“Both typography and images take the form of ransom notes, rubbings, recollections, glimpsed parts of an unfathomable whole. There is a story. What matters — as always, in matters of literature — is the penumbra around it in every direction.”
Anne Carson, Nox
“NOX’s intelligence, sadness, and wry humor alone might be enough, but its form takes me even more. To read NOX is sensual. You handle the folds, opening one winged pair at a time or in quick, Slinky unfurlings. And this read is not linear, with pages dissolving behind you as you turn, but spatial, more like letting your eyes wander a room.”
- Jane Alison, who chose NOX for her Year in Reading piece last year.
NOX’s intelligence, sadness, and wry humor alone might be enough, but its form takes me even more. To read NOX is sensual. You handle the folds, opening one winged pair at a time or in quick, Slinky unfurlings. And this read is not linear, with pages dissolving behind you as you turn, but spatial, more like letting your eyes wander a room. With the whole book unfurled you see it entire and make links among images, like a staircase or an egg that reappear folds apart, and among words like ash, festive, blush. You prowl the book itself.
Jane Alison’s Year in Reading.
Fun Fact: Jane, one of my creative writing teachers while at the University of Miami, was the one of the best overall teachers I’ve ever had in any discipline.
Fun Fact: Jane, one of my creative writing teachers while at the University of Miami, was the one of the best overall teachers I’ve ever had in any discipline.
