Elisabeth Tonnard

This book contains two poems composed exclusively from short sentences found in a German grammar book (Hermann Sanders’ Kurzgefaßtes Lehrbuch der Deutschen Sprache für Chinesen which was first published in 1922). The first poem is titled ‘Was ich weiss’ (What I know), the second poem is ‘Das Wetter’ (The Weather). Each page carries only one line and the lines move about the pages in a free manner.

Also see the related book They Were Like Poetry from 2014, based on a suggestion by James Joyce.

Published in Berlin, June 2015.

Edition of 65 numbered copies. Black & white printing, perfect bound paperback. Size 10.5 x 14.8 cm, 84 pages.

Priced at € 24,- plus shipping. See more images here. Read a discussion of the book by Johan Velter here (in Dutch).

Order through the webshop or through email.

The book is included in the collections of Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Bibliothèque Kandinsky (Centre Pompidou), Bodleian Library (special collections at Weston Library), Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Jan Michalski Foundation for Writing and Literature, Kunstbibliothek (Berlin), Mumok library, National Library of The Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek), Thomas J. Watson library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (Munich).

Zoals andere boeken van haar een reflectie op het beeld zijn, zo is ook dit boek een afwegen van hoe taal functioneert. Door de speelsheid, de fantasie is dit geen loodzware kost maar een haast achteloos omgaan met ideeën, filosofie, taalwetenschap, sociologie en antropologie. Johan Velter, bespreking op sfcdt.blog