Side by Side

A few juxtapositions briefly noted - part of an occasional series.

Novelistic Lives

• The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
• The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith by Peter Carey
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
• The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin

Another candidate on the same bookshelf was Milan Kundera's Life is Elsewhere.

House Readings

• La vie de boy (Houseboy) by Ferdinand Oyono
• Housegirl by Michael Donkoli
• The Housemaid by Amma Darko

My favourite book on much the same theme is Empress of the Splendid Season by Oscar Hijuelos.

Office Tales

• Office life by Keith Waterhouse
• Office Politics by Wilfrid Sheed
• The Organization Man by William H Whyte, Jr
• Managing Humans by Rands in Repose
• The Bad Child's Book of Beasts by Hilaire Belloc

Belloc's inclusion turns these office tales into a survival guide.

Contrasting Fortunes

I grew up in a newsroom hence print newspapers retain their fascination for me. In this age of declining print journalism, I am still cheered that there are some stories whose impact is best dealt with in newsprint. The touch of a great editor melding words and images is a thing to behold.

Surprisingly, although it was part of the same story, it was not the front page display of last Sunday's New York Times that was vital to me, nor indeed the online version, A battle defined by Property Lines and Race. Rather it was the contrast between the images of those erecting a shack on page 12 and the relaxing tourists in the streets of Stellenbosch on 13 that silently made the poignant case. The complexities of the enduring legacies of apartheid were succinctly illustrated. Who gets to share in the wages of wine and spoils of the soil?

In the same vein, I had a strong sense that the Brexit referendum would go the way it did simply by reading the inside pages of the Daily Mail in January 2016, something that amounted to Tickling John Bull's Lizard Brain. There, skillful juxtaposition had a visceral impact even on a jaundiced reader.

The most effective juxtaposition I can remember was executed in the war context in the reporting of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 2006. The accompanying article, In Beirut, an Abyss Between Elegance and Chaos, didn't need much more that the contrasting photos.

"One man struggles, while another relaxes", goes the refrain in Massive Attack's Hymn of the Big Wheel. This is the nature of The Great Game.

Colors - a playlist

File under: culture, observation, literature, toli