Monday 22 November 2010

Ich bin Inglander?




Forty seven years on and it remains in the memory and I've no idea why this typing is automatically underlining itself and in the colour purple, why doesn't it go the whole hog and come out vivid green: JFK / Dallas / Doctor Finlay's Casebook: Kennedy once delivered a famous speech in Berlin. I delivered some books on Friday to The International Youth Library in Munich now their library holds sixhundred thousand and five 'picture'books.And then I gave a talk but not in the German tongue I am ashamed to say. I am from an island race and hallo is the same in German as in English.
Professor Dr. Jens Thiele from the university of Oldenburg (who once wrote 2 in depth critiques of Bully and Little Robert for a major German broadsheet newspaper) and Claudia Soffner (the letter o should have those two little dashes hovering above it's head)of the Internationale Jugendbibliothek both invited me to take part in their forum alongside Atak, Chen Jianghong and Yvan Pommaux and others last Friday/Saturday. Germany takes it's illustration seriously,five hours on the subject on a Friday night is pretty serious I'd say but in my own way I bring the level of intellect down to low-brow but I think the punters liked the delivery, publisher Kluas Humann of Carlsen Verlag of Hamburg in the audience, he published the former alta ego's Silent Night in Germany, that sold about 2 copies, Germans take Christmas seriously Klaus admitted and my Silent Night was too much of a comic take on the subject: I liked ATAK'S work and delivery his subversive humour shining through even though it was in German. I must learn to paint - there was a showing of some animated films including the 15 minute The Lost Thing and with hindsight I was more impressed with Sean Tan's film The Lost Thing than I let on. I can be a mean spirited bastard sometimes. Some of the images were breath taking the painting the texture the drawing the observation sublime........but I didn't care for the Thing I suppose. In answer to Prof. Thiele's 'Did you enjoy The Lost Thing?' I answered feebly that yeah it was ok but it reminded me of the Yellow Submarine, the Prof. retorted no more like Bosch's The Garden of Delights.........High brow wins. Anyway I don't suppose Mister Tan gives a flying .....what Hughes thinks. I admit it has grown on me it will probably win an Oscar. Good breakfast the next morning and an unexpected brief encounter which diluted my thick head. 

2 comments:

  1. Perhaps you were in a particularly underlined and purple mood when you typed it. (These bloggy-machines are surprisingly astute that way.)

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