In the Land of /'punctu-'a'{t}io;n

by Christian Morgenstern, Rathna Ramanathan (Illustrator), Sirish Rao (Translator)

Written in 1905 by the German poet Christian Morgenstern, In the Land of Punctuation is a darkly comic linguistic caprice that holds a resonant mirror to our times. Situated at the crossroads of language, design, and politics, this illustrated edition is a unique picture book for adults. Translated faithfully by Sirish Rao, with typographic illustrations by Rathna Ramanathan, this is a brilliantly inventive dance of text and image. The peaceful land of Punctuation
is filled with tension overnight When the stops and commas of the nation
call the semi-colons ‘parasites’

Genres: Poetry

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Christian Morgenstern (May 6, 1871–March 31, 1914) was a German author and poet.

Morgenstern's poetry, much of which was inspired by English literary nonsense, is immensely popular, even though he enjoyed very little success during his lifetime. He made fun of scholasticism, e.g. literary criticism in "Drei Hasen", grammar in "Der Werwolf", narrow-mindedness in "Der Gaul", and symbolism in "Der Wasseresel". In "Scholastikerprobleme" he discussed how many angels could sit on a needle. Still many Germans know some of his poems and quotations by heart, e.g. the following line from "The Impossible Fact" ("Die unmögliche Tatsache", 1910):

For, he reasons pointedly / That which must not, can not be. (German: "Weil, so schließt er messerscharf / Nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf.")

Reviews

[Vishy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book of the year :) Discovered it a few days back and read it in quickly in one sitting today. It is the graphic novel version of Christian Morgenstern's poem. In the story told by the poem, the characters are different punctuation marks and the way the fight with each other and gang up together to harass another punctuation mark is described beautifully with pictures. The artwork is quite beautiful. The book has an eerie resemblance to European history of the first half of the 20th century. Nice work of art. And nice start to the year for me :)

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is worth reading just for the art- the stark use of space, and the colours are lovely.
The "story" has parallels with history, just for fun.

[Jim Coughenour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just for fun. For the proofreader in your life.

[Kavita.g G · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations are beautiful.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great typographic artwork illustrates this darkly comic 1905 poem by German poet Christian Morgenster.

[Abey M J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting...

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curious little book.