Stories with Pictures

by Antonio Tabucchi, Elizabeth Harris (Translator)

A masterful collection about intimacy, loneliness, and time, each inspired by different works of art, spanning the entirety of the great Italian writer's career.

In Stories with Pictures, Antonio Tabucchi responds to photographs, drawings, and paintings from his dual homelands of Italy and Portugal, among other European countries. The stories in this collection spring forth from the shadows of Tabucchi's imagination, as he steps into worlds just hidden from view. From inscrutable masks of pre-Columbian gods, stamps of bright parrots and postcars of yellow cities, portraits of devilish Portuguese nuns, the way to these remote landscapes appear like a "train emerging from a thick curtain of heat." As we peer through the curtain, what we find on the other side rings distinctly human, a world charged with melancholic longing for time gone by. "Sight, hearing, voice, word" Tabucchi writes, "this flow isn't in one direction, the current is back and forth." Reading these stories, one feels the pendulum current, and the desire in this remarkable author to hold the real in the surreal.

Genres: Italy, Short Stories, Art, Italian Literature

300 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

About the author

Antonio Tabucchi was an Italian writer and academic who taught Portuguese language and literature at the University of Siena, Italy.

Deeply in love with Portugal, he was an expert, critic and translator of the works of the writer Fernando Pessoa from whom he drew the conceptions of saudade, of fiction and of the heteronyms. Tabucchi was first introduced to Pessoa's works in the 1960s when attending the Sorbonne. He was so charmed that, back in Italy, he attended a course of Portuguese language for a better comprehension of the poet.

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes, things group together in your life entirely without you planning them. With the most recent COVID lockdown in the UK, I decided to invest some time exploring “abstract photography”, an area I have been fascinated with for a long time but about which I have done very little until now. Then I read, in fairly quick succession, Barthes’ Camera Lucida, Sontag’s On Photography and Berger’s Understanding A Photograph. Then, on impulse, I bought and read Max Porter’s new novel (The Death of Francis Bacon) which is an attempt at “writing as painting”. Finally, I picked up this book in which Tabucchi is inspired by various works of art. It seems my two main interests, images and reading, have temporarily merged into a single stream.

It is worth reading the Author’s Note at the start of this collection. Tabucchi explains that it isn’t as simple as seeing a picture and writing a story about it:

”From image to voice, the way is brief if the senses respond…But this current flows back and forth, departs again from where it arrived, returns again from where it departed. And the word, returning, carries with it other images that weren’t there before: the word has invented them. Such is the case with many of these stories. If the image has sparked the writing, the writing in turn has led the image elsewhere, to that hypothetical elsewhere that the painter didn’t paint.”

I have to come clean at this point and acknowledge that many of the stories in this book went over my head. There are a lot of surreal stories here and also a lot of complex ideas presented in elliptical language. The surreal element is fine for me, but I did get lost several times in the elliptical presentation of ideas. This is not an easy book to read.

The pieces collected together here are gathered from across Tabucchi’s writing life. They are grouped into three sections which draw their titles from music (as well as art, Tabucchi draws on music a lot, so this is appropriate). We have Adagio (a slow section characterised by melancholy), Andante con brio (more playful and upbeat) and Ariette (pieces for a single voice with or without orchestral accompaniment where one definition I saw suggested that the motif is only hinted at and not performed). Each piece is introduced by a page with just an image on it. Sometimes, as the quote above suggests, the link between image and following piece is clear, sometimes it is fairly obscure.

The opening story gives a feel for the atmosphere of the book as a whole. The opening image shows a city scene but the right hand side of the picture fades away and becomes blank. What read is of a man, Taddeo, who has lost his life partner and is packing his bags to leave. He plans to write postcards and starts to make a list of people he should remember to send them to. Then he discovers a pack of cards in his apartment. He begins to write the postcards as though he is in places on his planned voyage, even though the pictures on the cards are of other places where he is not planning to go. When he gets to the station to catch his train, he meets an ice cream seller to whom he eventually gives the cards whilst he himself does not get on the train but leaves the station.

This one is fairly straightforward and easily comprehensible, as are the next few stories. But gradually, the element of the surreal begins to assert itself (we spend one story in the dreams of Antonio Dacosta and the dreams of a surrealist artist are a strange place to be) and the complexity of the writing begins to increase. I’m not sure quite at what point I felt I was out of my depth, but it was probably early in Andante con brio when my notes started to have question marks after them.

Overall, an interesting collection of stories for my first experience of reading Tabucchi. I can see the beauty of a lot of the writing, but I did find it a struggle to keep my head above water whilst navigating the book. My rating is a reflection of my inability to read the book rather than any deficiency in the book itself.

My thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

From Archipelago Books, by an Italian author most well known for his short stories.
Each story is paired with a painting or work of art from contemporary artists.
I liked how these pieces, some of which are more like essays, drew me into seeing more in the accompanying art.
I felt a definite Borges influence, with frequent mentions of both the man and labyrinths.
I read one a day usually before bed.

[Sue]

I have decided not to finish. Few of the stories I have read to this point have been really interesting. Only two were exciting and challenging. Perhaps some of this may be due to issues of translation but I can’t summon the interest now to continue. Perhaps this book simply isn’t for me.

[Alex O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning and cozy little collection - I adored almost every story, and the art that was collected was almost even better! I will be reading more of this author and revisiting this collection.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had me in the first half.. then really lost me in the second, like really lost, like ‘where am I what’s going on when will she be over’ lost

[Brendan Monroe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book, full of lovely illustrations. Unfortunately, the words inside fail to lift it to anything more than that.

I'm a big fan of nearly all the Italian writers I've had the pleasure of reading, but based on this effort, Antonio Tabucchi isn't one of them. These stories are far too flighty. They're barely there before they're not. I'd forgotten most of them as soon as I'd turned the page.

It's a shame because the physical book itself really is lovely, something that kept me reading far longer than I should have. Maybe I'll keep it. It'll look nice on the shelf alongside all my other Archipelago titles, but I don't expect to open it again.

Stories with Pictures? Pictures with Stories is more like it.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could have given this an extra star just because of this one paragraph:
What should be our place of origin on this questionnaire you want us to fill out? We could say we're from the stellar regions, but that wouldn't be precise. Let's use astronomical terms, though, so you can understand, in the end, it's always a matter of the abyss: let's just say we're from the unchartered territories that astronomers call black holes but that you carry within yourselves. And so, to you, we're millions of light years away, yet at the same time, we're beneath your skin, we're your inside that's now on the outside, watching you. We're your pattern, in a way, your imprint, your beginning. And possibly your end as well, but who can say.

[sumerkidestate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amo questo libro e lo venero come una fonte inesauribile di immagini poetiche e acutissime, spesso in grado di colpirmi talmente nel profondo da configurarsi come deja-vu.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a visual artist, I appreciated the way the short stories and essays referred to images of artworks published at the beginning of each of these. Most of the passages are ambiguous and leave a lot open to interpretation, which I found a pleasant respite from the daily realities of the news cycle, work, etc. The overall feel of the book is very European, as Tabucchi seems quite engaged with the arts, philosophy, and history -- things not always valued in the U.S. Towards the end of the book, the passages become predominantly essays, or at least essay-like. If you are interested in any of the above and crave "bite-size" versions of these things that can be read in a single sitting, give it a read.

[Sephreadstoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raccolta di racconti a tema vario, ciascuno associato a un riferimento visivo che hanno ispirato Tabucchi nella scrittura. Foto, quadri, illustrazioni che accompagnano i lettori in un viaggio onirico tra ricordi, atmosfere rarefatte e viaggi attraverso l'Europa.

[Barbara Black]

Some of these stories were really engaging and others seemed a bit too intellectual and abstract. But overall I enjoyed it. However, I would recommend his book, Sogni di sogni – Dreams of Dreams (1992, also brief stories) as a much better, more imaginative and cohesive read.

[Massimiliano Carta · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Proprio questo è il bello dell’arte: farci navigare per dove e meglio ci aggrada. E se a qualcuno questa navigazione potesse sembrare un gioco, [...] sai come e meglio di me quanto l’arte si faccia anche “per gioco”. Però, un gioco serio. Ossia, un po’ per gioco, un po’ per non morire".

[Alessandro Speciale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Divertissement piacevole e curioso

[laila* · Rating 5 out of 5]

grand&&beautiful&&&hopeful

[Theediscerning · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's something about the first story here that is so relevant – a guy plans to go to South America, and puts comments on postcards of unrelated things before even leaving. I say that because the idea of this collection is that it is supposed to be responses to images – extrapolations from what we see, with our author taking us to a place or situation or time just out of frame. But we're immediately on an uneven footing when the image accompanying the first story appears wholly irrelevant. Still, even when the artworks clearly are featured in the writing we can feel uneven, for these on the whole are very modernist visual arts images. And what the inclusion of the artistry allegedly behind it all means is that this is a quick book to read – lots of wordless pages in amongst the quick little tales.

If this diverse collection has a theme it's of travel, movement, arrival and departure. Many are the visitations from elsewhere, even from elsewhere in the universe; many of the characters are not where they normally are, or are going somewhere (a writer-type leaves for a holiday home for the winter is the entire plot of one vignette-styled piece; an artist seems to be literally visited by his creations en route to the page). At the same time we have the mundane, too – a couple nurse a dying dog in a piece that doesn't feel likely to offer much initially; two art lovers reminisce, inspired by a van Gogh retrospective; a bloke gets a new window put in. A car has a health cheque, and discusses the personalities of other makes – yes, a lot can get terribly surreal, in keeping with the visuals (which are bizarrely allowed to be uncredited, at least in my digital preview copy).

And in all fairness, it gets too surreal for me. If someone's prior experience of Italian short stories was limited to (plucking a couple of names out in ignorance of thousands) Pirandello, or perhaps the much more earthy Sicilian Sciascia, this almost magical realism will throw them. The final third chunk of this borders on not even being short stories at all, and veers off into other forms. Some pieces certainly bear consideration by all, but a lot of this would be anathema to the general browser, and it's for them I give the star rating I have. Others, more au fait with modern art and its literary parallel, may scoff at that, and they're welcome to.

[Oona · Rating 5 out of 5]

When these are good, they're really good. I'm glad I stuck it out until the end. Despite my not understanding all the pieces, every one took me far away in some manner. I can only really speak to some of the book, but I can say that the references to Tabucchi's Portuguese life and books build a web of connections that form an unusual complement to a body of work. Pereira is there, and Pessoa, of course, but also Sophia and Vieira da Silva, in an especially beautiful homage to the painter's colors.

The book's lacework of collaborative images builds into a vision of an artistic utopia that was perhaps partially real. "The truth is, utopias are fragile, but if they become art they don't fear time. They earn an eternity all their own, and a beauty unafraid of styles blown in on the wind."

There's so much in here that I loved and needed that I revised my ranking of favorite Tabucchi books:
1. Pereira Declares
2. Requiem: A Hallucination
3. Stories with Pictures

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of those books of stories that feels like an exercise instead of a book. Each story is inspired by a work of art, presented alongside the story. This was interesting, in as much as it gives the reader a) a lot of new art to look at and reflect on, as well as b) a potential hide-and-seek, looking to see how the art made its way into the story. It also, however, leads to a lot of sort of navel-gazing reflection. Most of the stories flitted in and immediately back out of my mind.

The back quarter here consists of short pieces which work more as letters to artists or art reviews than stories, which might be of more interest to art scholars (as, too, might the entire collection). But while I enjoyed some of these pieces, far more often they left me without any clear feeling, leaving the package a very interesting idea but less successful as an execution

[Seher · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Nothings changed. Except perhaps the manners, ceremonies, dances. The gesture of the hands shielding the head has nonetheless remained the same."

There were some stories here that I really loved.; the Minotaurs headaches, A curandeiro in the city on water, a midwinter nights dream, a difficult decision, and of course The Heirs are Grateful (my fav). As a whole though, while the prose itself, and his little essays at the end were pretty, it didn't do much for me. The pictures were also nice, but not enough. I felt like the book needed to be broken up a but more, or just half the stuff removed.

Thank you, NetGalley for this ARC!