Discovery
I just had an awesome series of discoveries. I’ll take you through my journey..
I had recently stumbled upon and posted photos of Jonathan Safran Foer’s new innovative novel, Tree of Codes. It is innovative because it is basically a novel cut out of another novel. He literally cuts out words from his favorite novel, The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz, thereby creating a new story with those that remain.
Intrigued, I obviously ordered Tree of Codes. But I thought I’d first read The Street of Crocodiles so that I can compare. I picked up a copy at The Strand, and once I accustomed myself to reading prose again (been on a bit of a non-fiction kick lately), fell in love with his writing. It’s beautiful.
I just finished the book, and in seeking to learn a bit more about it and Schulz, I discovered this amazing 20 minute stop-motion video produced by the Brothers Quay in 1987 called “Street of Crocodiles”, inspired by Schulz’s novel. I found it in two parts on YouTube.
It looked too familiar, though I knew I hadn’t seen it before. So I took to researching some more and discovered that I had seen it before - or something like it. In Tool’s music video for Sober (1993), and also in NIN’s music video for Closer (1994), both which were influenced by the “Street of Crocodiles” film.
And then I rediscovered my love for Tool (and Nine Inch Nails).
