Sophie Calle: True Stories

by Sophie Calle (Artist)

First published in French in 1994, quickly acclaimed as a photo book classic, and now expanded and reissued in this first English-language edition from Actes Sud, True Stories gathers a series of short autobiographical texts and photos by Sophie Calle. Calle’s projects have frequently drawn on episodes from her own life, but this book--part visual memoir, part meditation on the resonances of photographs and belongings--is as close as she has come to producing an autobiography, albeit one highly poetical and fragmentary. The first section is composed of various reflections on objects such as a shoe, a postcard, a bathrobe and a bed, or musings on the artist’s body, such as "The Love Letter": "For years a love letter languished on my desk. I had never received a love letter, so I paid a public scribe to write one. Eight days later, I received seven beautiful pages of pure poetry penned in ink. It had cost me one hundred francs and the man said: ‘...as for myself, without moving from my chair I was everywhere with you.’" The second section of the book, "The Husband," is comprised of ten recollections of episodes from Calle’s first marriage, by turns funny ("He was an unreliable man. For our first date he showed up one year late"), erotic and sad. A third section gathers various autobiographical tales, and the book closes with three interlinked stories titled "Monique." This new edition includes five new photo-text presentations and is the first English translation.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Photography, Memoir, Short Stories, France, Poetry

104 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Sophie Calle is a French writer, photographer, installation artist, and conceptual artist. Calle's work is distinguished by its use of arbitrary sets of constraints, and evokes the French literary movement of the 1960s known as Oulipo. Her work frequently depicts human vulnerability, and examines identity and intimacy. She is recognized for her detective-like ability to follow strangers and investigate their private lives. Her photographic work often includes panels of text of her own writing.

Reviews

[emma]

i saw a paragraph from this book 2 months ago and i haven't stopped thinking about it since

[Neva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everybody should have at least one book by Sophie Calle at home, so that guests or family members can find it by chance. My first Sophie Calle book I found by chance at Έφη's in Athens some 14 years ago. This here is the one that I am going to keep in my place for people to discover.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read an earlier book by the artist Sophie Calle earlier this year and was underwhelmed by the writing. This book, however, is a master class in small personal vignettes. These stories of objects, love, heartbreak, art, and death find a lovely balance of vulnerability, playfulness, honesty, and strength. Read it in one sitting and felt multiple waves of inspiration.

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today My Mother Died
On December 27, 1986, my mother wrote in her diary:
"My mother died today."
On March 15, 2006, in turn, I wrote in mine:
"My mother died today."
No one will say this about me.
The end.

[Teodora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Прекрасна. Открих я благодарение на статия, в която Нева Мичева споделя свои любими книги, поръчах я същата вечер. Днес пристигна, изчетох я два пъти - веднъж наум, втори път на глас, тъй като не можех да се спра да прочитам във възторг всяка малка история и на Дж, седящ край мен. Ювелирни, сърцеразбиващи миниатюри.

[Emily Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A charcuterie board of affect, like cheese cubes for the soul.

[Eme de Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Não tem como, Sophie Calle sempre é 5 estrelas. Notei algumas diferenças dessa nova tradução que mudam o sentido dos textos que eu já conhecia da edição anterior. São mudanças pequenas, compreensíveis já que uma nova tradutora assumiu o projeto, mas em alguns casos fiquei desapontado. É o caso do texto A carta de amor [p.23], o final muda completamente. Enfim, é mais uma chatice minha. Os segmentos de histórias do pai e da mãe (o diário da mãe me esfaqueou por dentro), são arrasadores de tão lindos. É isso. Amando que se antes eu já voltava sempre pra consultar o pdf da primeira edição, agora tenho minha versão impressa com mais histórias e posso consultar a qualquer momento. As imagens belíssimas, a minha favorita é O divórcio [p. 67].

[Patricia Conor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Today My Mother Died
On December 27, 1986, my mother wrote in her diary:
"My mother died today."
On March 15, 2006, in turn, I wrote in mine:
"My mother died today."
No one will say this about me.
The end.


Que mujer. ❤️

[Mai M Ibrahim · Rating 2 out of 5]

لقيت الكتاب اونلاين
هو عبارة عن قصص قصيرة من حياتها وصور من تصويرها
بس ف صور وحكايات كانت ف كتاب تاني قرأته لها ف كان ف تكرار ويلا نعمل كتب كتير وخلاص
..

[Leslivresdedune · Rating 5 out of 5]

J'aime, j'adore, j'adule Sophie Calle, son humour piquant, son sens de l'anecdote, sa délicatesse, sa fantaisie. Ma vie serait pas moins triste mais sans doute plus drôle si c'était Sophie Calle la narratrice.

[Mesoscope · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short writings paired with photos, each expressing a unique or startling moment from the life of the author, Sophie Calle, a prolific and often-fascinating artist whose career has largely focused on the boundary between concealment and disclosure, public and private.

I believe the intent is that these "true stories" occur as epiphanies, in James Joyce's sense - as aporias or turning moments. But I felt that only a few of the stories landed with much force. I think the sharp edge of her oeuvre has been blunted a bit by the over-abundance of disclosure in the social media age, and that has de-energized some of these moments.

[E.Y. Zhao]

This works because Sophie Calle, like John Berger, has a heart that can encompass the world and also share itself in excess of the world.

[Bookish Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning little insight into Sophie Calle's sometimes wild, often mundane, always human life. The images of still life - a picture of one red shoe she stole from a department store with her sister as a child, an old dutch painting, a bed after sex - are so intimate they make you want to blush and curl into a corner. The way she documents everything significant is spectacular, her notes are like small poetic receipts to her past - to her father, her string of unreliable lovers, her friends. She is not afraid of sentiment, for this I feel an affinity with her (my walls are pasted in images of random things I've loved and left behind).

I've loved Sophie Calle since I stumbled on her photographs in my undergraduate degree, I was writing about women and autobiography - our possessive desire to document, give items life, to spell out when men have left and longed for us. I love the images she takes both with words and her camera, she is unafraid to reveal all, although her lovers are kept mysteriously anoymous under the shrowd of nothing but a single letter like 'H' or 'B'. Calle knows how to fall in love, she also knows how to make the most of her 'erotic power' (to quote another lover of mine, Audre Lorde). I don't want to hate her for being middle class, for living in hotels and falling for wealthy men - I want to love her for being as free and as honest as she can be.

It's as though, through documenting her life, she can make it feel real and tangible - less like a dream from another existence. Writing and making art is often a pursuit of purpose. These segments of her memory are imbued with purpose.

[Rodrigo de Meneses]

Reli este pequeno livro impressionante. No volume da biblioteca, havia um espalhanapo aberto entre a orelha e a contracapa, por dentro. Estava meio amassado, três dobraduras como listras, levemente sujo de gordura. Provavelmente, é um papel do bar em frente à biblioteca, o Pitombeiras, local cujo fim de tarde possui grande movimento, mas depois do almoço é possível aproveitar um sopro tranquilo na sombra da árvore que dá nome ao bar, numa das mesas do estabelecimento. Das pitombas, nunca há nenhum sinal, e então o amargo fica para as cervejas, raramente geladas. Vi o espalhanapo assim que peguei no livro, porque passei as folhas bruscamente de cabo a rabo, como sempre, deixando o guardanapo de bar cair, que é daqueles bem finos, como esperado. Em casa, fui decifrar a estranha letra e, por acidente, manchei mais o papel com um pouco de sangue do curativo que havia feito há pouco, depois do corte na cozinha. O sangue se misturou com a tinta do papel, a qual já era vermelha. Nele, há um pequeno diálogo entrecortado. Cada interlocutor também tem sua face no papel:

“eu
tu
você
não importa o que é
a vida é vivida
é um copo
de cerveja que
transborda... é
um eu, você
nós, todo
mundo”

“Eu até posso saber quem sabe viver, meu amor. Te amo.”

[Rita Tomás · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Delete contact. Difficult.
When my father died, I didn't erase his number from my phone.
Yesterday I dialed it by mistake and hung up right away.
A few minutes later, his picture and name came up on the screen.
Bob was sending me a message.”

[Clara Browne · Rating 4 out of 5]

mulheres doidas, leiam esse livro. inspirem-se.

[Hailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

delightfully unhinged

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Odd enough this is my first entrance into the world of Sophie Calle. I have known of her work over many years, but never ever purchased or read her books. Till now, and I love "True Stories." Right now since I am working on a memoir project, I'm very much interested in how a subject matter looks at their life via writing. What impresses me is Calle's seeing her life or even her desires as a conceptual art work. So the visual element (one story and one image through out the book) is really strong, and also I love how she treats objects as fetishes or an entrance to a series of memories. Sometimes very Proust like, other times just kind of nasty sexy. It's all good to me!

[Tamara Arroba · Rating 5 out of 5]

É um livro de pequenos contos sobre o cotidiano da escritora. Escrito num formato envolvente que me deu vontade de também escrever um livro seguindo o mesmo estilo. As fotos que acompanham os textos são muitos boas tambem.

[CharlesJoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactement ce que j'aime trouver dans un livre : des récits intimes, des souvenirs, des anecdotes. Évidemment, parce qu'il s'agit ici de la vie de Sophie Calle, c'est à son image : à la fois drôle et triste, sensuel et déroutant. Elle accompagne chaque petite histoire d'une photographie qui l'illustre ou la prolonge. C'est un livre qui se lit vite, c'est mon seul regret. J'aurais dû le faire durer plutôt que de tout lire en une fois.

[Matthew Wilder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sophie Calle is...get ready...here comes a VERY PROBLEMATIC IN 2019 word....very...

.....sexy.

That is not to say her book will give you boners; but it will give you a kind of humming amorous sensuousness, a hmmmmmm feeling of your fingers tracing down a Grace Kelly back and onto the bottom of a backless satin gown. The conceit is “True Stories,” and though each seems confessional and intimate, none, literally not one of them seems actually true. Which is fine. I guess it is part of Sophie’s Scheherazade dance.

Alas, the last vignettes, nearing death, persuade perhaps the least. The stuff about marriage to a remote man? Pfff, phony baloney. But Calle sure is something. Read her “Take Care of Yourself” some time if you want to be devastated. If nothing else (and I actually think there is a lot else), Calle is a master of...yes...PERSONAL BRANDING. She should be designing hotels and tiny bits of furniture like Marina Abramovic.

[Gustavo Saboya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Temas fortes contados como histórias do cotidiano, corriqueiras como se acontecessem à qualquer um. E de fato, acontecem.

[Anton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never heard of Sophie Calle. Read this tiny book in 1 hour. Simple style, some stories are funny. I think every person should have book like that. Collection of small stories and memories.

[josé antonio · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best!

[M. Sarki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today there are no words. You must see and read this for yourself.

[Hannah Suh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ugh- to write like this…

[Erin Paulson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read on the Amtrak from NYC to Philadelphia. A collection of vignettes enjoyed during a vignette of my own.

[Zioluc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sophie Calle è un'artista che ha fatto arte della propria vita, una persona adorabile che offre squarci sulle proprie esperienze e sentimenti in cui vero e falso si confondono, ma quel che passa è comunque sincerità. Qui raccoglie foto e brevissimi testi, deliziosi.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

“je n’ai eu le temps de rien, j’ai trop vite cessé de souffrir”

[lapetitelyanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai bien aimé le style d'écriture de l'autrice, qui dit ce qu'elle a à dire sans se censurer, j'adore quand les auteurs font ça! Et les photos qui accompagnaient chaque anecdote étaient tellement bien choisies👀