Tree of Codes

Jonathan Safran Foer

ISBN 10: 0956569218 / ISBN 13: 9780956569219

Published by Visual Editions, 2010

About this Item

A Very Good Plus first printing with minimal shelfwear. Only issued in paperback. 134 pages. 5.25" x 8.75". Jonathan Safran Foer s (1977 ) Tree of Codes (2010) might, on its own, as an object, be regarded as an artistic achievement. But in considering the source material for this die-cut book-written-from-another-book, we are given a thought exercise about what is left of an artist after they pass, how is their work reinterpreted, and what might be intuited about what is omitted? Bruno Schulz (1892 1942) was a Polish Jewish author who was killed in the Drohobycz Ghetto. Most of his works were lost in the Holocaust, but Foer, citing it as his favorite book, used one of the surviving novels, The Street of Crocodiles, as the framework from which Tree of Codes was literally carved. The result is a poetic achievement of book craftsmanship, which we are pleased to offer here. . Seller Inventory # 53

Bibliographic Details

Title: Tree of Codes

Publisher: Visual Editions

Publication Date: 2010

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Very Good Plus

Edition: First printing.

About this title

Synopsis:

A masterful work of storytelling, a unique sculptural object created through a collaborative process between Visual Editions and author. A curiosity with the die-cut technique was combined with the pages' physical relationship to one another and how this could somehow be developed to work with a meaningful narrative. This led to Jonathan deciding to use an existing piece of text and cut a new story out of it - his favourite book, 'The Street of Crocodiles' by Bruno Schulz. Writing, cutting and proto-typing has created a new story cut from the words of an old favourite.

Review:

"[A]n extraordinary journey that activates the layers of time and space involved in the handling of a book and its heap of words. Jonathan Safran Foer deftly deploys sculptural means to craft a truly compelling story. In our world of screens, he welds narrative, materiality, and our reading experience into a book that remembers it actually has a body." -- Olafur Eliasson, artist