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Postcard StoriesStock informationGeneral Fields
Special Fields
Local Description______________________ STELLA'S REVIEW: Postcard Stories does all those things that books should. From the moment you spy the cover — a group of Filipino dancers in brightly checked frocks arranged in front of a smoking volcano — your curiosity will be piqued. It will also confound you a little and ultimately hook you in, not once, but several times over, as you investigate what it is. Richard von Sturmer has chosen 100 postcards from his collection, arranged them into thematic groups and added text (prose and verse), creating narrative dimensions that resonate on multiple levels. Postcard Stories is a gem of a book — charming, curious, and just a little strange. In his introduction, von Sturmer talks about his collecting habits, and his attraction to the unusual or odd. “My own interest in postcards lies elsewhere, in a more eccentric and even subversive realm where the postcard is appreciated for itself, for its own oddness, which transcends whatever scene or image it may represent.” He sees postcards as a portal to places and times, thinking of them as “cells in a giant, universal brain” and as “postcard dreamscapes”.Postcard Stories gives us an opportunity to share in these dreamscapes.
Description: Postcard Stories reproduces in full colour 100 remarkable and evocative postcards from around the world, grouped into themes and accompanied by brief narratives that link them into magical stories. "Putting a hand-tinted postcard of the Shanghai Gas Co. next to one of the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem creates a certain frisson. Places far removed in space and time suddenly form an unexpected relationship and a story begins." Review: At once sweeping and intricate, gorgeous and austere - Gregory O'Brien; Original, readable and charming - Murray Edmond.
Author Biography: Richard von Sturmer is a songwriter, performer, film-maker and the author of six books including A Network of Dissolving Threads (Auckland University Press, 1991) and the acclaimed This Explains Everything (Atuanui Press 2016). He is well known for having written the lyrics to Blam Blam Blam's 'There is No Depression in New Zealand' which has become the country's alternate national anthem. His poetry and prose have appeared in journals such as The New Zealand Listener, brief, Landfall and Sport, and in 2017 he featured in an interview with Kim Hill on Radio NZ titled 'Richard von Sturmer, a Career on the Vangard of New Zealand Arts'. He is a co-founder of Auckland's Zen Centre. DescriptionPostcard Stories reproduces in full colour 100 remarkable and evocative postcards from around the world, grouped into themes and linked into short narratives written by von Sturmer. A high-quality art production printed on 140gsm acid-free card, this book is a delightfully unique voyage into the unexpected poetics of postcards. |