Books of the month — February 2024
Three books, briefly reviewed: Fernando Bermejo on the invention of Jesus of Nazareth, Watterson and Kascht's The Mysteries, and Bobin's Le murmure.
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La invención de Jesús de Nazaret. Historia, ficción, historiografía. Fernando Bermejo. What a gem of a book. Its length, and how demanding it can be at times —following the sources, absorbing arguments built out of scattered materials— not only fail to spoil the pleasure, they make you want more. An addiction. A book to return to: to learn everything that can be done with a critical eye and a rigorous handling of sources, but also to come to terms with this fiction-making animal we are, in what we might call our greatest hit.
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The Mysteries. Bill Watterson, John Kascht. Ink to love. It stays on your retina the way things do after you have spent many hours drawing something. If you are a Calvin and Hobbes devotee, you will recognise Bill in the arrangement of the spaces and in that touch that lights up the darkness. It pulls a smile out of you, and the smile dies with a bitter aftertaste.
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Le murmure. Christian Bobin. I finally found the time to read him. Ever since I heard about his Éloge du rien, I had been meaning to get my teeth into his work. His style is not entirely for me, though in a few isolated passages I did connect with his rhythm and his sound. Better read aloud. ;)