A work of de Kooning and a Story by Barthelme

Willem de Kooning, Two Figures
pastel on paper
private collection
(http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/PWxyz/2013/10/09/the-art-of-famous-book-covers/)
no copyright infringement intended

Starting from the work of de Kooning, let's imagine a story behind it: a she-figure and a he-figure. She was abducted by him, and her first demand is for pictures, to hang them all over the place. Then she needs to got to the church on Sunday, so he has to join her. Back home he ties her up again, only she has new demands. Meanwhile he's chatting with his friends. Each one has done an abduction, but their luck varies. Some of the captured women are okay, others are a pain in the neck. Time is passing and our man gets pissed off, so asks the woman to go away. It's not that simple, as she seems to be also pissed off by her husband. Or whatever.

It's The Captured Woman, written by Donald Barthelme, a micro-story from his collection of Sixty Stories, from 1981. Okay, and what's the point in all this galimatias, you'll ask. Good question. Here is my answer: it's a good entry to the weird universe of Donald Barthelme, the world of flash-fiction and non-sequitur, where the abductors are the victims and the abducted women put conditions. Now, honestly, it's not my favorite (but  don't tell anybody, okay?).

The captured woman asks if I will take her picture.

I shoot four rolls of 35 mm. and then go off very happily to the darkroom. . .

I bring back the contacts and we go over them together. She circles half a dozen with a grease pencil -- pictures of herself staring. She does not circle pictures of herself smiling, although there are several very good ones. When I bring her back prints (still wet) she says they are not big enough.

Not big enough?

Can you make enlargements?

How big?

How big can you make them?

The largest paper I have is twenty-four by thirty-six.

Good!

The very large prints are hung around her room with pushpins.

Make more.

For what?

I want them in the other rooms too.

The staring ones?

Whichever ones you wish.

I make more prints using the smiling negatives. (I also shoot another half dozen rolls.) Soon the house is full of her portraits, she is everywhere.

M. calls to tell me that he has captured a woman too.

Here is the rest of the story:

http://www.nbu.bg/webs/amb/american/5/barthelme/woman.htm

You can find more stories here (http://www.jessamyn.com/barth/)


(Donald Barthelme)

(Willem de Kooning)