'Sea of Ink' - Review

An independent London-based publisher specialising in beautifully crafted translation novellas, Peirene Press's tagline reads 'Truly big stories in small packages.' Their newest offering, Sea of Ink by Swiss writer Richard Weihe more than delivers on this promise.

Detailing the artistic life of the celebrated Chinese painter and calligropher Bada Shanren in 106 pages and 10 of his most beautiful works, the novella opens with the political turmoil that accompanied the fall of the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. The artist was born Zhu Da, Prince of the central-eastern city Yiyang. Following the invasion of rebel forces, he chose to seek the safety of life as a Taoist monk. During his time in the monastery, he honed his skill with ink and brush: and although he left that life behind, he remained rigorously devoted to the craft.

This story of royalty turned wandering artist is compelling in itself, but what makes this work so special and so lingering past the moment when you close it, is the way in which Weihe used his words to reflect Shanren's works. Both share qualities of ostensible simplicity; the starkness and conciseness of Weihe's prose cuts through the page like Shanren's strokes of ink: and yet similarly, the words like the paintings resonate with a wisdom and understanding of beauty that is utterly mesmeric. Shanren's work invites the viewer to 'colour' the images in its absence; much of the artist's power is in his ability to evoke what is visibly missing, and this novella is the perfect companion to its aesthetic. Unsurprisingly Weihe has a background in philosophy.

Bada Shanren, 'Catfish'

What struck me most about the novella, although it is a novel about art, is it equally a study of identity. Bada Shanren appears to shift and metamorphosize through every chapter, and not only in the various aliases he develops for himself. He is a consummate artist at core, but his other layers are complex and conflicting: a master of inner peace, an aesthete, a widower, a man who abandons his wife, a celebrity, a recluse.

I can't recommend this stunningly presented book enough. I read it in a very swift sitting, but got more pleasure and food for thought out of it than from many books four times its length.
Peirene approaches their literary findings as a curator of a gallery or museum exhibition, by publishing books in series according to specific themes. I'll be sure to pick up the related titles of the 'Small Epic: Unravelling Secrets' series to which Sea of Ink belongs.

If you'd like to know more about Peirene press, visit their website. They do a year's subscription offer which entitles you to three handpicked titles from their back catalogue. Guess where I'm doing my xmas gift shopping...

Small update: find out what's next to be published by Peirene here.