Martin Edmond

This essay, part of Rosa Mira Books' 10K series, likens taxi drivers to Hermes, the wing-footed messenger of the Gods - hence the title. "Winged sandals" may be only 10,000 words long, but it's a fascinating meditation on taxi driving, writing, the ways they are alike, and the complex relationship between the work writers do to make a living and the effect doing such work has on their writing and on their self-image as a writer. Recommended, especially if you're an artist struggling to balance your passion with your finances.… (meer)

Chronicles of the Unsung is a memoir crossed with a travel, history book. The four episodes he takes from his life are all unflattering almost seedy former selves, that he attempts to deal with by painting a ladscape of memory undercut by research.
The unsung of the book are those whose lives he touches but who for thisa book will never be known, never amount to official history.
Edmond shows us how to deal with the unattractive parts of our lives and how these failures are more important than successes in revealing the journey of self.… (meer)

This book introduced me to several topics: the pacific islands and their trade, the colonization of Australia, some strange partnering behaviour, the "mistery" of Fatima and Fernando Pessoa's heteronyms, not to speak of the Ern Malley's Hoax or some crazy Dutch-Portuguese exploits in the time of the Eastern Indies. However, it is somehow dislocated and even though the language is often sophisticated and enticing --at the price of occassionally bordering the pretentious-- I had to force myself to finish the reading.

I left it in the train.… (meer)