The card of my dreams

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The map of my dreams (original title: The Selected Works of TS Spivet ) is the first novel by the American author Reif Larsen from 2009. The German translation was published by S. Fischer Verlag and is by Manfred Allié and Gabriele Kempf-Allié. The focus is on the experiences of the boy TS Spivet from Butte (Montana) . The entire plot is enriched with extensive illustrations, maps and diagrams of the protagonist, with the help of which he explains the world to himself and which become a supporting element of the story itself. In the USA, numerous publishers fought for the rights to the novel. In 2013, a film based on the book by Jean-Pierre Jeunet was released .

content

Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet, known as T. S., is 12 years old and lives on a remote ranch in Montana, southwest of the town of Butte . He is most fascinated by the fact that he lives directly on the continental divide of North America, because he is passionately interested in science and especially cartography. His room is full of notebooks as he records everything he observes in meticulously structured drawings and diagrams - which is his method of gaining knowledge and understanding the world. Even banal trivialities such as movements of the family at the dining table or characteristic gestures by people close to them are meticulously drawn and analyzed with auxiliary lines.

The family includes: his mother Clair Linneaker, whom he always “Dr. Clair ”, a lonely entomologist looking for a certain species of beetle that may not even exist; his father T. E. Spivet, a taciturn rancher with a pronounced penchant for western culture and no scientific interest at all; his older sister Gracie, who dislikes a secluded life; and the dog verywell. His younger brother Layton had a fatal accident while experimenting with firearms six months before the novel was set.

T. S. ' Life is twofold: First, he admits complicity in the death of his brother and tends to view dire events as heavenly punishment. Second, he doubts his parents' affection: he has a more professional than personal relationship with his mother, and his father would apparently prefer a son like Layton, who is hard at work on the ranch, rather than doing useless drawings all day.

One of T.S.'s mentors is Dr. Terrence Yorn, professor of entomology at Montana State . It is from T. S. ' detailed drawings and has them reprinted time and again in major science magazines. Finally, he suggests T. S. for the prestigious Baird Prize of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington , which is actually awarded to him. However, Dr. For the sake of simplicity, Yorn withheld the fact that the award-winning drawing was made by a child. Due to this information gap, T. S. is invited by the Smithsonian by telephone to receive the award in person, give a speech and then do research there.

T. S. cancels at first, but then changes his mind and sets off on his own - since he does not count on the support of his parents - on the long journey east to seize the unique opportunity. First he travels for several days as a stowaway on a freight train of the Union Pacific Railroad , hidden in a motorhome, as far as Chicago . In the meantime, he reads the biography of his great-great-grandmother Emma Osterville, a great researcher and cartographer, in his mother's notebook, which he spontaneously took with him when he left. Thanks to his thirst for knowledge and detailed powers of observation, he also gets a feel for the secrets of the country he is crossing on his adventure - for example, he has in-depth conversations with the tools he has taken with him and the motorhome that offers him cover, and makes a number of drawings.

In Chicago he is the victim of a bizarre knife attack and is taken by a trucker to Washington with a badly bleeding chest wound. Although he has to go to clinical treatment there immediately, he manages to get in touch with those responsible at the Smithsonian and finally to give his very personal lecture. When the astonishment about his age had dissipated, T. S. was not entrusted with scientific work as he had hoped, but celebrated against his will as a child prodigy and marketed in the media. On the other hand, he gets in contact with the Club of Megatherians , who are close to his views, strive for a reform of the scientific community and, to his surprise, his mother and Dr. Yorn belong.

Eventually he is tracked down by his father, who has followed him, and freed from the marketing machinery. In the final conversation with his father, T. S. not only learns that his parents have heard of Dr. Yorn knew about the Smithsonian's invitation and only expected not that he would go alone, but also how much he actually meant to them.

shape

The novel consists of 15 chapters, which are divided into three parts (The West - The Journey - The East). The actual story is told in the first person from the perspective of the main character T.S. Only that of Dr. Clair's biography of Emma Osterville, which he reads in the middle section, is quoted in the original version and replaced by a different font by T.S. ' own story discontinued.

Of the same importance as the text of the narrative are the maps, diagrams and drawings, mostly as marginalia , but occasionally also placed directly in the text, which T. S. ' depict a special way of understanding the world. Thoughts and subplots are introduced over and over again through these drawings. Personal reflections on his life prior to the book's action time are also provided with such illustrations and deepened. In order to be able to reproduce these drawings appropriately, the book is oversized (page size of the German edition 17 × 24 cm, of which 5.8 cm outer bar). Nevertheless, some of the lettering on the drawings is so tiny that it can hardly be read.

Larsen stated that this shape was not initially planned, but that it resulted from history. Larsen benefited from the fact that his parents are artistically active - his mother is a painter and photographer, his father a graphic designer. Most of the drawings are by Larsen himself, with some of the artist friend Ben Gibson assisting him.

reception

Since the original edition was published in June 2009, the book has been on the top 100 list on amazon.com. Many critics have praised the originality, especially Vanity Fair expressly praised the work. Stephen King compared the novel with works by Mark Twain and Thomas Pynchons and described it as a gift for the reader. Ginia Bellafante, on the other hand, criticized the New York Times for the fact that reading the texts and drawings at the same time was tiring. In Germany, Felicitas von Lovenberg in particular praised the novel as “an exceptional phenomenon beyond comparison”. Christine Westermann was similarly impressed with WDR 2. Even if the book has some lengths, it is "a fairy tale about missed opportunities, about the sadness in a family, the silence, about the power of the imagination and the strength of a child".

filming

In 2013 the French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet filmed the novel with Kyle Catlett in the leading role. Helena Bonham Carter also starred as Dr. See Clair , Judy Davis as GH Jibsen , Callum Keith Rennie as father and Niamh Wilson as Gracie .

Text output

literature

  • Moritz Ahrens: Literature - Typography - Cartography. Reif Larsen's novel »The Map of My Dreams« (Heidelberg 2012) Special publication by the Institute for Text Criticism: http://www.textkritik.de/larsen/index.htm

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Evgenia Peretz: Reif Larsen's Map Quest [1] , May 2009
  2. ↑ Michele Filgate: An Interview with Reif Larsen. [2] , June 2009
  3. ^ Mark Medley: Reif Larsen, omnicurious cartographer. [3]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 9, 2009@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nationalpost.com  
  4. ↑ Carol Memmott: New Voices: Reif Larsen. [4] , May 13, 2009
  5. ↑ Stephen King: Review, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. [5] , April 2009
  6. ↑ Ginia Bellafante: Map Quest. [6] , July 11, 2009
  7. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 17, 2009
  8. ^ Radio show Zwei am Sonntag , broadcast on October 18, 2009