Smoke
Published on 21. March 2017
Book
Hardback
72 pages
978-1-910749-47-0 (ISBN)
Description
A pictorial essay by the great art critic, novelist and long-time smoker, John Berger, and Turkish writer and illustrator Selcuk Demirel.
"Once upon a time, men, women and (secretly) children smoked."
This charming illustrated work reflects on the cultural implications of smoking, and suggests, through a series of brilliantly inventive illustrations, that society's attitude to smoke is both paradoxical and intolerant. It portrays a world in which smokers, banished from public places, must encounter one another as outlaws. Meanwhile, car exhausts and factory chimneys continue to pollute the atmosphere. Smoke is a beautifully illustrated prose poem that lingers in the mind.
"A cigarette is a breathing space. It makes a parenthesis. The time of a cigarette is a parenthesis, and if it is shared you are both in that parenthesis. It's like a proscenium arch for a dialogue." - John Berger (in interview)
"Once upon a time, men, women and (secretly) children smoked."
This charming illustrated work reflects on the cultural implications of smoking, and suggests, through a series of brilliantly inventive illustrations, that society's attitude to smoke is both paradoxical and intolerant. It portrays a world in which smokers, banished from public places, must encounter one another as outlaws. Meanwhile, car exhausts and factory chimneys continue to pollute the atmosphere. Smoke is a beautifully illustrated prose poem that lingers in the mind.
"A cigarette is a breathing space. It makes a parenthesis. The time of a cigarette is a parenthesis, and if it is shared you are both in that parenthesis. It's like a proscenium arch for a dialogue." - John Berger (in interview)
Reviews / Votes
'In these pages, Demirel rather brilliantly provides images of togetherness that make literal Berger's language, albeit without sentimentalizing it; these pictures recall a world that once had coherent meaning...Berger and Demirel show that nearly anything can be part of shared experience...Smoke, [Berger] concludes, is a "sign of mankind"-evidence not of man's endurance but of the promise of companionship and stories shared.' -- Jonathon Sturgeon * Art in America * 'In contemporary English letters John Berger seems to me peerless. Not since D. H. Lawrence has there been a writer who offers such attentiveness to the sensual world with responsiveness to the imperatives of conscience.' -- Susan SontagMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
Colour and b/w illustrations throughout
Dimensions
Height: 190 mm
Width: 118 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
143 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-910749-47-0 (9781910749470)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
John Berger was an English art critic, novelist, painter and poet. His novel G won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a university text. John Berger died in 2017.
Selcuk Demirel was born in Turkey and lives in Paris. His illustrations have been featured in major publications all over the world including Le Monde Diplomatique, the World and the New Observer, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Boston Globe.
Selcuk Demirel was born in Turkey and lives in Paris. His illustrations have been featured in major publications all over the world including Le Monde Diplomatique, the World and the New Observer, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Boston Globe.