Nobody's thing. Sean Tan. Nobody's Thing Books by Sean Tan, translated into Russian
“I guess you want to know what this book is about just by reading the cover? I get it—everyone is short on time, there’s a lot to do, and most of us probably have more important things to do than look at a picture book about a giant red thing lost in a strange city.”
Shaun Tan, "Nobody's Thing"
No, if you come across this book, then you have nothing more important to do.
Shaun Tan is an Australian artist and writer, recognized as one of the finest contemporary illustrators. His fame was brought to him by the graphic novel (without words) “Arrival” - a phantasmagoric story of wanderings; and a collection of short stories "". By the way, if this is important to anyone, Sean Tan has three Hugo awards stuffed into his pockets.
So, “Nobody’s Thing.” The main character, Sean, doing his favorite thing - searching for bottle caps and then cataloging them using the "Cap Identifier" (4th edition), meets on the beach... no one's thing. This thing... thing. Big. Red. Similar to a sugar bowl and a steam boiler. An alien from outer space, rich in tentacles, and Pavich's secretary or writing instrument box. The thing, as Sean will define it later, is “out of place.” Having gone to look for a place for the Thing, Sean will soon find a mysterious reserve in which the Thing will settle. “I don’t know if the thing really ended up in its place. In my opinion, all the things there were out of place. On the other hand, they seemed quite happy." End. This is a very short story in pictures. Total 31 pages. But such that you want to return to them again and again; test them; look for something in them; go on your own odyssey, with Nobody's Thing for company.
There are several reasons for this. Firstly, wonderful illustrations that tell us about the surreal world in which the boy Sean and the Thing live. Secondly, the amazing world itself, the social structure of which is based on technology and mathematical logic. Thus, he rejects and tries to get rid of the strange Thing, which contains both mechanicalness and vitality. The world of Nobody's Thing is strongly reminiscent of Huxley's Brave New World, Terry Gilliam's film Brazil, and the urban punk stories of Simon Logan. By the way, there is something in this world from Orwell’s “1984”. There are so many ministries of “Censorship” - “Prosvechenium Zaprescharium”, “Economy” - “Potreblyatus Potreblyatus” and others. Thirdly, despite the fact that “Well, that’s all. End of story. I know there is no deep meaning to it. But I didn’t promise anything like that. And don’t ask what the moral is.” You are looking for this morality, you are looking for this Thing, and the amazing effect that the book has on the reader is that you begin to look for these Nobody’s Things that are “out of place”, out of the corner of your eye, in the real world. To some extent, this book is about growing up, about the fact that the reserves of dreams and fairy tales are becoming fewer and fewer. “Maybe there aren’t that many left. Or I stopped noticing them.” Or rather, this book is about that too.
P.S. I used to try to refrain from making personal recommendations, but I especially recommend getting acquainted with this book, if necessary: notnatasha , ancox , kilamov , kirdos_master, Shocker from egomask , may_witch , knight_agilulf , humble_view and the girl_with_Alice_on the userpic_sorry_forgot_nickname :). Although, in fact, I recommend it to everyone.
P.P.S. And thank you so much
“I guess you want to know what this book is about just by reading the cover? I get it—everyone is short on time, there’s a lot to do, and most of us probably have more important things to do than look at a picture book about a giant red thing lost in a strange city.”
Shaun Tan, “Nobody's Thing”
No, if you come across this book, then you have nothing more important to do.
Shaun Tan is an Australian artist and writer, recognized as one of the finest contemporary illustrators. His fame was brought to him by the graphic novel (without words) “Arrival” - a phantasmagoric story of wanderings; and a collection of short stories “Tales from Outer Suburbia“. By the way, if this is important to anyone, Sean Tan has three Hugo awards stuffed into his pockets.
So, “Nobody's Thing.” The main character, Sean, doing his favorite thing - searching for bottle caps and then cataloging them using the “Cap Identifier” (4th edition), meets on the beach... no one's thing. This thing... thing. Big. Red. Similar to a sugar bowl and a steam boiler. An alien from outer space, rich in tentacles, and Pavich's secretary or writing instrument box. The thing, as Sean will define it later, is “out of place.” Having gone to look for a place for the Thing, Sean will soon find a mysterious reserve in which the Thing will settle. “I don’t know if the thing actually ended up in its place. In my opinion, all the things there were out of place. On the other hand, they seemed quite happy.” End. This is a very short story in pictures. Total 31 pages. But such that you want to return to them again and again; test them; look for something in them; go on your own odyssey, with Nobody's Thing for company.
There are several reasons for this. Firstly, wonderful illustrations that tell us about the surreal world in which the boy Sean and the Thing live. Secondly, the amazing world itself, the social structure of which is based on technology and mathematical logic. Thus, he rejects and tries to get rid of the strange Thing, which contains both mechanicalness and vitality. The world of Nobody's Thing is strongly reminiscent of Huxley's Brave New World, Terry Gilliam's film Brazil, and the urban punk stories of Simon Logan. By the way, there is something in this world from Orwell’s “1984”. There are so many ministries of “Censorship” - “Prosvechenium Zaprescharium”, “Economy” - “Potreblyatus Potreblyatus” and others. Thirdly, despite the fact that “Well, that’s all. End of story. I know there is no deep meaning to it. But I didn’t promise anything like that. And don’t ask what the moral is.” You are looking for this morality, you are looking for this Thing, and the amazing effect that the book has on the reader is that you begin to look for these Nobody’s Things that are “out of place”, out of the corner of your eye, in the real world. To some extent, this book is about growing up, about the fact that the reserves of dreams and fairy tales are becoming fewer and fewer. “Maybe there aren’t that many left. Or I stopped noticing them.” Or rather, this book is about that too.
You can see several spreads of the book here:
Shaun Tan, “Nobody's Thing”
P.S. I used to try to refrain from making personal recommendations, but I especially recommend getting acquainted with this book, if necessary: notnatasha, ancox, kilamov, kirdos_master, Shocker from egomask, may_witch, knight_agilulf, humble_view and the girl_with_Alice_on the userpic_sorry_forgot_nickname :). Although, in fact, I recommend it to everyone.
P.P.S. And thank you so much velitov for giving it to me. That's how I found my Nobody's Thing.
And although this book is not on sale now, my collection of books on the blog would not be complete without it, so I just can’t help but show it!
In 2001, Nobody's Thing was chosen as Australia's Picture Book of the Year. She has received an honorable mention at the Bologna International Book Fair, the Aurelius and Spectrum Book Illustration Awards in the USA. The cartoon based on it in 2010 was named the best short film of the year at the world's largest international animation festival in Annecy.
The cartoon "Loss" - Winner of the 2011 Oscar in the category Best Animated Short Film.
You can watch the cartoon based on the book.
My collection also includes Tan's famous book "the Arrival. Arrival" (I showed it).
Both of his books are not simple, at first glance they may even show the unprepared reader nothing, but each of them contains a deep meaning. For me these are multi-level books in which as if layers of new and new meaning are revealed with each new viewing/reading. Moreover, both books can interest both children and adults.
I love Sean Tan very much, in my opinion, his works are a unique phenomenon in the world of literature, and I really, really want more of his books to be published in Russia. I think our society is already ready to accept his books (previous copies of Arrival sold like hot cakes within a few months).
"The theme of Shaun Tan's work is often the 'otherworldly': He likes to place people in unfamiliar landscapes, like the historically and culturally devoid suburbs in which he spent his own childhood. In Mahogany (2001), Shaun Tan talks about the unfortunate in the day of a little girl. In one single day, the heroine experiences fear, faces indifference, disappointment, outcast. For each feeling, the artist selects a complex metaphor-symbol. Sadness is like a slow snail, piling worries are like a sinking ship, loneliness and hopelessness form a game board, where each move is decided by the drawn lot. The artist turns to the darkest moments of life. It seems that there is no way out, but the girl returns home and finds a mahogany tree in her room. And the feeling is born that, although life is full of bottomless disappointments, moments of happiness are possible in it. .
Shaun Tan says that by drawing strange worlds, he tries to get closer to reality. So, he composed a story about how we humans can discover the alien in ourselves. But although his fantastical urban landscapes seem distant and cold, there is always a feeling of warmth and a sense of hope in them. This is especially true for “Nobody’s Thing.” Surreal space, the collision of the alien and incomprehensible with one’s own inner world - these are the distinctive features of Sean Tan’s works.
The artist prefers to “paint with his hands” because this way he retains the immediacy of impressions - from paints, paper, pencils. He turns to the computer only at the last stage, before sending the work to print, to refine the color and design. He doesn’t have a favorite technique; on the contrary, Sean Tan strives for change so that each new work looks different. For each new book, he looks for an artistic technique that can best convey his idea."
Taking this opportunity, I would like to address the universe and publishing houses! MY DEARS! Please pay attention to this wonderful author! Well, at least re-release, please, “Nobody’s Thing”! :)) VERY NNNADO! :))))))
Educationalists emphasize that graphic novels develop the much-needed ability to read visuals today. That is, not just to see pictures, but comprehend what you see. This is especially important now, as the current generation of children is growing up in an increasingly visually saturated environment.
One of the most significant authors of graphic novels and picture books is Sean Tan (his “Arrival”, “Mahogany” and “Nobody’s Thing” have been translated into Russian). He has been compared to Maurice Sendak and other artists whose work is renowned for its complexity and ambiguity.
Shaun Tan was born and raised in Australia. He started drawing very early, and his talent was noticed: when he was still a teenager, his illustrations began to be published in a small newspaper. Sean Tan is known not only as the author of his own books, but also as one of the co-authors of popular cartoons: the full-length “Wall-E” was made based on his sketches, and for the screenplay of “Loss” (based on the book “Nobody’s Thing”) he received an Academy Award. In 2011, Shaun Tan was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Prize for his contributions to international children's literature.
However, speaking about graphic novels and picture books, Sean Tan considers the very division into “children’s” and “adult” books to be artificial. For him, it is much more important to understand what readers of different ages have in common than what separates them. “We all love to play,” he writes. - We like to look at things in a new way, to find something childishly unexpected in the ordinary... After all, it’s interesting to think about why everything works this way and not otherwise? These are the questions that interest me as an artist, and these questions do not oblige me to think about my audience.”
Is Nobody's Thing a children's book? At first it seems like a children's book: "Because their brevity and accessible illustrations make picture books seem simple, they may suggest they are ideal for young readers," writes Shaun Tan. But what does it mean to read picture books? “It means finding some connection between words, pictures and the outside world. Why do we think that such reading ends in childhood? How do we decide that we've outgrown these kinds of books and it's time to move on to a different format? Simplicity does not mean there is no sophistication or complexity in the book.” It turns out that complex and profound ideas can be extracted from “simple” picture books such as “Mahogany,” “Nobody’s Thing,” or “Hares.” These books, Tan says, "in an unusual way" deal with themes of "colonization, bureaucracy... depression and loneliness."
Here's how he explains Nobody's Thing: "From an absurd story [about a boy who finds a strange thing on the beach], this story suddenly turned into a book about serious social problems, with an ambiguous ending." The perception of the book will largely depend on the reader. I think it’s very important that meanings in graphic novels need to be figured out, that you don’t have to have the right answer ready.
Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics, called comics an "invisible art": on the one hand, if we don't see or notice something in a picture, our understanding of the entire story can change. On the other hand, the meanings that we come up with come from our already existing invisible knowledge about the world.
Maureen Bakis, author of the graphic novels in the classroom, pays special attention to Sean Tan's Arrival. Using the first chapter of Arrival as an example, she recommends drawing students' attention to how their previous (even if limited) life experiences and knowledge of the world affect their understanding of the book. That is, students are asked to think about how they understand this story and why.
For an adult, Arrival is primarily about emigration. But for a schoolchild, this book can talk about something else: about travel, adventure, friendship, family, loneliness, the desire to be accepted, and so on. Since there is no text at all in the book, each reader comes up with his own meanings and meanings based on his life experience. For example, a task is proposed: students write text to the pictures, and then check what happened, whether their answers are similar. It is worth taking a closer look at those answers that are most different from each other - this is where it becomes clear how much “invisible knowledge” influences our understanding.
Here are some other questions suggested for class discussion:
. Describe your train of thought: how did you understand what this story was about?
. Describe the mood of this chapter, what indicated this mood to you?
. How do you understand this page? Why?
Bakis emphasizes that such a graphic novel (without text) requires more attention to ourselves as a reader and how we interpret what we see than conventional novels. For example, the book does not explain the reason why the hero leaves his family. But in some pictures the shadows of a dragon's tail are visible over the city, which implies some kind of all-consuming fear in which the inhabitants of this city live. Perhaps this has something to do with the hero's departure?
Sean Tan himself, in an article about Arrival, writes that the complete absence of text gives the reader the opportunity to become the main character. Like the main character, “we are forced to find something familiar and understandable where everything understandable and familiar is either extremely rare or very well hidden.” Here we see some food, but what to do with it, how to eat it? Thus, we experience the same confusion as the hero (who, by the way, has no name - why?). We understand that the hero is lost, he does not know the language of the new country and in order to communicate with other people, he is forced to draw what he needs. But we, the readers, do not know his language, and for us it is the same abracadabra.
“I’m attracted to this kind of intuitive understanding, where we don’t necessarily have to explain what we see,” continues Shaun Tan. ‒ For example, in the book there is a creature - something between a cat and a tadpole, it really wants to make friends with the main character. I have my own understanding of this creature, it is connected with the desire to be accepted, with the search for community, but it is difficult for me to fully express it in words, it is easier to draw.”
The absence of words gives the book a kind of universality - after all, in principle, a person speaking any language can read “Arrival”. Although, of course, a Russian, Australian or Japanese will add his own meanings to this story, emanating from his upbringing, experience and cultural values.
Talking about his work, Shaun Tan quotes Albert Einstein: “Art is the expression of the most complex ideas in the simplest form.” This is exactly what Shaun Tan strives for in his graphic novels - to express it in its simplest form. And this definition best characterizes the essence of graphic novels in general.
Maria Boston
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Books by Sean Tan translated into Russian:
Author's illustrations
Translation from English by Ivan Chernyavsky
Publishing house "World of Childhood Media", 2010
"The Arrival. Arrival"
Author's illustrations
Publishing house "Comilfo", 2013
Author's illustrations
Translation from English by Ksenia Bobkova, Mikhail Bogdanov, Alexander Inglesse
Publishing house "Comilfo", 2015
Theoretically, it should be known to everyone. Firstly, as a concept artist for a cartoon about the enthusiastic robot Wall-E; secondly, and even better, as the author of an amazing book about immigrants, Arrival. (The Arrival). In fact, almost no one knows Sean Tan: “Arrival” was never published in Russia, despite requests from workers, and “Wall-E” was remembered by domestic audiences as a successful work of an animation studio Pixar- without details. As a result, the just released Nobody's Thing becomes truly sensational. However, like almost any domestic sensation, Lost Thing the distinct aroma of well-seasoned world classics: during the ten years of the book’s existence, Tan managed to receive an honorary diploma from the International Book Fair in Bologna, an award Aurealis And Spectrum in the United States, made a short film based on the book, which received dozens of awards, and staged a play, which was successfully performed for several seasons in Australian theater venues.
Probably the most interesting toys are those that are not toys at all: mom’s lipstick, dad’s set of screwdrivers. The best stories are those told by adults, when they are not trying to pretend to be children and adapt to the interlocutor. The best pictures are not pictures at all, but even diagrams of steam engines and DC circuits. Sean Tan seems to agree with this, and therefore does not lisp, does not flirt with the reader and does not turn the child into an alien with an incomprehensible, but definitely different psyche from adults. On the contrary, he tells the children a completely unchildish story about how sad it can be to grow up, and frames it with clippings from his father’s textbooks on physics and technology.
A boy collects bottle caps on the beach, he has a whole collection of them, and the collection needs to be replenished. But instead of lids, he finds Nobody's thing.
Right here and now it is necessary to make a reservation: such a translation of the original The Lost Thing(referring, by the way, to one lengthy discussion by Herman Melville in Moby Dick) is understandable, but causes some criticism. Of course, this is a difficult task: how to translate the lonely lost, if we are talking about being lost, and about being forgotten, and about being a nobody, and about the omission of a Thing? However, Lostness still seems to be the most significant quality: then, in any case, there are references to “The Tale of Lost Time” and to “The Lost Boys” by James Barry. And if constant comparisons with Schwartz are a game of the exclusively Russian mind, illegitimate, but entertaining, then the dialogue with “Peter Pan” is probably conscious: Tan’s book contains not only the motive of growing up, but also his own Neverland.
Read the full text However, Nobody’s is also important: especially when the boy Sean takes the Thing (a fully animated steampunk monster with puppy-like habits) to his friend Pete and he says the sacramental: “Maybe it doesn’t have an owner at all. Maybe she's from nowhere at all. Some things on their own<…>just a draw."
For Nobody's Things, in a city called the Outskirts, there is a special Ministry of Ends Meetings “S Glasus Dolous”, where the memory of Things is safely erased, and the Things themselves are left abandoned forever - a kind of version of a knacker or boarding school. It is not surprising that the boy Sean searches (and finds) another way - some secret place where Nobody's things become happy.
Neverland Tana is reminiscent of Wells' paradise behind the Green Door: it is not entirely clear whether Nobody's things are in the right place there, but, one way or another, they look happy with life. The boy Sean has no choice but to move on, saying goodbye to both the monster and his childhood: “I still sometimes remember how I found someone else’s thing. Especially when out of the corner of my eye I notice something that seems out of place. Strange, sad, seemingly lost things. True, lately I see them less and less. Maybe there just aren't that many left. Or I stopped noticing them. Apparently too busy with all sorts of other things.”
(-tsr-) In fact, “Nobody’s Thing,” despite the surreal illustrations, is an extremely truthful book, in the sense of being imbued with the truth of life. The fact is that in Tan's story the idea of rewards for good behavior, so important for children's books and completely unrealistic, is completely absent. Boy Sean could choose: hand over the Thing to the gloomy Ministry or spend a lot of time and effort, but find a decent shelter for the Thing. But in both the first and second cases, he says goodbye to the Thing, loses the skill of noticing Things on the street and turns into an adult like everyone else around him. On the other hand, perhaps another thing is more important - the knowledge that good deeds are not necessarily rewarded and that they are good not because of rewards, but in themselves.
Sean Tan. Nobody's thing. M.: MD Media, 2011
