisely does not even mention the cross-country Canadian journey.
There are moments in this book which are perfectly disgusting, and others which touch on the ineffable, like a warm zephyr, a sweet philter, caressing the fine hairs on the back of a strong, delicate nape.
The French title, Les Météores, does not refer to rocks falling from space (those are meteorites) but all things meteorological, which leads to my alternate title for this overwhelming achievement: "All the Winds of Heaven." The meteor/logical points to our vain attempts to predict the wind and waves, to manage the fog of war, to organize the intertwined morass of celestial and terrestrial events: the "poverty of meteorology" Tournier calls it, in the chapter "The Extended Soul."
This book is about twins, copies, doubling, shadows, and so on, but also paradoxical pairings — the grotesque and the divine (a la Genet): quiet storms, lush desert gardens, a dandy garbage collector and the elevation of trash, geminate cells and seminal communion and much more. The terrorists in France who became the resistance. Dispaired twins and cryptophasia. The qualities of space and space-time confusion. A red train crossing a continent, and a red tunnel under a border between twin towns.
Without revealing too much, there is some travelling, and at one point the narrative arrives in . . . Vancouver, of all places, where I have lived. Unfortunately, Tournier's details became a little unfocussed in Canada, with errors (Calgary is not the capital of Alberta) and muddled observations (Canada is the most food-obsessed country... really? Compared to what—every other food-obsessed country?). However, these are minor drawbacks, and indeed the summary for this book wisely does not even mention the cross-country Canadian journey.
There are moments in this book which are perfectly disgusting, and others which touch on the ineffable, like a warm zephyr, a sweet philter, caressing the fine hairs on the back of a strong, delicate nape.
April 12, 2021
To be completely fair, I have no idea what I just read. Either most of the book flew over my head, or Tournier just decided that he hated most of his readers. There were some fascinating, deep and extremely enjoyable moments, fascinating links to the elmking, but mixed with deeply disturbing stuff and confusing evolutions.
June 26, 2025
Sanon heti alkuun, että tämä ei ollut suosikkikirjani. Huolimatta monista tarinoista, jotka kytkeytyivät vanhoihin myytteihin ja uudelleenkirjoittivat niitä. Tältä osin kirja on jokaisen kirjallisuudenopiskelijan unelmateos, tulkintojen aarreaitta ja Pandoran lipas. En löytänyt kirjasta yhtään samaistumispintaa ennen kuin toinen kaksosista matkusti Venetsiaa. Silti kunnioitan ja tunnistan kirjallisen nerouden ja mestarillisen romaanitaiteuden tässä kirjassa. Tournier käsittelee kirjassaan lukemattomia polariteetteja, päätyen lopulta siihen, että eivät ne ääripäät sitten oikeastaan toisistaan paljon eroakaan. Identtiset kaksoset Jean ja Paul ovat aluksi erottamattomat, mutta lopulta Jean haluaa eroon tyrannisoivasta Paulista. Vai oliko se toisinpäin? Kaksosten isä on onnellinen aviomies ja 12 lapsen isä, joka on harvoin kotona ja asuu sen sijaan kaukana Pariisissa rakastajattarensa kanssa. Kaksosten setä Alexandre on homoseksuaaleista homoseksuaalein, dandyista dandyin, herkuttelija ja brutaali mies. Alexandressa vain on ihan liikaa homoa omaan makuuni, mutta kaikkinensa Meteorit on mitä sopivinta luettavaa näin Pride-viikolla.
August 8, 2023
J'ai rarement lu quelque chose d'aussi long et ennuyeux. L'intrigue commence au bout de 400 pages, le reste sert à planter le décor mais ça part dans tous les sens. Je n'ai pas trop compris l'intérêt d'entrer à ce point dans le détail de la vie des personnages secondaire. L'histoire d'Alexandre ne m'a pas du tout touché, et m'a même mise un peu mal à l'aise, ainsi que l'idéalisation du couple gémellaire qui serait "un idéal que les sans pareils rechercheront toujours en vain dans leurs relations". C'est dommage, car la quête de Paul à travers le monde pour retrouver Jean est intéressante, mais j'étais déjà trop essoufflé de ma lecture pour vraiment apprécier ce passage.
May 16, 2022
I'm tapping out about halfway through -- I just don't have the patience for these types of philosophical meditations anymore. If 400+ pages of meandering, esoteric interior monologues on metaphysics, soulmates and non-mainstream sexuality sounds intriguing to you, this just might be your book!
December 31, 2008
I read this a million years ago, but still think about it - quirky and thought-provoking.
February 7, 2012
Sheer perfection. Good beyond words.
April 20, 2024
A tratti molto pesante, ma vale la lettura anche solo per le bellissime pagine di poesia didascalica. Indispensabile per chiunque voglia anche solo lontanamente avvicinarsi al tema dei gemelli. Il primo romanzo che mi è sembrato "inconfondibilmente francese"
November 10, 2023
Moeilijk!
May 24, 2024
Absolutely amazing, love the writing and the story - strangely enough at first I preferred the 1st part than the second and a few chapters were harder to finish for me - but superb book at the end of the day!!
November 4, 2021
Très grand roman de Michel Tournier, dense et parfois difficile à aborder. Les Météores raconte l’histoire de deux jumeaux, Jean et Paul, si fusionnels qu’on les surnomme Jean-Paul. Mais Jean étouffe dans la cellule gémellaire et après un mariage avorté, il prend la fuite. Alors son frère-pareil se lance à sa poursuite. Les Météores est une étude captivante du couple et de cet autre qui nous manque et que l’on passe notre vie à chercher. Les vrais jumeaux eux l’ont à disposition. Les autres font ce qu’ils peuvent pour combler ce manque, comme en témoigne le sulfureux oncle Alexandre. Les deux parties du roman se répondent magnifiquement et Les Météores s’achève sur un tour du monde initiatique captivant qui entraîne plusieurs réflexions très intéressantes sur la dualité naturelle.
July 1, 2013
This is a strange book that can almost be broken into halves. For most of the first half, the focus is on Alexandre - a gay dandy garbageman. He always seems to be on the hunt and his homosexuality is presented as a gateway to the feelings the twins Jean and Paul have. It's as though Alexandre is searching for his own twin. The second half has Paul following Jean all over the world trying to restore their "geminate unit." Jean has other desires, namely trying to create a distinct separate identity. The book is scattered with twin mythology and philosophy.
October 9, 2023
Mi-a plăcut mult acest roman al lui Michel Tournier, "Meteorii", reeditat la Pandora, în colecția Anansi.
Deși mă cam dezamăgise la început prin conținutul relativ scandalos, mi-am dat seama că așa trebuia construit personajul care nu-mi plăcea și că romanul nu trebuie abandonat - cum aproape că era s-o fac.
Continuând să citesc, Tournier mi s-a părut un stilist desăvârșit, un scriitor cu o fantastică stăpânire a cuvântului. Motiv pentru care i-am mai comandat azi patru romane pe care le aștept să vină săptămâna următoare.
Deși mă cam dezamăgise la început prin conținutul relativ scandalos, mi-am dat seama că așa trebuia construit personajul care nu-mi plăcea și că romanul nu trebuie abandonat - cum aproape că era s-o fac.
Continuând să citesc, Tournier mi s-a părut un stilist desăvârșit, un scriitor cu o fantastică stăpânire a cuvântului. Motiv pentru care i-am mai comandat azi patru romane pe care le aștept să vină săptămâna următoare.
March 24, 2017
liked the twins and the trash dump dandy. a modern classic. it will outlast us all
May 8, 2021
Superb
October 5, 2019
Exceptionnelle.
Qu'elles soient fraternelles, amoureuses ou étrangères, Tournier donne une nouvelle définition aux relations humaines par rapport aux mouvements célestes.
Et il le fait magistralement.
Qu'elles soient fraternelles, amoureuses ou étrangères, Tournier donne une nouvelle définition aux relations humaines par rapport aux mouvements célestes.
Et il le fait magistralement.
August 10, 2024
How do you describe a work of genius? I can't begin to describe what this novel is about but then if you are going to read this book it will not be because of my words. It is a work of utterly astounding imagination. Of course it is a tale of ideas, metaphors and imagination that is impossible for me to even begin to quantify or explain. I can only urge you to read it. But I have read it twice, there was no question of not rereading it during COVID lockdown, and I will read it again, but not before rereading the Erl-King by Michel Tournier. He is a writer I can't help but love and makes me regret that I can't read French. But this could be nothing except but a French novel and une plus grande French writer. We don't produce writers like Tournier in English, maybe it is just as well, but I am so happyt the French do.
May 9, 2012
Odd, a bit incoherent, but clearly a masterful book that leaves the reader confused but deeply affected. Guarantee Tournier.
August 17, 2017
Totem book
January 17, 2021
difficile, originale. Tutto sulla psicologia dei gemelli
March 8, 2023
Tämä oli todella mielenkiintoinen ja osittain tuskallinen lukukokemus. Lähestyin kirjaa ensin sillä oletuksella, että se käsittelee juurikin kaksosuutta. Ja tavallaanhan se käsitteleekin, mutta ei alkuunkaan sillä tavalla, millä olisin olettanut. Kirja jakautuu periaatteessa kahteen tarinaan; Alexandre Surinin seksuaalisuuden manifestoon sekä Jeanin ja Paulin kissa ja hiiri -leikkiin.
Alkuun koin, että kirja ei etene mihinkään, ja minua ei oikeasti kiinnosta alkuunkaan miten uskomattoman paljon parempi ihminen (aidompi, lähempänä kaksosuutta) homoseksuaali Alexandren maailmankatsomuksen mukaan on. Mutta sitten kiinnyin häneen hahmona ja halusin tietää, miten hänen tarinansa etenee. Sitten hänet tapettiin.
Tästä alkoi Jeanin pakoilu insestisestä kaksosmunasta, jossa hän elämänsä ensimmäiset 13 vuotta vietti. Hän halusi itsenäistyä ja eriintyä -- mikä tietenkin Paulin mielestä oli irstasta ja sairasta, haluta nyt olla erillinen? Eikö Jean näe, että heidän omituisen läheisriippuvainen ja seksuaalinen kaksosidentiteettinsä on pyhintä ja puhtainta olemista? No, ei hän nähnyt, vaan pakeni. Mutta Paul lähti perään.
Kumpikaan tarina ei saa ansaitsemaansa päätöstä ja molemmista jää lopuksi vain sellainen olo, että kaikki jäi kesken. Auki. Ja että Herra Tournierilla on selvästi kysymyksiä omasta seksuaalisesta suuntautumisestaa. Mutta matkalla riitti paljon mielenkiintoisia ajatuksia ja lukukokemus oli kuitenkin enemmän viihdyttävä kuin ei. Joten 3 tähteä.
Alkuun koin, että kirja ei etene mihinkään, ja minua ei oikeasti kiinnosta alkuunkaan miten uskomattoman paljon parempi ihminen (aidompi, lähempänä kaksosuutta) homoseksuaali Alexandren maailmankatsomuksen mukaan on. Mutta sitten kiinnyin häneen hahmona ja halusin tietää, miten hänen tarinansa etenee. Sitten hänet tapettiin.
Tästä alkoi Jeanin pakoilu insestisestä kaksosmunasta, jossa hän elämänsä ensimmäiset 13 vuotta vietti. Hän halusi itsenäistyä ja eriintyä -- mikä tietenkin Paulin mielestä oli irstasta ja sairasta, haluta nyt olla erillinen? Eikö Jean näe, että heidän omituisen läheisriippuvainen ja seksuaalinen kaksosidentiteettinsä on pyhintä ja puhtainta olemista? No, ei hän nähnyt, vaan pakeni. Mutta Paul lähti perään.
Kumpikaan tarina ei saa ansaitsemaansa päätöstä ja molemmista jää lopuksi vain sellainen olo, että kaikki jäi kesken. Auki. Ja että Herra Tournierilla on selvästi kysymyksiä omasta seksuaalisesta suuntautumisestaa. Mutta matkalla riitti paljon mielenkiintoisia ajatuksia ja lukukokemus oli kuitenkin enemmän viihdyttävä kuin ei. Joten 3 tähteä.
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