| Saturday, November 1, 2008 6:47AM | | | | In the Marketplace of Ideas (2) | Posted By: Eric Kraft
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The Making of It, Part Two
When Kraft made the first layout of the book, he rearranged BW’s images so that the progression he wanted—that movement through the arcade—was achieved. As he worked, he found himself wishing that he had taken more photographs of books in the windows of the many bookshops in the arcades. Soon he found himself toying with the idea of staging such photos: arranging books so that they would look as if they were on sale in shops within the arcades. However, he reasoned that most of the books that he had on hand—books of his own that he would want to include within this book—would diminish the verisimilitude because they would not be French editions. The thing to do, if he wanted more books in ItMoI, would be to return to Paris and take, or have BW take, more pictures. What would Madeline think of that idea? He found her at the dining room table, bent over the New York Times, taking notes.
Eric: Mad?
Mad: [intent on her work]: Mm?
Eric: How about a quick trip to Paris?
Mad [still intent on her work]: Mm. Sounds fine.
Eric: Okay then.
Mad [suddenly aware that she has missed something]: What? I didn’t catch what you said. It sounded as if you said something about taking a quick trip to Paris. What was it really? Something about making a dipstick for parrots?
Eric: It was Paris. I’d like to return to the arcades and get some shots that I didn’t get on our last visit.
Mad: I’m game. When do you want to go?
Eric: Actually, I think you’re supposed to point out that the cost of air travel has been rising rapidly—
Mad: Skyrocketing.
Eric: And that the value of our retirement fund has been falling—
Mad: Plummeting.
Eric: I guess you’re right.
Mad: Right? Me? Right about what?
Eric: We shouldn’t be squandering our money on frivolous jaunts.
Mad: Frivolous jaunts? I never said—
Eric: Thanks. You’ve brought me back to my senses.
Mad: What happened here?
Eric: I’m going to go back to work. See you at cocktail time.
Mad: How about French 75s, since we’re not going to Paris?
Eric: Perfect!
Photograph Exhibiting Low Verisimilitude
Kraft reasoned that staging a photograph with books of his own would diminish the verisimilitude because they would not be French editions. That would also have been the case had he included this photograph of volumes in the window of a bookshop in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
So no second trip was undertaken. Kraft worked with the images he had, and no images of books in shop windows appear beyond the one that shows four small, rather precious paperback books. One seems to be a small collection of photographs by Man Ray. Another seems to be Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros. The third bears the title The Hidden Presence, and, after examining the image with the magnifying glass that came with my copy of the reduced-type edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, I’ve concluded that this might be a journal or “little magazine.” The fourth is apparently the final book in a series of some sort, though what sort cannot be determined. I doubt that it makes sense to read much—or anything—into the arrangement or selection of the books, since BW simply photographed what he saw.
Photograph into Which Not Too Much Should Be Read
When wandering the arcades, BW simply photographed what he saw.
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