Quatro Contos Longos
Four Long Tales
Four Long Tales
Sound Installation
My journey into Sebald’s literature began with The Emigrants, which was published in 1992 and published by Quetzal Editores in Portugal in 2013.
I understand Sebald’s work in a threshold between the real and the imagined, between enquiry and fiction, the personal and the collective, where detail, history and the past are mobilised in a delicate and immersive prose. Something deeply captivating in this constant dialogue with memory is the alliance between the use of reproductions of photographic images throughout the text which, accompanying it, inscribe a state of almost proof of the narrative.
“Nothing in Sebald is explicit, everything in Sebald is coincidence upon coincidence and when we think that what he is saying is a lie, he presents us with an image that apparently proves that it is true - as if an image couldn’t also be a lie. That image is all
a kind of an act.” (Blaufuks, 2010).
Four Long Tales is taken from the subtitle of The Emigrants, present in some editions of the book. If Sebald uses text and image
as narrative expression, I set out to explore how sound can achieve that emotional impact. Four compositions propose themselves as
suspended lines, in a loop, until the next person comes into contact, through sound, with a different reality.
I understand Sebald’s work in a threshold between the real and the imagined, between enquiry and fiction, the personal and the collective, where detail, history and the past are mobilised in a delicate and immersive prose. Something deeply captivating in this constant dialogue with memory is the alliance between the use of reproductions of photographic images throughout the text which, accompanying it, inscribe a state of almost proof of the narrative.
“Nothing in Sebald is explicit, everything in Sebald is coincidence upon coincidence and when we think that what he is saying is a lie, he presents us with an image that apparently proves that it is true - as if an image couldn’t also be a lie. That image is all
a kind of an act.” (Blaufuks, 2010).
Four Long Tales is taken from the subtitle of The Emigrants, present in some editions of the book. If Sebald uses text and image
as narrative expression, I set out to explore how sound can achieve that emotional impact. Four compositions propose themselves as
suspended lines, in a loop, until the next person comes into contact, through sound, with a different reality.
O meu percurso na literatura de Sebald iniciou-se com Os Emigrantes, de 1992 reeditado pela Quetzal Editores, em Portugal,
em 2013. Entendo a obra de Sebald num limbo entre o real e o imaginado, a investigação e a ficção, o pessoal e o colectivo, onde o detalhe, a história e o passadomobilizam numa prosa delicada e imersiva. Algo profundamente cativante nesse constante diálogo com a memória é a aliança entre a utilização de reproduções de imagens fotográficas ao longo do texto que, acompanhando-o, inscrevem um estado de quase comprovação da narrativa.
“Nada no Sebald é explícito, tudo no Sebald é coincidência sobre coincidência e quando achamos que é mentira o que ele está a dizer, ele põe-nos uma imagem que aparentemente prova que é verdade – como se uma imagem não pudesse ser também mentira.
Essa imagem é toda uma espécie de encenação.” (Blaufuks, 2010).
Quatro Longos Contos é extraído do subtítulo de Os Emigrantes, presente em algumas edições do livro. Se Sebald usa o texto
e a imagem enquanto expressão narrativa, decidi explorar de que forma o som pode atingir esse impacto emocional.
Quatro composições propõem-se enquanto linhas suspensas, em loop, abandonadas até ao próximo a contactar, através do som,
com uma realidade distinta.