Portrait coloré du jour

Colson Whitehead, Crook Manifesto, 2023, couverture

«The flamboyant quotient in Harlem was at a record high these days [au début des années 1970], thanks to manufacturing innovations in the synthetic-material sector, new liberal opinions vis-à-vis the hues question, and the courageousness of the younger generation. The line between the stylish and pimpified was unstable, ill-defined, but everybody was having too much fun to complain. The men on the corner were pimps, no doubt, given the warm night and the superfluous layers. The taller one wore a purple suit with silver piping, and a white, spangled broad-brimmed hat. His companion’s long black leather trench coat draped on his shoulders like a cape. The tiger-fur pattern on his shirt and red, white, and blue cowboy hat created a macabre circus effect.»

Colson Whitehead, Crook Manifesto. A Novel, New York, Doubleday, 2023, 319 p., p. 73.

Accouplements 224

Naissance d’un pont et Crook Manifesto, collage des couvertures

(Accouplements : une rubriquel’Oreille tendue s’amuse à mettre en vis-à-vis deux œuvres, ou plus, d’horizons éloignés.)

Où construire ?

Kerangal, Mailys de, Naissance d’un pont, Paris, Gallimard, coll. «Folio», 5339, 2020, 336 p. Édition numérique. Édition originale : 2010.

«À Dubaï donc, le ciel est solide, massif : de la terre à bâtir.»

Whitehead, Colson, Crook Manifesto. A Novel, New York, Doubleday, 2023, 319 p.

«You can run out of land but not sky» (p. 33).

Portrait cruel du jour

Hernan Diaz, Trust, éd. de 2023, couverture

«A few stagnant years went by, during which he made halfhearted attempts at starting different collections (coins, china, friends), dabbled in hypochondria, tried to develop an enthusiasm for horses, and failed to become a dandy.»

Hernan Diaz, Trust, New York, Riverhead Books, 2023, 402 p., p. 12. Édition originale : 2022.

 

P.-S.—En effet : «pièces, porcelaine, amis», ça sonne un peu comme un zeugme.