25 April 2008
polemical postcards &c
As we were leaving the restaurant, Tony White mentioned the book Some forms of availability: critical passages on the book and publication by Simon Cutts that he happened to be carrying. The cataloging is weird (classed in PR6053 as if it were "just" a work of literature; only "Publishers and publishing" for subject headings) but the book looks very interesting. I'm especially intrigued by the "Polemical postcards" chapter which illustrates several "attempts at a cryptic use of this form over the years." But then I love postcards of all kinds: those with enigmatic or ironic texts, those without text, but mostly those that match or mismatch something that has happened. Sharon Chickanzeff sent me a card saying she was coming back to town and was going to get a donkey named Walter (for our long-standing devotion to Walter B.) and I happened to have a go-card for the Wild Burro Preservation and Rescue Project. Wild Walter, indeed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Back in the 1990s I was passing through the Pittsburgh International Airport and for some reason turned around the postcard display. What I found there was an actual postcard for the airport, as if it were a destination. I couldn't resist buying it (still have it) and it kindled a lazy interest in what Martin Parr calls "boring postcards." I find it fascinating that cards were made for such things as college dorms, highways and factories.
ReplyDeleteWorldcat search for ti:boring postcards.